[Church_of_Christ] Something To Think About
>Picking up where I left off on 5/31.
>Foreknowledge-
decision to be baptized,or to trust Christ,is to place the ground of our
election and calling in us,making our salvation no longer of grace.
>John Wesley,one of the king pins of free willy wrote:We must not think they are because He knows them.No;He knows them because they are.Just as
I{if one may he to compare things of men with the deep things of God}now
know the sun shines:Yet the sun does not shine because I know it,but I
know it because it shines.My knowledge supposes the sun to shine;but does not in any case cause it .In like manner,God knows that man sins;for He knows all things:Yet we we do not sin because he knows it,but He knows it because we sin;and His knowledge supposes our sin,but
does not in anyway cause it.In a word,God,looking on all ages,from the
creation to the consumation,
not believing as if he did not know it at all.
>Leaving aside for the moment the obvious fallacy in Wesley's argument,
that being the comparsion between God's relationship to his creation and
Wesley's relationship to the sun{the crucial distinction being that God is the Creator and Wesley is not},let us focus on Wesley's final statement.
>Men are.........
>This statement immeadetly brings forth the observation the although, according to Wesley,all are free,it is apparent that not all choose to trust Christ.That observation now raises a question that begs for an
answere.If all are free,why do some trust Christ while others reject
Him?The free willy will certaintly answere,"because it is a matter of choice.All are free to choose however they wish".But surely this is to superficial and begs the real question.We must go deeper.Why is it that peole make the choices they do?
>Although the scrip.could not be more plain in announcing the fact that
ther is"NONE THAT DOETH GOOD,NO,NOT ONE".{Rom.3:
THAT SEEKETH AFTER GOD"{Rom 3:11}surley the Scrips.must be wrong on this point.For if our salvation is a matter of our own choice,there must be something good within us that is causing us to seek God.The free willy has no choice but to call God a liar and to deny the inspired
word of God!
>Furthermore,
trust Christ,must necessarily be laching in the person who does not trust Christ.Where then,is the vaunted freedom that the free willy is so
concerend to protect?It is destroyed by his own system.What has happened to human responsibility in the free willy scheme?It does not exist,because the free willy view of freedom has destroyed it.
There is something,whether internal or external,which causes one man to turn to Christ and another to turn away.Most importantly,
Grace is no more.I can now boast in my salvation because there is something within me that my neighbor does not possess.There is something that has enabled me to believe,when my neighbor cannot.There is no grace here.There is salvation based on human merit and ability.
>In the free willy scheme there is something within the creative work of God that has done this.Be it a part of man,or a part of his enviorment,there are forces working on his will.The only question that remains to be answered conserns who or what is impinging on the will.
>The Scrip. tells us that God foreloved his people.He chose them before the foundation of the world.He had mercy on them and made them alive in Christ,even whlie they were yet dead in sins and trespasses and sins.He
took from them their heart of stone and put within them a heart of flesh
so that they might believe.The Scrip. is clear.Absolute free will is a myth.Our will is controlled by something.It is controlled by our fallen nature which blinds us to the things of God and mekes us unable to love
him,or our will has been taken by a loving Father.By His hand,He has
turned us to Him.By His graciousness,
>The free willy really has only 2 choices if he is concerned with con-
sistency.In our final portion we will exmaine those choices.Only 1 is a
bibical option,although many who were once free willy and still refer to
themselves as such have gone in the other direction.
>All the longer I want to make this post,will try and finish tomorrow
or Thru.
Bill.
We don't want to see you go, but if you must, the address is Church_of_Christ-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch format to Traditional
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe
Post a Comment