Outsmarting God

I know my own imperfect heart well enough to know that there have been times, when I have sinned against the Lord and have been expecting discipline from Him, that I try to manipulate that discipline (put a book in the seat of my pants, talk Him into taking fewer swats, color a picture for Him to put on the fridge before He finds out what I did).  --  As if I can outsmart God when He has determined to do what needs done.  My pastor points out that such an approach -- trying to "manage" God's judgment -- is likely what many conservatives are attempting to accomplish through their voting ....

"Whether we get Trump or Hillary, one thing is certain.  We deserve worse than that.  We have to take up our problem with God, because He is the one visiting this plague of an election on us.  And He is doing so for reasons that are righteous, holy and just.  We deserve the rulers we have gotten, are getting, and are going to get.  Wicked people get wicked options in their elections.  The problem is not the RNC, or the DNC, or whoever else we might want to blame.  We have met the enemy, as Pogo said, and he is us.

"If the hand of the Lord is upon us, the way out is repentance.  We cannot manage our way out.  We cannot do a little voting triage.  We cannot game the system.  What is happening is the judgment of God. And if God is judging a stiff-necked people, as He manifestly is, it is no solution to suggest that we try to dodge the flaming hailstones.  The way out is repentance.  And I don’t primarily mean repentance at the polling booth.  Right repentance will eventually show up at the polls, but I am talking about the country turning back to Jesus Christ through a great reformation and revival.  If you want anything else, you are desiring salvation without a Savior." - Douglas Wilson

(https://dougwils.com/s7-engaging-the-culture/dodging-flaming-hailstones.html)

This World Is Not My Home; I'm Just a-Shirking Through

When some mess in our nation or in the Christian church is motivating a discussion with opposing views, I will occasionally observe someone saying, "At the end of the day, this earth is not our final destination and these worldly matters are distracting us from our relationship with God."

If a personal relationship with God is all that matters, then why are we still here? Once that relationship has been established, why not just go immediately to be with Him?

Apparently, the One with Whom we are in relationship wants to see growth in that relationship via a life on this earth. Apparently, He wants us to honor Him by how we live here on this planet, by how we seek His face, by how we heed His Word, by how we engage with our neighbors, and by how we love those neighbors through our votes (or abstentions) in regard to policies (and politicians) that will certainly affect those neighbors.

Which Is Sovereign? God's Will or Our Free Will

Name something for which you can thankful but for which such thanks does not need to be directed to God. (I.e., if you're giving credit to whom credit is due for all the good things in your life, is there ANYTHING at all for which full credit could go to yourself or someone else and not at all to God? If your answer is "No, I can't do that," that's because God is sovereign, right? ... over all things.)

More specifically, think of this in terms of the free will argument. If I choose Christ -- if I'M the one doing the choosing, if I exercise MY free will to follow Christ, -- then I get the credit for that, right? But doesn't that immediately rub you the wrong way? (like, Wait a minute. God doesn't get credit for something good that happens? How can that be?)

Please know that I don't deny the existence or the exercise of free will; but neither do I think it is quite what many Christians make it out to be. I believe God sovereignly works through the means of my free will to accomplish His own will and purposes.

God of the Means and the End

The following was submitted by Pastor Douglas Wilson (to his church via their email system and also on his blog) September 15, 2009:

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"Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful — for he cannot deny himself" (2 Tim. 2:10-13).

Paul is a thorough-going predestinarian -- all the elect are predestined to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. But he is no fatalist. Note what he is willing to do for the sake of the elect. He endures everything, he says, for the sake of the elect, so that they might obtain . . . what? What Paul believes them to be predestined to obtain is the salvation that is in Jesus Christ, along with eternal glory. Lesser hearts than Paul's reason fallaciously in one of two ways. They either say that enduring everything matters, so the elect must not really be elect. Or they say that election is real and that it matters, and that it is therefore not necessary to endure anything. Que sera sera. But Paul knows that God ordains everything, including the means that He has ordained to accomplish His intended ends.

Paul knows that the ordained destination is reached by the ordained road. And if the destination is reigning with him, then that is reached by enduring. If the destination is living with Him, the road is dying with Him. The saying is trustworthy. The God who ordained the harvest also ordained the planting. The God who ordained the pregnancy also ordained the sexual union. The God who ordained that a man reaps what he sows also ordained that a man sows what he reaps. Predestination does not make Paul shrug his shoulders whatever. It makes him roll up his sleeves, and any other response betrays a misunderstanding of what God has revealed.

