The Pendulum: Predestination and Free Will

This is one issue where I sit squarely in the middle.

If I'm correct, it's Calvinism which states that God predestines and saves (ie. he chose those who would be his people before the beginning of time and graciously enables them to respond to the gospel). Therefore, following Jesus is entirely his work. He chose you, you didn't choose him. God chooses whom he has mercy and compassion on and following him depends not on human effort, but on God's mercy. Passages such as Ephesians 1:4-12, Romans 8:28-30, Romans 9:14-18 and Acts 13:48 support this.

For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ. In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. - Ephesians 1:4-12

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. - Romans 8:28-30

What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: "I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth." Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. - Romans 9:14-18

When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honoured the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed. - Acts 13:48

Arminianism on the other hand believe that man has free will and can choose whether to follow God or not. Yes, God 'draws' a person to himself, but they can still choose to turn their backs on him. God takes the initiative, but man must respond. There are many verses which are clear that man has free will. We are not puppets. We can resist God if we want to. The Bible is full of warnings for believers not to fall away. We can choose to disobey and stop trusting Jesus for salvation.

And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book. - Revelation 22:19

Also, Jesus himself commands mankind to respond to him, showing we can either accept or reject Christ.

That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. - Romans 10:9

..."Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved - you and your household." - Acts 16:31

There are heaps of other verses along these lines. I'm happy for someone to offer better definitions by the way.

I believe predestination and free will go hand in hand and although it seems like they contradict each other, the Bible affirms both truths. The problems lies where the pendulum swings to far to either side.

The problem with only believing in predestination:

• The 'once saved, always saved' stance where some believers treat Jesus as a kind of heavenly insurance policy and that how they live right now doesn't matter.
• A refusal to take responsibility for one's actions, believing God destined it to happen so it must be ok.
• A lack of desire to do evangelism because they believe that all God has appointed for eternal life will come to faith eventually because he has predestined it so we don't have to do anything.
• Believing that God cannot hold anyone to account for he only predestined some people for eternal life. Therefore, those he didn't predestine cannot be held responsible for rebelling against God because they were powerless against not sinning.
  

The problem with only believing in free will:

• We can forget that God enabled us to respond to him by his grace and start thinking we chose him by our own intelligence or wisdom. Therefore, we start thinking we're superior than people who are not followers of Christ.
• We can stop trusting in a sovereign God who has everything under his control and is according to his good purpose and start believing we have more power than we do.

I know it's confusing about how the two go together. It's like prayer. God knows what's going to happen yet somehow prayer changes things. God knows who is going to turn to him yet we are responsible for telling the good news to all who will listen because we don't know who God has predestined. God did not make us to be robots who blindly follow his will; he wants us to willingly live his way, yet we are powerless under the bondage of sin and we need his Spirit dwelling within us. I remember the two years prior to when I became a Christian, and I could feel God 'drawing' me to himself. Yet I kept resisting his call. I fought against it. He knew I would eventually turn to him, but I did feel the tension. I chose to ignore him, yet he knew I wouldn't trust Jesus until October 2001. We are chosen yet we can choose to walk away from Jesus. No-one can come before God and claim to be innocent because God didn't predestine them. We are powerless against sin's bondage yet we willfully choose to sin. We have the choice, yet we cannot choose God unless he chooses us.

There is a t-shirt you can buy which on one side says I chose this t-shirt and other side it says This t-shirt chose me. If I were to buy a shirt, I would buy one that says I chose this t-shirt AND this t-shirt chose me on the front. In my opinion, those who argue either entirely for predestination or entirely free will are foolish. It's both.

I'm a Theoblogian!

Back in 2004, I did an external theology unit called Introduction to the Bible through Moore College in Sydney with some fellow students from the Christian Union at my uni. We studied together and then sat the (optional) exam at the end of the term.

In 2005, when I was working full-time, I decided to do the next unit in the Preliminary Certificate of Theology which was New Testament 1. I hadn't done any units since then.....until now.

At the end of last year, I finally got around to enrolling for the next unit, Old Testament 1. This unit involves studying the pentaceuch (the first five books of the Bible). Despite being a Christian for over eight years now, I've never sat down and read Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy from beginning to end. There's some fascinating and mind-boggling stuff in those books and I'm learning heaps.

So why am I studying towards a theology certificate (which I'll finish in about two decades, I'm sure)? There are several reasons:

• I've said many times on here that God's Word is important, yet I'm a hypocrite because I don't read it enough. I'm not talking about becoming legalistic, I'm talking about developing a real love for God through what he has revealed through the Scriptures. I want to be captivated, not lukewarm.
• I don't want head knowledge; I want real life changes to occur. I want what I'm learning to impact my life. Otherwise I'm just puffing myself up.
• I want to share what I'm learning with others by either inspiring them to do more study themselves or to help them read and understand the Bible better. I don't consider myself a great teacher or a great leader, but I'm opening myself up to God and saying, "Use me..."
• Certain conversations have made me more wary about the number of false teachers within the church. I don't want to be tossed about like a wave by whatever teaching I hear. I want to stand firm in the truth of the gospel.

