"In other words, he is telling me that God planned and caused every sin that every man has or will commit." -connectthedots on 5/31/04
You guys have run into trouble, recently, when saying "In other words...".
Don't you think that it might be time for you guys to try something different.
Jean
????
What a contribution.
"Us guys?"
"Run into trouble?"
"Something different?"
I guess it's simply not possible that I was reading the above and had these questions come up based on the sentences that Boettner wrote?
BTW, I found this quote to be interesting: what God foreknows must be as fixed and certain as that which is predestinated. I seem to recall that there was some specualation yesterday or the day before about God having the power to change the past. Some people were boasting about having a better God because of this. There are many many reason why this would be very bad theology. This cite is a good refutation of that kind of speculative theology.
Put simply, or in other words (Oh, dear, did I say that): What God already knows to be, whether past, present or future must be fixed and unchangeable. Otherwise you must concede that God's knowledge changes over time. This is the great error of Boyd and the Open Theists.
The only problem with the not quite in those deep waters Arminians is that the predestination which they hate so much is linked firmly to the absolute foreknowledge of God. In other words (I did it again), their inability to change their destiny does not end by throwing off the doctrine of predestination (that doctrine where God is firmly in control of the destiny of all things). All they have done is make God as helpless a spectator to their fate as they themselves are.
This was one of the things I realized as I have struggled with what predestination really means. It seems that I can either confess a kind of predestination wherein God is in control, or I can confess a kind of predestination wherein God is as helpless as I am. I'd prefer not to have the captain of my soul emasculated. So, I must confess that Jesus Christ is able to bring to pass that which I have committed to Him. This is my hope and stay.
Your brother,
Christian.