In the few years I’ve been studying Calvinism, I’ve come across four major questions that are the hard ones for Calvinism to answer:
1. Did God create sin?
2. Does God choose some men to be damned? (or the reverse: Is unconditional election for salvation true?)
3. Does God ordain each moment, thought, and action (not just “big” things, “sacred” things, or salvation)?
4. Am I responsible to seek God’s one will for my life, instead of just seeking and choosing ‘good’ options?
Here are some of my response questions:
1. What is goodness, and where does it come from?
2. What is life, and where does it come from?
3. What is love, and where does it come from?
To God be all glory.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
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1 comment:
hi lisa. we dont really know each other but ive seen you post at my bro brian ivesters blog and came over for a look. i found your calvinism post interesting and wanted to give a few possible thots as a former calvinist.
1. sin is not a created thing. it doesnt exist in any proper sense of the word. its something created things do. things created things do arent created things.
2. does the second necessitate the first? if god unconditionally elects some does it necessarily mean he actively and purposefully damns others? maybe theres another option.
3. ordained is such a powerful word. it certainly carries a heavy connotation of direct active involvement. so howd satan get here? his being must have been ordained no? how could god not ordain a creature he himself created?
and if satan is ordained it seems to follow that any and all other creatures or objects with existence are likewise ordained.
that said - moments and thots and actions are not things. and so we look back to question 1 above.
4. being convinced that many people do good and bad things with discordant motives i believe its far more important to consider responsibility for why we do what we do.
response qs:
1. perhaps this question should be considered after the following two?
2. gods name may give a clue on this one. i am derives from the same hebrew root as to be. it has every connotation of essence and being.
3. considering god as the essence and source of life seems to lead to the idea that whoever bestows life is acting in love. and if whoever bestows life is acting in love then it would follow that such a being is good.
perhaps this may reconcile jesus statement that only god is good with johns statement that god is love.
idk if any of these thots may spur your own but as you consider calvinism they are worth thinking thru.
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