Predestination: Cruel or kind? - or - Predestined for freedom!

Predestination is one of the most hotly debated topics within Christianity. Churches, families, denominations and friendships have been split up and ruined because people cannot seem to agree on whether we choose God or God chooses us. So I am going to start by saying that you can TOTALLY disagree with me on what I am about to say and still be my friend. Please still be my friend! Having said that, you may ask, "Well if this is such a touchy topic, then why write on it at all, Nick?" Well here are my reasons for writing on this particular subject. There are at least 3:

1. I believe that the FULL glory of God is at stake within this doctrine. More on that later.

2. I think that many Christians are hostile towards this doctrine because it is misunderstood and often misrepresented. I do not necessarily aim to change your mind if you disagree. However, I do aim to give a clear, fair, and accurate presentation of predestination and election.

3. I find that this doctrine of predestination/election (pretty much the same thing, just different words) gives me so much hope, joy, peace and courage. This is such an amazing, glorious truth (I believe) that I can't help but share it with you!

First, a definition so that we understand what is being talked about. The doctrine of predestination states that before the foundation of the world was laid, before time ever existed, before anything, God chose those who would be His children. He planned in advance those whom he would save from hell, those who would become Christians. 

I want to start by showing that this is a biblical doctrine. This is not something that people just made up to get everyone all riled up. It is in the bible.

"And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed." ~ Acts 13:48

"To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints." ~ Romans 1:7 (Notice that not everyone is called to be a Saint.)

"For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in oder that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. An those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified." ~ Romans 8:28-30

"What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! For he says to Moses, 'I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.' So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy." ~ Romans 9:14-16 (All of Romans 9 is very helpful.)

"Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In LOVE he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved." ~ Ephesians 1:4-6

"In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will..." ~ Ephesians 1:11

"And all who dwell on earth will worship it (the beast), everyone whose name has not been written BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD in the book of life of the Lamb that was slain." ~ Revelation 13:8

This is just a sampling of verses. There are many more, but I don't have room. But, I think that we can gather from these verses that God does in fact predestine people to be His children. 

Now, some people have said to me, "But that just isn't fair. How can God still be a loving God and then go and chose some people to save and not others?" Here is my answer to that. The fact is, folks, that absolutely none of us deserve to be saved from hell anyway. We all deserve hell for eternity! (Rom. 3:23; 6:23) In fact, if God was going to be totally fair, he would just let us all go to hell and get what we deserved. That would be absolutely fair! But he doesn't! He lovingly chooses some of us to save from eternal punishment. Why? I don't know, but he does! 

But someone else will say to me, "But then God is playing favorites!" No he isn't. Just because God chooses someone does not mean that he has to chose anyone else. Once again, we are all equally wicked and equally deserving of eternal punishment. But God decides who he will save. Ephesians 1 says this when it says that, "... he chose us according to the purpose of HIS will." You see, we live in a democracy where all people have equal rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And it's good! But if you take that love of democracy and try to apply it to our relationship with God, then you will ruin Christianity. Why? Because no one has ANY RIGHTS with God. We don't have any! And so no one can say, "I deserve to be saved!" No one does!

"But what about my free will to choose God?" someone may say. But I would say to that person that they do not have a biblical view of free will. The bible says that our nature is so sinful and wicked that it is IMPOSSIBLE for us to choose God. The fact is that our will is actually in complete bondage to our sinful nature. (Rom. 3:9-18; 8:7-8) Paul wants us to see it like this: We are spiritually dead. (Eph. 2:1) Sure, we are physically alive but spiritually, before we trust Christ, we are spiritually dead. Dead people can't choose to become alive! All they can do is continue in there deadness. Paul also says that we are spiritually blind. Blind people can't choose to follow a light they can't see. So really, before Christ, our will is not free at all. But then, 2 Corinthians 4:6 happens to us. And O, how glorious it is! "For God, who said, 'Let light shine our of darkness,' has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus christ." So God chooses to remove our blindness and suddenly, we see Jesus! We see the most glorious light in the world, and we can't help but to FREELY choose it! When God chooses us, he is predestining us to freedom. Only when 2 Corinthians 4:6 happens are we finally free to choose God. And just like Jesus said in John, "Lazarus, come out!" to the dead man, so he says to our dead souls, "Become alive!" to make us spiritually alive in Him.

You see, this is where the FULL glory of God comes in. In saying that we choose God, then we are taking his power away from Him and saying, "You didn't choose me, I chose you!" But this simply isn't true! We can't choose God, and saying that we can is taking the credit away from him. But when we say, "Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for choosing me! I don't deserve salvation but you gave it to me, not because of who I am but because of who you are!" If we don't say that, then we are not giving God the full glory that he deserves.

