Posted on 12/23/2003 9:25:31 AM PST by P-Marlowe
Don't know for sure.
I heard that, and someone else added that it is not possible to get a pilot's license if one has a history of using that kind of drug.
I asked my airline captain 25 year-old son this question and he said that you cannot be an airline pilot if you are taking ADD type medication.
I think it goes even farther than that. If God were to catch you up to Heaven and then show you your life in toto, you would see thaat even your future decisions and choices are already known and accounted for, before you have even made them. He could show you something from 5, 10, 20 years in the future in your life, in minute detail, wrong choices and all, just as easily as He could show you details from your childhood that you don't even remember anymore. It is ALL Foreknown to Him, in minute detail.
As I pointed out before, When God considered creating His Creation, He was minutely and intimately aware of all possible choices and actions in all possible creations, and in creating this creation, the choices and decisions and actions of those who would inhabit it were decided and set at the time He created it. Each inhabitant fulfills the function they were predestined to fulfill. That in no way removes responsibility for those actions from the ones doing them, because the inhabitants do not know the end from the beginning, and therefore must actually DO those actions and choices and decisions that God has Foreseen and Foreordained by the very act of creating this specific creation.
Every decision, choice, and action you take or make is based on what has gone before, which presents certain choices and decisions that might not be the same, had what has gone before happened differently. And, every decision, choice and action you make or take affects that which comes after, by presenting certain choices, options, and ideas that are based on and flow from those actions, choices, and decisions. So actions, decisions, and choices are based in great measure on cause and effect, which is central to this creation. God could have created a world in which cause and effect did not reign, and it would be a very different creation indeed, with a much different history and destiny.
What usually happens, is that those who don't accept this will cry that we're saying that God "decrees" people to sin, as though he were in Heaven saying, "I've decided that John will be an adulterer, , and Mary will be a drug addict, and Bob will be a thief. So let it be written, so let it be done. I decree it to be as I have said." Nothing could be further from the truth! God knows that, given the circumstances that John will come into, he will act on the temptation to become an adulterer, that Mary will become a drug addict, that Bob will become a thief, because of the circumstances in their lives, which were shaped by the choices and decisions of the past, not only of themselves, but of others. Given that God has ordained their lives to start when they did, how they did, and where they did, and by whom they were conceived, it is inevitable, from God's perspective, that they will in fact become those things, do those things. It is from such as these that God chooses to save some of them, predestining them to salvation by His choice, and they are Elect unto salvation by God's choice, and not by John, Mary, or Bob's choice. Therefore, God's interventions into His creation are foreordained at the time of Creation, by the very fact that He chose to save some at the time He chose to create this creation. If God did not intervene, NO ONE would be saved.
I just remembered on the CHL (Concealed Handgun Lic.) application, the question asks if one has been on such medication ("Yes"=No CHL)
Anybody who bought a handgun from a dealer remember if that question is on the yellow sheet?
1) Do you think God knows when you will die and how?
...nor yesterday's question...
2) Are your sermons, Pastor, inspired by God?
I answered your question. But I'll oblige you one more time if I wasn't clear enough, (being a "two-parter," and all) and continue to hope you answer mine.
Just like God made black people and white people and the Green Party and the Lavender Mob and the Yellow Jacket and fir trees and scorpions and sunny afternoons and earthquakes and ice storms and pimples and butter and Charles Manson and Mother Teresa and John Calvin and John Wesley and Bill Clinton, HE MADE EVERYTHING to carry out His divine will.
He ordained John to write "inspired" Scripture and He ordained me to struggle along with my three-year-old Toshiba laptop and write for money to pay the mortgage and feed our children.
A rose is not a thorn, but both are made by God and both do just as He wills.
So while you would hope that I would answer "my paltry musings are as significant as were the holy writ of John," I cannot do that. A rose is not a thorn. But both exist to glorify God.
The Calvinist secret is that because I KNOW THIS TO BE TRUE, I try to write everyday as if God were my collaborator. Because He is.
And He doesn't even ask for a split of the residuals.
Such a deal.
Now your answers?
For the simple reason that God knows whom He has chosen unto salvation, and the Calvinist doesn't.
Not only that, but we are commanded to preach the Gospel to every living creature, which points back to my previous sentence.
The preaching of the Gospel is the means by which God gathers His Elect unto Himself.
I have my arms extended and I'm feeling the love, hypocrite XZins.
Come-on, you are supposed to ignore me! Now do as you promised and pretend I never exist.
I grow on you, don't I? Come-on, admit it. I do, don't I?. You can't help it. Your free will keeps drawing you back for more. You can't control it, you really have to respond, right?
heh,heh,heh
Does He erase what He willed from the foundation of the world?
He must be plenty busy with rewrites. Think of all that red ink and piles of eraser crumbs. Whew.
Doesn't it seem clearer to START with the supposition that God has laid out His plan for His creation from before time according to His will, and work back, trying to understand everything else from that perspective?
The greatest truth should be the first truth we use to measure all else.
Quite true, but usually, people use those methods quietly and without fanfare. they just cope. they do what they must, in order to accomplish what they can. My point is, the self-aggrandizement and touting of all of your attributes, whether grand or base, serve no useful purpose to anyone else here. Maybe it makes you feel better, but it comes off as though you need affirmation and confirmation from others that you are truly as wonderful as you seem to think you are. It borders on narcissistic, CTD, and is really quite boring.
For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.(Rom 12:3)Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. (Phi 2:3)
Quickly, because I owe you.
1. God's sovereignty, God's foreknowledge, and the realness of my decisions all interact according to some design of God. My tendency is to say, "of course." But I have a tiny reservation when I say it. (You weren't expecting honesty, were you?) Somehow a real decision of an individual fits into the framework. The issue of time that P-Marlowe proposes might provide the answer that allows for real decisions on the part of humans.
2. If you mean in the sense of scripture, then no, they are not inspired. If you mean do I think God assists me in unseen ways as I prepare and deliver, then the answer is "yes," and sometimes despite myself.
You did not answer my question. I asked you: how the control God exercised over holy scripture is different from the control he exercises over your writings?
It's not a gotcha. I'm curious how you see it since you think God wrote everything into His plan...to include the words that you write.
I think men too often try to read meanings and intentions into the statements of others, that while marginally justifiable, are not within the intent of the author. This is called 'parsing'. Some of it done with malicious and devious intent; or it could be merely an unintentional misunderstanding.
In a nutshell, I cannot reconcile that God fordained/predestined every sin committed by every man while also maintaining that man is responsible for all his sins.
I also have been pretty clear that in 'special circumstances', God did cause men to sin in particular ways in order to make his power and Glory known to mankind for all time. Di God predestine that Judas would betray Christ? Absolutely. It is also arguable that Judas repented of his sins by trying to return the money and then taking his own life.
I do think that one can reconcile the two opposing positions regarding predestination in some situations and man's ability to choose or reject the Gospel message. To me, there is no logical inconsistency.
We're all grown-ups. Everyone's words are attributed to their name. Nothing's anonymous.
Pre-publication edits go against the grain of Calvinists and all upholders of the First Amendment.
DO YOU THINK GOD KNOWS THE DATE OF YOUR DEATH AND THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF IT?
"Some design of God's" answers every question in existence and we might as well not have a religion forum. Let's both try to be a little more "honest."
Hint: It's a Yes/No question, like "Are your eyes shut" or "Is it raining outside your window?"
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.