Posted on 07/22/2007 7:40:38 PM PDT by xzins
Hillary’s easy.
Try this one: “Can you resist that chocolate ice cream or not?”
If God knows that you will oversleep tomorrow and miss the bus, is there any chance you will catch the bus?
That is the question, not "there's a very good chance..."
We're not talking probability here because God does not deal in "probability" but in certainty according to His own omniscience and the very definition of God.
If God knows you will oversleep, is there a chance you will wake up early?
Go with Baskin Robbins pistachio almond. :>)
lol. And they are known by their shepherd and they follow him.
:11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
10:12 But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.
10:13 The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep.
10:14 I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.
10:15 As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.
10:16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.
GREAT question, Suzy. It is liberating to do just that, isn't it?
The world conspires to keep the particular, personal, individual, named-from-before-the-world-began love of God for His children stifled. Instead, the world seeks to parcel out God's love here and there as a reward for good behavior. And in doing so, the world presumes it can actually withhold God's love from His children.
Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?" -- Romans 8:32-35"He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
I wasn’t groping in the dark before I applied the doctrines of grace to my scripture reading, but my lamp was on a lower wattage, and now I have such intense light that I can’t hide from it. LOL. It is liberating to know that the light is the Holy Spirit.
Yes, try a different flavor. LOL.
Amen. I was a lot more confused and uncertain before I read Scripture through the lens of God's sovereignty. Life then seemed so indefinite and haphazard. It was exhausting to contemplate how I could be good enough for God to love.
Thank God, He loved us before we loved Him. 8~)
There is always a chance I will oversleep. A big chance. There's a very good chance I will oversleep tomorrow. If I decide to stay up late tonight, it's almost certain. God knows whether I will or not.
Would you believe that I have never been to a Baskin-Robbins?
Let me put it another way for variety’s sake:
Your question is really: Is God’s foreknowledge perfect?
And the answer is yes.
The question has nothing to do or say about predestination.
If the Lord knows I will choose BR pistachio almond over chocolate tomorrow, then there is no chance that I will do otherwise. I will choose the BR.
Likewise with salvation; if the Lord knows that Suzy is one of the saved at the end of time, then there is no chance that she will be one of the lost.
Therefore, He planned it that way...especially so, since His power set everything in motion. His sovereignty and His knowledge are not separable as if He has a split personality, and as if His right hand doesn’t know what His left hand is doing.
So many Christians suffer like this and in some it leads to self-destructive behavior. Praise God now you are a tree planted!
The discussion of prayer earlier on this thread brought to memory how weak my prayers used to be. I actually thought that if I prayed enough and used the right words, I would be able to change God's mind. God does not change His mind. I praise Him that He changes mine.
That is simply inaccurate. Romans 8: "Those He FOREKNEW, He predestined..."
Ok, Baskin Robbins pistachio almond it is. :)
Can you resist it? Sometimes? Always? Never?
If God is omniscient and thus has "known" from before the foundation of the world that you will oversleep tomorrow and miss your bus, is there any chance you will wake up on time and catch your bus?
Or are there some things God didn't know at the foundation of the world? Is God's knowledge of His creation only partial knowledge?
BR PistachAlmond is the world’s best ice cream bar none, imho.
I have never resisted it, but I have the freedom to do so.
Unfortunately, I now live in rural S. Ohio and the nearest BR is far away.
How about DQ? That’s my preference. My father brought me up on hot fudge sundaes (with nuts).
What a lovely thought.
God does not change His mind. I praise Him that He changes mine.
AMEN!
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