Tim Hawes's blog

Well, this subject, I believe, is really not up for interpretation.The culture we live in is the very air we breathe. And so very often when we come across something we know does not jive with our 'cultural sensibilities', we inadvertently twist Scripture into something that matches our cultural sensibilities. Add to this the general anti-intellectualism of modern evangelical Christianity, and you get a hodge podge, Pepsi-generation, 'touchy-feely' theology that is not consistent with Scripture.

I don't think anyone here would argue that God is not really sovereign. So now that we all agree that God is sovereign, how many of you are willing to explore the ramifications of this truth deeply, leaving your culturally 'feel-good' thinking behind? If you dare to do this, you will be shocked at the truth, and even more perplexed than you were when you first began.

I cannot find it spelled out as clearly as Paul does in Romans 9:10-13:

"10 And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac 11 (for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls), 12 it was said to her, “The older shall serve the younger.”[d] 13 As it is written, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.”"

You can kick and scream, and say that is not fair, but Paul says in verses 14-18:

14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! 15 For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.”[f] 16 So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.”[g] 18 Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens.

Whoa! He hardens people to eternal damnation? But why? Doesn' t that make us like robots? God did not want robots, did He? Surely we have some free will. Paul continues in verses 19

19 You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?” 20 But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?

There were no robots in Paul's day, but I do not know how one can describe an automaton more succinctly than clay in the potter's hand.

Now before you start screaming 'fatalist!, hyper-Calvinist! heresy!' hear me out. Note, that I have only quoted Scripture, and not much else.

Genesis 1 teaches us that God created time. We are used to the idea that God created everything in six days. The early Church fathers believed that God created everything in an instant. In essence, this really makes sense when you think that there was a time when time did not exist (if we can conceptualize this seemingly contradictory statement).

God exists outside the realm of time. He is all-in-all, yesterday, today, and forever more. God never changes because there is no moment of time to God. When he created the things that exist, He created them from beginning to end, in an instant. Creation then is just a record of God forming things within the realm of time.

From this standpoint, one at once can not conclude anything other than that God predestined and foreordained all things before they ever happened. This is consistent with what Paul says that it does not depend on man who believes, but God who predestined.

There are other Scripture references that seem to indicate that man's will is free to choose. Like Joshua 24:15:

15 And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

or even John 3:16 seems to indicate some free will on our behalf.

16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

or John 15:6-7

6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will[a] ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.

This is because man is finite. Man inhabits the created realm of time, and cannot hypothesize much beyond this realm. To God, all existence is as He created it, forever, amen. To man, all existence is pure possibility. We do not know the future. We can never know the future, nor interpret it outside of God's covenant.