Thursday, May 06, 2004
Theological Foray
As I was praying and reading this morning, I got to thinking (which is never a wise idea). I've recently had several Calvinists try and convince me that Predestination is right, and one of their arguments is that God isn't constrained by time.
Something else floating around in my mind was Jim Downing reminding us that God had promised to "remember our sins no more" for believers
Calvinists argue that because God transcends time, and knows everything that is, was, or ever shall be, He is in complete control, as He knows exactly what consequences every action will have, and will not let things happen that violate his Sovereign Will. However, I got to thinking: what if that promise is literally true, rather than just a figure of speech? What if God actually will not know of any sins that we've committed, rather than just assigning them to Christ? As I see it, you've got three things: God, Supernature (angels, demons, etc.), and Nature (for which "Universe" and "Creation" can be synonyms, at least here). The Universe, and at least much of Supernature, was created for the sake of Man. This includes time. While time exists, God knows how we were, how we are, and how we will be all at once. While He knows all, it may be that despite the fact that He also knows all possibilities, He still gives us free will to accept or reject Him. At the end, time will be destroyed, and all that will be left is how things are. Those that are unrighteous will be away from God, in what we call "forever," despite there not being any more time. Those who are righteous will be with God. As there is no more time, our past simply does not exist. God will not remember because our sins do not exist once time has been abolished.
Now, I don't really have Scripture quotes for this yet, but I'm working on it. So far as I know, this doesn't violate my understanding of the Bible. This argument, by itself, doesn't prove that God gives us free will, but simply provides a scenario where free will doesn't violate God's will. Also, I don't think this is a new argument. I think that it's been widely understood, and to such an extent as to not seem to be necessary to state over and over again. It's as though I walked outside and said "There's air outside!" Well, duh. However, I could be straying way off into the realms of heresy, too, so any critiques and comments would be appreciated. I'm happy to clarify, and to retract if I'm wrong.
As I was praying and reading this morning, I got to thinking (which is never a wise idea). I've recently had several Calvinists try and convince me that Predestination is right, and one of their arguments is that God isn't constrained by time.
Something else floating around in my mind was Jim Downing reminding us that God had promised to "remember our sins no more" for believers
Calvinists argue that because God transcends time, and knows everything that is, was, or ever shall be, He is in complete control, as He knows exactly what consequences every action will have, and will not let things happen that violate his Sovereign Will. However, I got to thinking: what if that promise is literally true, rather than just a figure of speech? What if God actually will not know of any sins that we've committed, rather than just assigning them to Christ? As I see it, you've got three things: God, Supernature (angels, demons, etc.), and Nature (for which "Universe" and "Creation" can be synonyms, at least here). The Universe, and at least much of Supernature, was created for the sake of Man. This includes time. While time exists, God knows how we were, how we are, and how we will be all at once. While He knows all, it may be that despite the fact that He also knows all possibilities, He still gives us free will to accept or reject Him. At the end, time will be destroyed, and all that will be left is how things are. Those that are unrighteous will be away from God, in what we call "forever," despite there not being any more time. Those who are righteous will be with God. As there is no more time, our past simply does not exist. God will not remember because our sins do not exist once time has been abolished.
Now, I don't really have Scripture quotes for this yet, but I'm working on it. So far as I know, this doesn't violate my understanding of the Bible. This argument, by itself, doesn't prove that God gives us free will, but simply provides a scenario where free will doesn't violate God's will. Also, I don't think this is a new argument. I think that it's been widely understood, and to such an extent as to not seem to be necessary to state over and over again. It's as though I walked outside and said "There's air outside!" Well, duh. However, I could be straying way off into the realms of heresy, too, so any critiques and comments would be appreciated. I'm happy to clarify, and to retract if I'm wrong.
