Predestination vs. Free Will.
Last Friday my friends and I had a discussion about Calvanisim and the ideas of Predestination and Free Will. That combined with today's Verse of the Day on MySpace prompted me to write this. Today's Verse of the Day is:
He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to those who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.
-John 1: 11-12 (NIV)
Calvanists everywhere may be saying .... see! "He gave the right!!!" But why, I ask? Why did he 'give the right'? Because they beleived. Because they made that choice to believe. To believe in something implies choice. You have the ability to accept or deny it.
Let me ask something else. If God predestined all of us, he would have known that these who were "his own" would reject him and would not have gone to them, right? However, "He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him." He went to them. Why? What would have been the point if he already knew he would be rejected? Because our destiny is not predetermined. Everyone has or will eventually have the chance to hear about and receive the Gospel, to receive Christ. It is a choice one will make to receive him or not receive him. And like this verse tells us, those who receive him have the right to become children of God.
Our God is a loving God; this is why He sent his son to us.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
-John 3:16 (NIV)
A well-known, yet powerful, verse. Why would a God who already knows our fate send his son to earth to be tortured and crucified for us? He wouldn't. He loves us; he does not wish us to be damned to Hell; He would not create us knowing that we would reject him and we would end up in Hell.
We are his creation; we have the choice to accept him. We have that will; a Free Will.
Amazing what a simple verse will spark, is it not?
And yes, input is welcomed.
He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to those who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.
-John 1: 11-12 (NIV)
Calvanists everywhere may be saying .... see! "He gave the right!!!" But why, I ask? Why did he 'give the right'? Because they beleived. Because they made that choice to believe. To believe in something implies choice. You have the ability to accept or deny it.
Let me ask something else. If God predestined all of us, he would have known that these who were "his own" would reject him and would not have gone to them, right? However, "He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him." He went to them. Why? What would have been the point if he already knew he would be rejected? Because our destiny is not predetermined. Everyone has or will eventually have the chance to hear about and receive the Gospel, to receive Christ. It is a choice one will make to receive him or not receive him. And like this verse tells us, those who receive him have the right to become children of God.
Our God is a loving God; this is why He sent his son to us.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
-John 3:16 (NIV)
A well-known, yet powerful, verse. Why would a God who already knows our fate send his son to earth to be tortured and crucified for us? He wouldn't. He loves us; he does not wish us to be damned to Hell; He would not create us knowing that we would reject him and we would end up in Hell.
We are his creation; we have the choice to accept him. We have that will; a Free Will.
Amazing what a simple verse will spark, is it not?
And yes, input is welcomed.