There is a flip side, with an interesting twist. If we deny Him, He will also deny us. But if we are faithless (merely), He remains faithful. To be faithless to struggling sinners would not be to deny them; it would be to deny Himself. He will never leave us or forsake us -- despite our faithlessness.

Cordially in Christ,
Douglas Wilson

How Free Is Our Will ... Really?

God did not consult me before founding the world. I made no decisions to affect the outcome of the first 5,000 years of history. I was not asked, “Into which era of history would you like to be born?” I was not asked, “Into which country, state, and city would you like to be born?” I was not given a choice of families into which to be born. Upon birth, I was not given options regarding my sex, my hair color, my eye color, my nose’s shape, my length, my weight, or even my name. Even for a number of years after my birth, I did not choose my clothing style, my meal items, the house rules, my church, or my school. I don’t tell the sun when to shine, the rain when to fall, lightning where to strike, tornadoes where to go, the snow when to come, earthquakes how big to be, or volcanoes when to erupt.

Any one of the above items can have – has had – a significant impact on my life (and the lives of others). All of them combined have had a VERY GREAT impact on my life. And yet I had no freedom to will any of these greatly-impacting events to happen or to not happen.
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Oh, permit me to add one other (rather personal) item to the above list: I was not even permitted to choose circumcision or no …, not too unlike a Jewish boy before the Incarnation, and yet a good deal different from a Jewish boy before the Incarnation, Because Jewish boys before the Incarnation were expected to carry in their flesh the sign of the covenant which God had made with Abraham (Genesis 17), a covenant that the LORD would be a God unto Abraham, and to his seed after him. “And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God. And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep My covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations” (Genesis 17:8-9). – My parents are not Old Testament Jews, thus they were not motivated by such a requirement regarding my physical status. However, there is an important point here concerning something with the potential for a VERY GREAT impact on one’s life, eternal life at that.

A Jewish boy of 8 days old did not get to choose if he wanted to be included as a member of the people whose God was the LORD, the people who were to “keep God’s covenant therefore, them, and their seed after them in their generations;” thus, the boy did not get to choose whether or not to carry the sign of the covenant between God and His people. In short, this boy did not exercise free will in becoming, what some might call, an “Old Testament Christian.”

Now “if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious” (2 Corinthians 3:11). So if God in the flesh is much more glorious, – if His birth, life, death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and coronation are referred to as “the glory that excelleth” (2 Cor. 3:10), – then how do we explain the rejection of children from receiving the sign of this more glorious covenant (that sign now being water baptism)? In the days of a less glorious covenant, they received it aside from their personal will. (Indeed, what child would have asked for circumcision?) But now, in the time of a more glorious covenant with God, children must wait until they can show that they understand what is happening with baptism. – I’m 36 years old, I’ve read the Bible cover-to-cover numerous times, I’ve experienced baptism, and I’ve witnessed many others; and I still don’t have a full grasp of what baptism is all about. Thanks to God for His grace in accepting me anyway!

I’ve seen a boy ask for baptism from his father, who is also his pastor, and be temporarily put off. The boy thought he was a part of God’s people, but his pastor needs assurance of the boy’s being able to provide somewhat of an adult understanding. Yet “Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, and said, ‘Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me. But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.’” – Matthew 18:2-6

A Character of Its Own

Have you ever heard a movie producer or director on the Special Features of a DVD say that the production sort of took on or became "a character of its own"? Or perhaps you've read an author saying that, in his novel, he had a particular character that was giving him trouble, that seemed to have a mind of his own, as if the author had some difficulty getting the character to do what the author wanted.

I think I understand what these are saying (at least generally, not necessarily from first-hand experience), which led me to wonder, "How is this phenomenon analogous to God's story-telling? Does God's story take on 'a character of its own'? Are there players in His story that don't play out their roles according to His direction?" Of course, your response to this probably depends upon how Calvinistic your perspectives are. Without having spent a lot of time on this, allow me to attempt some answers: It's not. No. Well, not really.

