Adam & Eve...Predestined To Sin?

The next few posts, I want to run some thought experiments...they deal with the issues of inconsistency in reference to our Calvinist brothers and sisters...

Not having the perspective of God Himself, I by no means claim a dogmatic declaration that my Arminian view is correct, but I want to at least put a "stone in the shoe"* of the Calvinist viewpoint, and make them think about some inconsistent doctrines they hold...I could give many examples and even point out tons of Scripture, but that will just lead to the prooftexting battle that has already gone on for centuries...so I want to take a more philosophical approach...

Calvinist will say the following: "God created Adam and Eve for a relationship with Himself, but their sin brought an end to that. God became an object of hostility to them and to us (Romans 8.7), and we all became 'objects of wrath' (Ephesians 2.3) to Him." **

Stone In The Shoe Response: If the Calvinist view is correct, then this means by default, that God predestined, and thus determined Adam and Eve to sin...God determined for the human race to be hostile towards Himself...God determined humans to be "objects of wrath."

Yet, at the same time, Calvinist will claim that God is good, loving, and perfect...which He is...but, by being good, loving, and perfect, God can not be the author of evil and sin.

Friends, how do Calvinist sleep at night? I don't see any way around this...if God is the screenwriter of determinism and predestination, then He deliberately chose Adam and Eve to sin and thus desired the human race to be separated from Himself...

Prooftext all you want, try to cherry pick your Scripture references of election (election will be discussed next) all day long, but that is simply skimming the surface instead of obtaining a deeper and more contextual understanding...

...but on the other hand, when one views Scripture as a WHOLE instead of pieces and parts, God's true character shines through...He is a God who desires***, but does not will us to love Him...thus, because of our choosing, we became objects of wrath, not because He determined it...as a result, through the incarnation, Christ becomes the Author and Perfecter of our Faith, sent on a rescue mission to redeem our incorrect choice of lust, not to cover up his predetermined plan of sin...

The next post will deal with choosing and rejecting God...What exactly does "elect" mean, and Do we have a choice in all of this?

*Greg Koukl, in his amazing book Tactics, (a MUST read for all followers of Jesus Christ) discusses this great concept of "putting a stone in their shoe." Greg is of the Reformed/Calvinist persuasion. Again, I love Calvinist, and I learn from them...I am simply trying to put a "stone in their shoe!"
**This is an excerpt from a fabulous book, The 5 Minute Theologian. Again, the author is Reformed, so it is a great book, I just happen to disagree with The Doctrine of Salvation from the inconsistent Calvinist viewpoint.
***You may claim I am prooftexting here, but I simply provide this link to show that my philosophical viewpoints are grounded in Scripture, not my own opinions.

No Chance For Chance

I was curious this morning, as I am most mornings, and I was hoping someone, specifically a naturalist, or perhaps a group of evolutionary biologists, could help me understand the pictures above.

How is it that the architecture of the PowerMac computer MUST have a designer responsible for it's creation, and that anyone with a sound mind knows that there is NO way, that it could have been put together by random events...but when some people see images from the human anatomy and think about life as we know it, they actually come to a conclusion that we are nothing more than the products of time and chance?

...there is no chance for chance...

The sooner everyone realizes this, the sooner our world will improve. Belief in evolution and naturalism does not simply stop at the discussion of origins, it bleeds into the outcomes of our decisions. The way we view and understand God shapes every fabric of life...

...it's time to stop believing in science fiction.

...Jesus is Truth. Jesus is reality.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made;
without him nothing was made that has been made.
~ John 1.1-3 ~

Loving God With All Your Mind

Wanted to follow up the last blog post with a few thoughts on Luke 10.27 and the emphasis on loving God with all our mind...

• Loving God with all of our mind would facilitate Followers of Jesus Christ in the re-shaping of culture from secular to sacred...

This is so important because understanding and loving God with our mind leads to an understanding of Christian truth...and Christian truth is the truth of reality...therefore, if there is a lack of mental discipline, then our understanding of truth goes from objective to subjective (the famous cry of "what is true for you may not be true for me.")...and a subjective truth is the foundational issue to most political, social, and cultural problems we face today...i.e. political correctness...so we need to get back to the objective truth and away from postmodern relativism...

• Knowing and Loving God with our mind is a benefit, not a detractor...when it comes to the mind and knowledge of God, some will go as far to say that knowledge takes away our need for faith...this is not true, because faith and knowledge are not enemies of each other...they complement each other...one strengthens the other...

...if knowledge is harmful to our faith, then that would mean any evidence whatsoever for Jesus Christ would actually be a bad thing...even General and Special Revelation...why would anyone believe or have faith in something in which they have no reason for believing it?...the anti-intellectualism has to stop...as important as experience and feelings are, we must base them off of truth...what happens when your friend or family member does not "feel" the need for God? Does that mean that they don't need Him? Of course not...our feelings should not be our spiritual compass...

...the Buddhist, the Hindu, Jehovah Witnesses, Mormons, atheist, etc, all have a faith in something, they all have fuzzy feelings, and feel good experiences, but that does not mean what they believe is true...The Christian on the other hand has a world view that lines up with reality...

• I am not saying we have to be sold out on Evidentialism, because I am a firm believer in The Holy Spirit and how He reveals truth...I also believe that most of what we believe as true is not something that has to proven with empirical evidence. (i.e. Love, Aesthetics and beauty, morality, thoughts, etc)

• I do want to stress what another Biola professor has stated, when he says, "our picture of God in written revelation should harmonize with what we already know about God from natural revelation." And that is precisely what The Christian, Biblical, Trinitarian God does!

• people may quote 1 Corinthians 8.1, and state that "knowledge puffs up," but I love the rebuttal J.P. Moreland gives, "If knowledge “puffs up”, the solution is not IGNORANCE. The solution is HUMILITY."

[Jesus] answered: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and,
'Love your neighbor as yourself."' ~ Luke 10.27~

Three Ways Christians Must Change

Here is a must read blog entry...it's a real quick read, titled, Three Ways Christians Must Change...it references J.P. Moreland, distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the Talbot School of Theology at Biola University.

Moreland holds degrees in Chemistry, Theology, and Philosophy...he also wrote a book (among many others) that should be required reading for all Christ Followers, called Love God With All Your Mind.