Posted on 11/17/2009 11:13:30 AM PST by Gamecock
Reading through this several times I'm not sure of your point. If you are saying the angels have "free will", then the fall is not a one time thing. There is the potential for an angel to fall again and will be for all eternity. Likewise, if you apply this to us, what you are saying is that we will have free will in heaven. In other words, after we go to heaven, we have the opportunity to fall. This is NOT at all consistent with scripture.
God created all. Eve, seduced by the serpent, took the fruit.
Eve was not seduced. She was deceived. BTW-Christians are warned not to be deceived as Eve was. We can fall into sin apart from our free will.
This is another rationalization in order to reconcile the Calvinist predestination with events as laid out in Scripture.
Sorry, I'm not sure what Calvin's position is on this matter. This is how I read the scriptures. I think it makes perfect sense now. For 33 years prior to my understanding of Calvinism it didn't.
The difference is between foreknowledge and predestination. Jesus did not command Judas as in predestining him, but told him as man to man to lets get it over with. Vast difference.
No, I would say Jesus told him God to devil. Please remember that Satan entered Judas to betray Christ. Judas, BTW, was still responsible for his actions even though he was under the control of Satan.
God cannot predestine AND people be responsible for their actions.
I think its a bit presumptuous to say what God can and cannot do. God can do whatever He wants and whatever He does is perfectly just and holy. If He decided tomorrow to flood the world and wipe out everyone here, then that is perfectly just regardless of what we may think. That aside, we know that God predestined man for the Lake of Fire. He created the cause of man's fall and the judgment of that fall.
The question you may be trying to grapple with is why would God predestine some to heaven while letting others go to hell? That fact that He does should make it clear that this is the way God operates. Man cannot understand what divine mercy and love is, if we do not understand what divine judgment is. There must be judgment on some for others to understand mercy.
Then what about those predestined to be casted into the Lake of Fire? We are a bit naive to think that everyone wants to go to heaven if they just understood the gospel message. This is poppycock. There is scriptural evidence that those who are cast into the Lake of Fire would be far more content there than in heaven-as difficult as that is to fathom. There are some who simply would rather reign in hell than to serve in heaven. God is just with everyone and merciful with some.
Please tell me about type x theory and more importantly please tell me why a firefighter would enter a burning building risking his life.
Paraphrasing Flounder, Oh boy this is going to be great!
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