If you want to go to Bible college in some way, but don't want to do a full-on degree, then I highly recommend doing some external studies through Moore. You can study at home at your own pace, but they also offer online support where you can interact with other external students via online forums. If the word 'theology' makes you freak out, it need not. Anyone can study these units; they are not for academics, they are for the average joe. Let me encourage you to give one a go. Visit the external studies website for more information.
Maybe I'll be able to answer my own questions on Calling All Theoblogians soon......or maybe not, that's what I need you all for. :)

Bible Verse of the Day

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.
2 Timothy 3:16

Christmas and Boxing Day

Each Christmas we alternate between our two families. 2007 (when we were engaged) was our first Christmas together and we spent it in Albany with my family. In 2008, we spent our first Christmas as a married couple with Duncan's family in Dunsborough. For 2009 we were back in Albany.

As nice as it is having a family-in-law, 2008 was strange because it was my first Christmas without my family and I'm sure 2007 was just as strange for Duncan. Last year, he was much more familiar with how my family celebrates from having present opening together to wearing a silly hat at lunchtime.

Boxing Day was spent out at Frenchman Bay, one of my favourite spots. Emma and Peter joined us as did a few other friends briefly and we spent the day picnicking, swimming, walking along the beach and having a nice long chat in between swatting the many unwelcome march flies.

Emma and Peter are going to be parents in July. So so EXCITING!

Book Recommendations

Although I have a pile of unread books under my bed, I am always on the lookout for interesting reading material. Reading widely inspires my own writing.

So, I would love for you to suggest some books for me to read. Christian or secular, I don't mind. What books have you particularly enjoyed and would like to recommend to me?

List as many as you like.....please list away.

5 Things I Like About Summer

Ho ho ho, I bet some people are thinking. Sarah liking anything about summer?!?

Yes, it's a well known fact that I'm not a summer person. However, I thought it's better to start with some positives before I have my '5 Things I Don't Like About Summer' rant later. :)

1. Beach!
2. Lazy evening barbecues with friends.
3. Less clothes to put on in the mornings.
4. More space in my suitcase when travelling because summer clothes are less bulky.
5. The washing dries in two seconds!

What do you like about summer?

Marriage 101: Date Night

Like many young couples, especially those who are Christian, we did a marriage preparation course prior to our wedding. It involved meeting up with our pastor and his wife on a regular basis to go through five or six different challenges we will face as a married couple. On one of these occasions, they encouraged us to have a regular 'date night'.

I had heard date nights mentioned by my married friends, but I really didn't have much of a clue as to what they involved. Basically, they involve a couple setting aside one night of the week to spend together, alone and uninterrupted. Whatever a couple chose to do together on this night was up to them, but this was their night to focus on their relationship in the midst of the busyness around them.

Many of my city friends have date nights. When I moved to the country, the concept seemed foreign to many people. They couldn't understand why they would need one or what the benefits were. When I was single, I was quick to misunderstand the challenges married couples have to work through in order to spend quality time together. Once I was out with a newly married friend when she commented that she really should be going home soon as she needed to spend time with her husband. I was thinking, "Ummmm, you're married. Don't you see each other every day?" Now that I'm married, I can see where she was coming from and I admire her and her husband because they are strict about designating time to spend together. It doesn't always work amidst life's interruptions, but they are good at working out what is an 'emergency' and what/who can wait for another night. It's too easy when you're married to see each other but not really spend any time together and you can easily end up living like flatmates, your main topics of conversation being bills and grocery shopping. Yes, I think date nights are a necessity in the city and highly recommended for the country. Country life may be slower, but it's easy to get bogged down by other people and things which just seem to pop up on the calendar.

My pastor encouraged us to set aside the same night each week otherwise it is easy to make compromises. His advice was not to watch TV but to spend time interacting with each other. Duncan and I don't heed this rule; we watch TV or movies regularly on our date night. I think each couple need to make their own 'rules'. Go out for dinner, enjoy a candelit dinner at home, get dressed up for no reason other than to look nice for each other, play boardgames, read aloud to each other, study the Bible, sit and chat, go to the movies, play sport...or do something else *wink wink*.

But the golden rule above all others is that this is a night for you....not family time. Put the kids to bed early or get a babysitter. Don't answer the phone or make calls. This has been an issue of contention for Duncan and I. In the first few months of our marriage, we neglected to have a date night and we found our nights were being taken up with calling people or having them call us. Then one of us would be spending half an hour or more on the phone trying to maintain long distance relationships with friends or family. It really got to me after a while; as much as I want to keep in touch with people, we are not at their beck and call. Duncan likes phone conversations much more than me and even now, he still automatically goes to answer the phone on our date night which gets my goat sometimes. Ignore the phone. Whoever it is can leave a message. We've never had an instance where the person has been calling due to an emergency; they usually just want to chat. If it's an emergency, fair enough, but other people should just respect your time together, especially if they already know it's your date night and call anyway.

But there will be instances where you may have to change your date night to another night of the week either temporarily or permanently. Originally ours was on Monday nights, but we changed it to Thursday because of netball. Sometimes we've had visitors who've been staying with us so we just changed it to another night for that week. If someone has a birthday, then of course we'll go; we'll just make sure we have a date night on another night. But don't deliberately invite people over for dinner on your date night.

Honestly, our date night has been a great blessing to us and we're grateful to the wise counsel we received before marriage and after. Having a date night is not selfish, that is what was stressed to us. A marriage is a bond worth maintaining. It's too easy in this day and age to just let it fall apart.

Do you have a date night? What sorts of activities do you like to do with your spouse (please keep it G rated ;) ). What challenges have you faced trying to have a weekly date night?