dermdoc said:
Howdy, it is me! said:
dermdoc said:
Howdy, it is me! said:
dermdoc said:
AgLiving06 said:
dermdoc said:
AgLiving06 said:
dermdoc said:
AgLiving06 said:
dermdoc said:
Howdy, it is me! said:
dermdoc said:
Howdy, it is me! said:
dermdoc said:
Howdy, it is me! said:
AgLiving06 said:
dermdoc said:
10andBOUNCE said:
If you agree then we disagree with what the word "sovereign" means.
I am borrowing this from elsewhere but think its sums it up nicely.
God's sovereignty is His absolute, supreme, and independent right and power to govern all things according to His own wise and holy will, for His own glory.
I completely agree with that. In my opinion, it strengthens God's sovereignty if He allows us free will. And also show His love. Why would He create robots that He completely controlled?
But you see the problem with claiming we have free will right?
To claim we truly have free will is to claim there is some sort of "good" that exists outside of God.
Even in the non-Calvinistic view of free will, it still lands with God at the end of the day. Something makes a person choose God - nature, circumstances… - of which God is ultimately in control of. And He still chooses to create the people He knows won't choose Him.
I think this version of free will just makes people feel better. There is a very high view of man, making it about us, when really it is all about God, about His glory. And He will order things in whichever way brings Him the most.
Disagree completely on your last paragraph. Gospel means good news. To me it is a higher view of God that He loves us enough to give us free will to reject or choose Him. Complete sovereignty without tyranny. Love without oppression.
Question, do you believe God preordaining people He created to eternal torment is for His glory?
I can respect that. He still knows our fate before He creates us.
I think how 10 put things is reasonable. It's all for His glory, that's all I know for sure. I'll never fully understand how and why He does things the way He does.
And He desires all men to be saved.
He does…and yet, they aren't.
Of course, you think they will be; we've got nowhere to go from here.
Sure we do. If God is sovereign and desires all men to be saved, what thwarts God?
Think about how awful a God it is you've created though.
We deal with death, sin, pain, hurt, etc everyday.
Under what you've premised, that's a pretty cruel God because he obviously "desires" that we deal with that.
Because if he didn't desire that, what thwarts him?
Man, I do not think that and have no idea how you got that from what I posted. There is a huge difference between God desiring everyone be saved(which is Scripture) and God desires harm on us. That would make Gid a sinner in my mind. Just like double predestination does.
We live in a fallen world because of sin. Why God allows pain, I have no idea except for our own good and growth. But I certainly don't think He desires us to have pain.
I got there because you're constantly creating this strawman to justify why universalism is representative of the only "good" god.
You continually start with a premise that "god desires x" and so therefore it MUST happen. As you said...who could thwart God.
That reasoning is faulty, but I showed the logical end of it. If anything happens, even the bad stuff, clearly God "desires" it. What could be the other explanation? We can't say that God desires us not to sin, because every person born of a woman has sinned. So God clearly doesn't desire us to be sinless. Which of course then raises the question of why doesn't he just make us sinless? Life would be so much easier.
So the problem is your definition of "desire." You've constructed it to fit your desired outcome as opposed to what Scripture says.
Disagree. If there is free will, God can desire anything and man can do the opposite.
IF this is the case, this statement:
"Sure we do. If God is sovereign and desires all men to be saved, what thwarts God?" is either not true on your part.
Or maybe you're saying that God saves man, but man can thwart God. that's at least more palatable.
I asked it as a rhetorical question as I do not know. I just don't see how if Gid desires to save all men as Scripture says, and one claims that no all men are saved, then man has to be able to Trump God's desires. There is no other logical conclusion.
And if Gid desires all to be saved and all or not, then God's sovereignty, as defined by Calvinists, is limited.
I personally believe Gid can be sovereign and still give man free will.
The other logical conclusion is that that is not God's chief desire.
It's like saying I desire to eat that chocolate cake but I also desire to look great at the beach this summer; one is going to trump the other. Say you choose not to eat the cake, does that mean you never desired to eat it?
I am sorry but that does not make sense to me. It seems so clear what Scripture is saying. And this is God we are talking about. Not some human trying to decide whether to be fat or not.
What about comparing His "desire" statements to His "definitive" statements.
Sure.
Romans 14 11 NASB
As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me. And every tongue shall give praise to God.
Luke 2 10
And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for ALL the people.
John 1 29
The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and said "Behold the Lamb of God, that takes away the sin of the world".
John 12 32
And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw ALL people to myself.
Romans 5 18
Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men,
Romans 11 32
For God has consigned all to disobedience, that He may have mercy on all.
1 Corinthians 15 22
For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive.
1 Timothy 2 3-6
This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.
1 Timothy 4 10
For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe
Titus 2 11
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people.
There are many more but I am tired of typing and I did not want to link a list as no one reads those.
Have a great Saturday with many blessings. Shalom.
Just to address a couple:
1 Corinthians 15:22 - the clarifying statement for all is "in Christ"; all those in Christ.
Romans 14:11 I agree this means every single person (I don't believe it's going to be a happy ending for every single person just because they finally acknowledge who God is)
Additionally, we can cherry pick verses all day to support whatever doctrine we can imagine, but things fall apart when we look at scripture as a whole.