The hyper-Grace and hyper-Sovereignty people cannot seem to get a simple principle.
God DOES NOT NEED to be in total control of everything NOR does he have to have total foreknowledge of every little thing in order to remain sovereign and omnipotent.
The God of the Bible is omni-Competent. You may blindfold him (foreknowledge) or even tie his hands behind his back (Sovereignty) but HE WILL STILL WIN AND BE VICTORIOUS!
That is the God of the Bible. And until we can digest that, we are just putting God in a box and limiting him when He is a totally personal, loving and flexible God.
[added 2017-04-29] This is why God willingly takes a risk to allow free-will by creating man in his own image. He risks allowing something he WILL NOT control...and because free will is sacred to God, God now CANNOT control free will, because if he does, he ruins his faithfulness (and integrity) by contradicting himself or making arbitrary exceptions to what he has already ordained. He can make exceptions to almost anything created except this one. Why? Because God is primarily, first and foremost the God of KHECED (steadfast, unfailing love) and EMETH (faithfulness, dependability, constancy, consistency, trust that he honors his word and values his own integrity). By Christ's incarnation, he demonstrated to the whole world that he would willingly sacrifice his sovereignty in favor of his love everytime he is given that choice. God is love and expects love from man. The ONLY WAY God gets genuine love is by NOT controlling man's choice at all BEFORE or even AFTER salvation.
Technically and theologically, this means that God CANNOT touch or manipulate an UNsubmitted heart. Only those who submit (and only AFTER submission) to God get the benefit of transformation which includes a change of heart.
When the "fullness of time" eventually comes, God will then allow sovereignty to accompany love. This is why we no longer sin in heaven, there would be no more tears. Outside of heaven after the fullness of time, people eternally suffer according to Christ Himself because they go to a place where "the fire is not quenched and their worm (disease and pain) does not die". [end Added 2017-04-29]
When hyper-Sovereignty people say "God is in control", they portray a very insecure God who needs to control every little thing and every little second in the universe which he has already pre-ordained in order to really be in control and win.
When we say, "God is in control", it is more biblical to mean that God has everything covered regardless of our perceptions of the current circumstances. GOD WILL FIND A WAY!
God DOES NOT NEED to be in total control of everything NOR does he have to have total foreknowledge of every little thing in order to remain sovereign and omnipotent.
The God of the Bible is omni-Competent. You may blindfold him (foreknowledge) or even tie his hands behind his back (Sovereignty) but HE WILL STILL WIN AND BE VICTORIOUS!
That is the God of the Bible. And until we can digest that, we are just putting God in a box and limiting him when He is a totally personal, loving and flexible God.
[added 2017-04-29] This is why God willingly takes a risk to allow free-will by creating man in his own image. He risks allowing something he WILL NOT control...and because free will is sacred to God, God now CANNOT control free will, because if he does, he ruins his faithfulness (and integrity) by contradicting himself or making arbitrary exceptions to what he has already ordained. He can make exceptions to almost anything created except this one. Why? Because God is primarily, first and foremost the God of KHECED (steadfast, unfailing love) and EMETH (faithfulness, dependability, constancy, consistency, trust that he honors his word and values his own integrity). By Christ's incarnation, he demonstrated to the whole world that he would willingly sacrifice his sovereignty in favor of his love everytime he is given that choice. God is love and expects love from man. The ONLY WAY God gets genuine love is by NOT controlling man's choice at all BEFORE or even AFTER salvation.
Technically and theologically, this means that God CANNOT touch or manipulate an UNsubmitted heart. Only those who submit (and only AFTER submission) to God get the benefit of transformation which includes a change of heart.
When the "fullness of time" eventually comes, God will then allow sovereignty to accompany love. This is why we no longer sin in heaven, there would be no more tears. Outside of heaven after the fullness of time, people eternally suffer according to Christ Himself because they go to a place where "the fire is not quenched and their worm (disease and pain) does not die". [end Added 2017-04-29]
When hyper-Sovereignty people say "God is in control", they portray a very insecure God who needs to control every little thing and every little second in the universe which he has already pre-ordained in order to really be in control and win.
When we say, "God is in control", it is more biblical to mean that God has everything covered regardless of our perceptions of the current circumstances. GOD WILL FIND A WAY!
No comments:
Post a Comment