God's in control

I believe that some people have misunderstod my last blog post. My argument is not against the sovereignty of God not His power over the circumstances of our lives it is against the idea that God wants to make our choices for us. I believe that God created in us His image. The nature of man in it's atomic essence is defined in terms of the ideal, we're defined in terms of God. The reason we can say man is imperfect is because we have a pre concieved concept of what perfection would look like in a man. our nature is to do good, not evil. Our "sin nature" is deeply rooted in a beutiful concept called free will. The Bible says "we are... created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do" ephesians 2:10. God has placed our circumstces before us. He has has given us the options. He has given the control to us to choose. This capacity to choose makes Man an amazing creation, which God loves and adores. God has power to take this choice away but could not without completly changing our nature.

God is in control. God places us in situations, puts choices before us, sends people into our lives to influence us. We have no power over God! He will get the job done with us or without us but has chosen to use us. We are not predestined to sin, we are created to do "good works." We choose to sin, we choose to be sinners. God has placed faith in us and waits for us to do things for Him.

Remember that the Kingdom of God is here and that God is in control. He is the King. He is a gracious and powerful king! Those who choose the Good will enter the Kingdom.

Comments

Chris P. said…
"God has placed faith in us and waits for us to do things for Him."

I respectfully disagree with the above statement.
It is true that we make choices, but these choices are foreknown by God. The Scriptures tell the story of a God who has implemented a plan
of redemption that is, "undoing" the rebellious choice made by Adam and Eve in the garden. We read of many instances in the Bible where men have made choices, mostly sinful ones, and God then undoes the predetermined results of that behavior. So two men make a choice ,one comes to belief in Jesus, and one does not. If God does nothing to undo the decision of the unconverted man, and He has complete foreknowledge of that decision,; then isn't that the same as predestination ? God engineers every circumstance of our lives, and we arrive at decisions that He knew beforehand.
Another thought; the scriptures tells us that no one seeks after God. Psalm 14:1-3 Psalm 53:1-3 Romans 3:10-20 Our nature is not to good. Only the man who has been reborn seeks to do good.
Prior to our conversion, in our "free will" choices, we are only free to choose sin. All of our choices are made to benefit ourselves, even the "good" choices.
Salvation means for the first time we actually have what can be called free will.
Joshua and Moses both told the people to make choices, i.e. choose life and blessing, and choose to serve the Lord. They then turn around and tell them that they will not be able to stick with it. Thus indicating the need for redemption through Christ. Deut 30; Joshua 24:16-22

God has a plan, and we are created by Him, and for Him to participate in that plan; which is why even the works of the Kingdom (Eph 2) are predestined.

Just an FYI I am not a calvinist and I don't preach Calvinism. I only go by what I read in the Word.
These are merely questions that I have regarding the free will issue.
There is a saying in some Christian circles " Once saved always saved!" I don't believe it is in the Bible, but I'm sure those who raise that call can point me to the verses that support it. We all know some people who for a while, sometimes a long while, talked the talk and walked the walk, even led other people to the saving knowledge of Christ, but then for one reason or another fell way. Some, glad to say, came home, as the prodical son, others died in their rebellion, even cursing God. Were they saved anyway? I guess my real question is this, and I am afraid to ask: could a person who was not on God's "in list" think they were saved for a while, but in fact they were only fooling themselves?
If I believe what the heretics believe, does that not make me a heretic? If I enjoy worship which has been deemed "Mystic New Age" am I not counted among those who embrace the Mystic New Age. Wes, can you a young man attending a "weslyan" seminary shed some light on this matter for this old lady, who by the way, graduated from Roberts Weslyan College in Rochester NY (ever hear of it?)
wellis68 said…
I'd like to respond generally to some of your comments.

Chris:
you have great ideas. honestly God waiting for us to do things is a personal belief of mine that is difficult to argue. It is simply part of my understanding of God's nature. Look at the story of jonah. God had to do some persuasion but it seems safe to say God was waiting for Jonah to listen to Him.
you said "...He has complete foreknowledge of that decision,; then isn't that the same as predestination?" I believe you are trying to view God in terms of man inapproapriately. God sees everything as present He is not bound by time. is that still defined in a traditional sense "predestination?"

Maryellen:
I don't believe in once a Chrisian always a Christian. I guess I may be sort of an existentialist but I believe you can change yourself. if following Christ is a decision than what would make not-following any different.

Danny:
I love your thoughts! you asked for expansion on why "sin nature" is rooted in "free will." Well, you have to choose to sin don't you. If you couldn't choose to sin than it wouldn't really be a traditional form of free will. would it?
wellis68 said…
Ashley, Good wording. That's the basic Idea I'm getting at. the predestination debate just came naturally. I really don't like arguing my beliefs especially when they are really unknown and there will not be a concrete conclusion. The purpose of these last wo blogs is simply a response to an inappropriate way to view God. He's not out to take complete control of all our decisions. God deights when good choices are made, that's the beauty of free will. All of our choices are "spiritual" they directly effect our relationship to God. We are taking part in the healing of The world. God is using His people because He has faith in us.

I hope these last two posts didn't become devisive and cause discord between us. Thank you all so much for all your thoughs, you guys are all so intelligent.