There are two reasons for which I say that such a phenomenon is not shared by God. 1) God is omniscient. 2) God is non-contradictory.

In the cases of the movie producer and the author, they are not omniscient. Although they are responsible for everything that goes into their projects, they don't really know every intricate detail of such projects. They do not possess infinite knowledge even on their very own subjects. -- God does.

The second reason that human authors have more trouble handling their characters than what God does (aside from God's omnipotence) is because of contradictions inherent in (likely all of) us humans. The less like God we are, the greater degree of contradiction in our lives. Human authors sometimes sense this contradiction (and thus reveal it by the afore-mentioned comments) because one part of them says that the nature of a particular character would lead that character to behave in a certain way and thus the book would not end as the author intends, but the desire of the author is to have the character enact a different behavior so that he can tell his story the way he wants. We may commend an author who acknowledges this challenge for exercising at least some honesty, even though he may proceed without appropriately resolving the contradiction. Perhaps this could best be clarified with an example.

Let's say an author writes a story where the main character is evil, executes monstrosities, retaliates against his victims' attempts for justice, and simply walks away at the end of the story. (I would bet such stories abound; my ignorance of a good example likely stems from my lack of enjoyment of such stories.) Sometimes it even seems that we are observing such depressing stories happening in real life right before our very eyes. Some of us even feel that we are experiencing such a story.

The Psalmist even acknowledges this: “I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no bands in their death: but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men. Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth them as a garment. Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could wish. They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily. They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth. … Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches. Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency. For all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning. … When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me; ….” – Psalm 73:3-9,12-14,16

So where is the inherent contradiction? Well, while the depressed author ends his story with the destroyer walking away, the Psalmist knows that this really isn't the end of the story. Notice that I didn't finish the last verse or chapter of the passage quoted above. Allow me to do so now: “When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me; until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end. Surely Thou didst set them in slippery places: Thou castedst them down into destruction. How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors. As a dream when one awaketh; so, O Lord, when Thou awakest, Thou shalt despise their image. … For, lo, they that are far from Thee shall perish: Thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from Thee. But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all Thy works.” – Psalm 73:16-20,27-28

God will vindicate and be vindicated. Justice will be served. Truth, beauty, goodness, love, and life will endure forever. -- Psalm 33:11, 117:2, 119:160, 135:13, 136:1-26, 145:13; I Peter 1:25

Foreknowledge of God

Have you ever heard this from a believing Christian? “I believe God has foreknowledge, but I think He may choose to not tap into it all the time.” What is that all about? What motivates such a statement? I think that it likely stems from the great difficulty in our minds to accept the fact that God has always known the depths to which evil would sink and still does not do anything to stop it within the timeframe that we think He should.

To help you understand this struggle, let me just ask you a few, potentially disturbing questions.
– Before He created the world and Adam, was God thinking about all the terrible abductions, physical abuses, torturous murders, cannibalistic mutilations, and ridiculous wars that would occur after the Fall?
– Before God said, “Let there be light,” did He realize all that His Son would have to experience at the time of His crucifixion?
– How far in advance did God know that I would have a son who would have a big hole in his heart, scores of needles poked in his body, a ventilator tube shoved down his throat several times, medicines and blood transfusions pumped into his body, a feeding tube inserted through his nostrils and then through his belly, and a surgeon’s knife across his chest, only to die 102 days after his birth?
He is supposed to be a God of love, right? What kind of love is it that allows all this, especially if He knows about it long before it ever occurs? So it seems that some have concluded that God apparently doesn’t think about it unless He wants to.

But have we not read the Holy Bible, the very Word of God? Or have we forgotten what God says of Himself in the writings of Isaiah? “I am the LORD, and there is none else. I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things” (Isaiah 45:6-7). “I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure’” (Isaiah 46:9-10). “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:9). Have we not read the first couple chapters of Job, where God initiates the discussion with Satan that would lead to Job’s great trials? Have we not read of the Holy Spirit’s prophecy concerning Judas hundreds of years before Christ (Psalms 69:25, 109:8; Acts 1:15-26), and that “Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him” (John 6:64)? Have we not noticed that the Lord says, “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending” (Revelation 1:8)? Have we not read? Have we forgotten? Or do we just refuse to believe?

“Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.” – Proverbs 3:5