Post by Evan Schaible on Aug 28, 2008 20:05:41 GMT -5
I have started a weBLOG connected to my site (http://ApostolicHeritage.org) in order to fully, completely and vehemently oppose the destructive doctrines of Calvinism. Below is the first article I posted and is taken majorily from a conversation I have had with a brother.
Also found here (http://Sermon.net/ApostolicHeritage) are a collection of new sermons I have preached and will be updated often, Lord willing.
- Evan
An Internal Critique of Determism
In this post I wanted to closely examine the point of theology that is closely tied in with a Calvinistic view of personal predestination. I want to also however, keep these critiques as simple as possible, so to that end I want to first offer a definition of determinism, not from my perspective, but rather from the perspective they hold.
"Theological determinism is the religious view that all events in the world were pre-ordained by God."
This definition is the definition from which I will begin my critique. Let me first simply cite some quotations from previous articles and conversation that I have had that very adequately give us a slight insight into the nature of theological determinism.
"Dear brother, if a man has been determined by God, and ordained to be a sinner, than it is not the mans fault, but God's. That is charging God with the rebellion th sinner commits. A mans nature is corrupt from the fall, and because of that he commits gross rebellion against the will of God, and for that he is held accountable because God forbids his crimes, not ordains them."
"You have said that a sinner is ordained as to be such by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. If this is so, than the God who ordains and causes that to happen is to blame for that event. Therefore for God to punish a sinner for sinning when He in fact caused Him to sin would be justice? I think not, or God is a mere petty criminal.
God punishes men for rebellion, not for obedience to His 'hidden' will. According to your theology sin is in fact obedience to God as they were preordained to be sinners anyhow. Hell would be entirely unjust. God should not have wrath. God should not have anger. God should not even have love.
Why would Jesus weep over His people Israel if He in fact ordained there unwillingness to come?
Why would God be unwilling for any to perish if in fact His will was for them to perish?
Why would God issue a day of judgment if in fact all of the things that precipitate judgment are the very things that God ordained men to commit?
Why would hell be so tormentous when the God who created it actually caused men whom He is suppose to love to be tortured there for things that He made them do?"
The postulate that every single action is ordained of God predicates a very skewed view of the nature and character of God. It is true that God works all things together for good, and that every circumstance that sin creates in this world is used by God to accomplish His grandiose eternal purpose. That is the depths of the wisdom of God.
"God is not a mechanical entity that dictates an arbitrary will in a feelingless and cold fashion. He is a loving being that desires for His creation to love and cherish Him because He is worthy of that love and esteem"
"No, He does not control the sinner. Curcumstaces are inadimate, will-less objects. The curcumstance is orchestrated by God, but Hitler could have chosen to not kill Jews, and thereby judgment would have been postponed. God would have known, but God does not control. The sovereignty of God is not in His causing and controlling everything, that belittles God. The sovereignty of God is made glorious because every free will choice of men is orchestrated into God's eternal purpose."
"God in His glorious wisdom uses every free will decision of men, both regenerate and unregerate, and somehow uses billions upon billions of choices to the furtherance of His divine and eternal purpose. THAT is fascinating."
"That is the deeps of divine wisdom. And that is the great God of the Bible. A God that cannot be thwarted even though men have a choice."
It is a rough spot, and very sharp conrner to be backed into when you begin to say that every action and circumstance is ordained of, and orchestrated by God. Ths makes God, the same God whio tempts no man with evil, the author and originator of sin. So the current persecution that has broken out in Orissa, India would have to therefore be a direct effect caused by the determinate hand of God. Christian women being raped, and numerous pastors beng hacked to pieces, will not be used to strengthen the church, but it is in fact God Himself destroying the church. This is absurdity if I have every seen absurdity, and it is the logical conclusion of the theolgoy of theological determinism.
"I do not consider things that are in the will of God bad. But this horrible persecution is not the will of God. The will of God is that the Gospel has free reign and men are saved. Opposition to God is not the will of God. That is divine schizophrenia."
"If opposition to the Gospel is the will of God, how can it be the will of God that men believe the Gospel?"
"God and sin do not have any relationship at all the one to the other, they are as far apart as the east is from the west. But you make them practically a mutual term. God's plan is not sin, and sin is not in God's will. Sin is against the will of God, but even so, God uses the circumstances created by that sin to accomplish His purposes. Horrible thought, God cannot accomplish His eternal purposes without sinners."
