This article from CRN is contradictory in its very core. If God has already arrainged the entire script in history without any participation from man, then why all the fuss? The editor quotes:Â
“Our God is not a God of paradox. That is not looking at the whole text, there is much more to it than that. God did not simply get to read the whole plan of history like a script. He WROTE the script. He is not merely aware of the things to come, they are the things to come only because He ordained and allowed every one of them to be completed. Included in those events are the miraculous regenerations of men’s souls.”
* Then why is God angry through you, is He angry about what He Himself has ordained?
* Then are your energies working against what God has ordained and allowed?
* Then why do you not rejoice in the falling away, it is in the script God wrote?
* Then is our evangelism without any urgency because it is all scripted?
* Then are all the postings about the modern church just mockings of God’s script?
And so the incongruity of the so called paradox continues to be baffling. If God scripted it all then why all the hand wringing and for what purpose is the criticism of the parts of God’s script that seem distasteful? Surely no one would want to criticize and castigate any part of God’s plan, and if indeed God is scripting it all then the ones who believe that should rejoice in all of it. The heresy, the worldly methods, the pragmatism, the moral failures, the emergent church, and the entire panorama of what is now taking place in the evangelical world is all part of God’s sovereign scripting. Rejoice in it all, it’s all part of God’s script, there is no free will only God’s scripted play being unfolded before our eyes.
None of us should criticize what God is doing…should we?
13 Comments(+Add)
Hey…did you guys see the post about Dan Kimball’s dad?
Let’s make sure we pray for Dan’s family AND mark the kindness of Mike Corley for being loving and compassionate.
AND…even though it’s not the usual approach…I think Ken gets some points for posting the info from Mr. Corley.
It showed some goodheartedness that people need to see.
OH, and sheeeeee’s baaaaaaaaaack!
http://www.sliceoflaodicea.com/
She still needs an outlet for her tantrums and shrieking.
Rick,
I guess you’re back to looking for nickels in spitoons.
=)
Ahhh…the classic catch-22 of hyper-Calvinism – where people are (literally) damned if they do and damned if they don’t.
Personally, I don’t know how one can believe that God wrote a “script” for history, and consider Him all-loving. If that were the case, we really might as well be all robots, then.
From the article, advertising a new blog “A Lion Has Roared!” (Better titled “Apologetics for Hyper-Calvinists”):
Classic flat-land thinking that shoves God into the box of what He created.
Commendable in its desire to emphasis the sovreignty of God, this type of view robs Him of both omnipotence (that He is not capable of granting the ability to choose without maintaining His soverignty) and His nature, love (that He would create something with a desire that it freely serve Him, rather than forced servitude).
So silly…
I also found it funny that in the new blog being advertised, there are currently 6 comments to the article in question – in which the author has to justify himself for having his Zodiac sign in his profile (which Blogger automatically does), and then untangling why this is so…
So silly…
Chris,
I also love how these people make these definitive statements like, “without any doubt” about these things. Forget the fact that very smart people have been arguing about these things for centuries. Luckily, this no-name blogger is here to set us all straight.
It reminds of the time a guy in my church came up and told me he had “figured out” the book of Daniel. It was all I had to do keep from busting out laughing.
Chris L,
the silly thing is that one has the option of having your “sign” or not… you just do nto fill in the info and it does nto appear.
blessings,
iggy
It is both disingenuous and a blatant misrepresentation of God Himself to say that God scripts everything and then anoints men to criticize His script. So the Father scripts even the falling away from truth and the Holy Spirit attempts to bring the church back. That would place the members of the Trinity at odds with each other.
Unbiblical at the very least.
Very interesting gentlemen. Where is the Scripture to verify your projections?..if we are truly seeking Justice, we should probably be able to back our statements in the Word.
What projections are you referring to?
Sam Walker,
I guess that would be depending on your understanding and definition of Justice. i see it though out scripture as something we are to strive for and after as God is Just so we should also be Just.
So the projection that one should not be just would be harder to prove by scripture.
So really i am confused by your comments here . Can yo unpack it more?
Blessings,
iggy
Hello,
Nice to see all again. Just popping by to make a few comments
[* Then why is God angry through you, is He angry about what He Himself has ordained?]
I’m unable to access the original text of what the crn people wrote, but offhand, its difficult to be angry perfectly as man’s anger often does not achieve the righteousness of God.
But at the end of God, God is a holy god (amen?) and it is intrinsic in his character to hate things that are against what he has revealled (in the bible) to be displeasing to him. This includes things like homosexuality for example.
Yet, he permits people to committ evil thingsm yet none of them is not in his plan (e.g. Judas, as it was prophesised that Judas would 100% without fail, betray Jesus – an infintely evil act, but ordained none-the-less, so that Jesus could achieve the plan of salvation.) + more (e.g. Job’s suffering – if Job did not suffer, would we have the Book of Job? Yet Job nothing wrong) etc etc etc. We are perfectly sure in these 2 cases at least that
1. God planned it
2. God hated the act (judas’ betrayal) but it was necessary.
[* Then are your energies working against what God has ordained and allowed?]
Our job is to hate sin as much as God hates it. Whether or not it was planned by God, it does not matter. We rejoice in God’s sovereignty of the matter, yet he abhor the sin done. Ref Job when God allowed the killing of his sons daughthers etc.. He praised God saying “naked i came from the womb, naked i depart, may the Lord be praised.”
We are sure Job was sad, yet he praised God’s sovereignty.
* Then why do you not rejoice in the falling away, it is in the script God wrote?
Its not the falling away per se, but rather we rejoice in God’s sovereignty in the matter. we weep for the dying but we rejoice that justice was done. But in the end, the rejoicing is far greater than the sorrow because God is greater than the dying, who have in fact gotten what they deserve.
* Then is our evangelism without any urgency because it is all scripted?
No. The only way where this question would have weight would be in the case where we can be 100% sure that the person you are evangelising is 100% saved and going to heaven without you even speaking.
Since God will never reveal to you this information, we cannot make the assumption that the person we are preaching to is saved/reprobate. In fact, God has ordained that the gospel be preached by men and God works through men.
It is perfectly reasonable that God has planned that you might be, at that precise moment, preaching the gospel efficaciously to the person. They are not mutally exlclusive.
Another thing is that the gospel is commanded to be preached. We ought to be having a sense of urgency in obedience. So whether or not God has ordained it does not make a duty less dutiful or a command less binding.
Its like this: e.g. I am going to work for a petrol station and i am going to be paid, 1000 bucks a month. It is ‘preordained’ (so to speak) that i would receive the amount at the end of the month.
Yet, knowing that i will be paid that salary (with a certainty of 95%? because they have one month’s grace for newcomers, even if they do really badly) does not absolve me the responsibility of doing my work as obediently as i can, and if time-sensitive, with a sense of urgency.
* Then are all the postings about the modern church just mockings of God’s script?
‘All’ in a general statement and is likely to be wrong. It can be some, none, few , quite-alot and so on. Depends on what the post is about. Since no specific texts/posts are being discussed, we cannot be certain.
Thats my thoughts.
But at the end of God =typo
should be:
but at the end, God…