The conlusion then is this - God is a loving creator who desires and deserves all men to come to Him. The.
"Salvation, present and full, free and for all" (M. knapp)
Also found here (http://Sermon.net/ApostolicHeritage) are a collection of new sermons I have preached and will be updated often, Lord willing.
- Evan
An Internal Critique of Determism
In this post I wanted to closely examine the point of theology that is closely tied in with a Calvinistic view of personal predestination. I want to also however, keep these critiques as simple as possible, so to that end I want to first offer a definition of determinism, not from my perspective, but rather from the perspective they hold.
"Theological determinism is the religious view that all events in the world were pre-ordained by God."
This definition is the definition from which I will begin my critique. Let me first simply cite some quotations from previous articles and conversation that I have had that very adequately give us a slight insight into the nature of theological determinism.
"Dear brother, if a man has been determined by God, and ordained to be a sinner, than it is not the mans fault, but God's. That is charging God with the rebellion th sinner commits. A mans nature is corrupt from the fall, and because of that he commits gross rebellion against the will of God, and for that he is held accountable because God forbids his crimes, not ordains them."
"You have said that a sinner is ordained as to be such by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. If this is so, than the God who ordains and causes that to happen is to blame for that event. Therefore for God to punish a sinner for sinning when He in fact caused Him to sin would be justice? I think not, or God is a mere petty criminal.
God punishes men for rebellion, not for obedience to His 'hidden' will. According to your theology sin is in fact obedience to God as they were preordained to be sinners anyhow. Hell would be entirely unjust. God should not have wrath. God should not have anger. God should not even have love.
Why would Jesus weep over His people Israel if He in fact ordained there unwillingness to come?
Why would God be unwilling for any to perish if in fact His will was for them to perish?
Why would God issue a day of judgment if in fact all of the things that precipitate judgment are the very things that God ordained men to commit?
Why would hell be so tormentous when the God who created it actually caused men whom He is suppose to love to be tortured there for things that He made them do?"
The postulate that every single action is ordained of God predicates a very skewed view of the nature and character of God. It is true that God works all things together for good, and that every circumstance that sin creates in this world is used by God to accomplish His grandiose eternal purpose. That is the depths of the wisdom of God.
"God is not a mechanical entity that dictates an arbitrary will in a feelingless and cold fashion. He is a loving being that desires for His creation to love and cherish Him because He is worthy of that love and esteem"
"No, He does not control the sinner. Curcumstaces are inadimate, will-less objects. The curcumstance is orchestrated by God, but Hitler could have chosen to not kill Jews, and thereby judgment would have been postponed. God would have known, but God does not control. The sovereignty of God is not in His causing and controlling everything, that belittles God. The sovereignty of God is made glorious because every free will choice of men is orchestrated into God's eternal purpose."
"God in His glorious wisdom uses every free will decision of men, both regenerate and unregerate, and somehow uses billions upon billions of choices to the furtherance of His divine and eternal purpose. THAT is fascinating."
"That is the deeps of divine wisdom. And that is the great God of the Bible. A God that cannot be thwarted even though men have a choice."
It is a rough spot, and very sharp conrner to be backed into when you begin to say that every action and circumstance is ordained of, and orchestrated by God. Ths makes God, the same God whio tempts no man with evil, the author and originator of sin. So the current persecution that has broken out in Orissa, India would have to therefore be a direct effect caused by the determinate hand of God. Christian women being raped, and numerous pastors beng hacked to pieces, will not be used to strengthen the church, but it is in fact God Himself destroying the church. This is absurdity if I have every seen absurdity, and it is the logical conclusion of the theolgoy of theological determinism.
"I do not consider things that are in the will of God bad. But this horrible persecution is not the will of God. The will of God is that the Gospel has free reign and men are saved. Opposition to God is not the will of God. That is divine schizophrenia."
"If opposition to the Gospel is the will of God, how can it be the will of God that men believe the Gospel?"
"God and sin do not have any relationship at all the one to the other, they are as far apart as the east is from the west. But you make them practically a mutual term. God's plan is not sin, and sin is not in God's will. Sin is against the will of God, but even so, God uses the circumstances created by that sin to accomplish His purposes. Horrible thought, God cannot accomplish His eternal purposes without sinners."
The conlusion then is this - God is a loving creator who desires and deserves all men to come to Him. The.
"Salvation, present and full, free and for all" (M. knapp)