Now, in my experience, a lot of people do not like this doctrine because they have a loved one that is not following Jesus and they are scared for them. They think, "Well if my loved one isn't predestined to be a Christian, then there is no hope for them!" But, this is reverse thinking. Predestination gives us WAY more hope for lost loved ones than if it were up to them to choose God. Why? Because it is completely up to God to save! Therefore, it doesn't matter how messed up or bad or far from God someone is. God can save anyone! So everyone has the exact same chance of getting saved as anyone does. Think of the person that you know who is the furthest from God; further than anyone you know. They hate Him, reject Him, don't want anything to do with Him. You might think that there is no way that they will come to know Jesus. But guess what? It isn't up to them; it's up to God! They have the same hope of salvation as you and I do! Predestination levels the playing field. No one is beyond Hope! No one is beyond the reach of God! No matter how far your loved one seems to be from God, He can still make them alive and remove their blindness! How great is that? This is what happened to Paul on the road to Damascus. He wasn't searching for God, He wasn't even close! In fact, He was killing Christians. And then God said, "POW!" And he was changed! That should give us immense hope! 

This is really long already and there is a lot more I could say. But let me finish by giving you two great resources for further study.

The sermon, "The Called Of Christ and the Loved Of God, Part 1" by John Piper is the best sermon I have ever heard on this subject. Please listen to this! www.desiringgod.org

The sermon, "Predestination" by Mark Driscoll is the second best sermon I have ever heard on this subject. www.marshillchurch.org

Journals, Computers and Doctrine...Huh?

You may think the the three things mentioned above are not related in any way...well they're not. But they apply to my life at the moment.

For years now I have wanted to start journaling. Everyday or so, write down life experiences, thoughts, ponderings, what I'm learning from the bible, lyrics...you know, whatever comes to mind. Well I finally bought one. I am quite excited about this. Maybe, every once in a while I will post a particularly interesting or insightful journal entry here. But probably not too often...too personal.

In August, my iBook computer of over 6 years finally crashed. So, since then, I have been saving up to buy a new Mac. Well, today I finally bought one! It is an iMac with a 20 inch display, 2 GHrz processor, 2GB RAM, and 320 GB hard drive. It will be AWESOME...but not as awesome as what I am going to say next!

So I have been studying some fairly deep theological issues as of late, and it is so great! There are lights going on in my brain everywhere. For example, I have been studying the imputation of Christ's righteousness. What an amazing doctrine! Basically, it states that through our faith in Christ, we are connected to Him and through that connection, His righteousness has been imputed on to us (if you are a Christian). So, our standing before God has nothing to do with us actually being righteous, because we are counted as righteous through an alien righteousness that is not our own...namely, the righteousness of Christ. That is why he lived a perfect life. To count His righteousness as ours through our faith in Him! How awesome is that? And how secure should that make us feel? Our righteousness does not rise when our faith is strong and fall when our faith is week. Why? Because it has nothing to do with us! It isn't our righteousness. Our righteous standing before God is based on the rock solid foundation of Christ's perfect righteousness that has been counted as ours! And Christ's righteousness never waivers or falters.

Man, if anyone ever tries to tell you that doctrine is over rated and not important and not essential to our Christian life, slap them in the face! It is precisely doctrines such as the imputation of Christ's righteousness that give us hope and joy and security. It is amazing when you actually understand theology. Oh, how deep your faith can become! I am not trying to say these things to puff up my own knowledge and understanding. I am only trying to show the joy and importance of digging in and tackling the deep doctrines of the bible. The rewards are huge!

God Centered? John Piper!

I said in my last post that the American church is dying because of a lack of God centered, Christ exalting preaching, teaching and worship. Many, maybe even most pastors today do not preach and teach and worship in a way that is radically God centered, and that is why the church is dwindling. So is there anyone out there that does? Is there a pastor that, above all else, exalts the glory of God in the face of Christ? (2 Cor. 4:4-6)

Yes, there are those who do. But John Piper is the most God centered preacher and teacher that I know of, bar-none, no question about it. I would recommend everything ever written by Him to you. He has helped me see the bible and what it says in a way that has changed how I view salvation, God's love, our love for God, joy, delight, sin, missions, grace...and the list goes on.

So if you are seeking teaching that exalts God above everything else, please visit www.desringgod.org

The Sad State Of Things

So the other day, I attended this Christian leadership seminar and the guy who was leading it started with this quote from George Barna. It made me more than slightly upset:

"The American church is dying due to a lack of strong leadership. In this time of unprecedented opportunity and plentiful resources, the church is actually losing influence. The primary reason is the lack of leadership. Nothing is more important than leadership."

I just want to start right off by saying that that is a bunch of bull-ony! I didn't even really hear what he said in the rest of the seminar, I was so upset. Now I do agree with him that the American church is dying. But it isn't dying because we have a lack of leadership. We have leaders coming out of our ears. It's dying because of the very attitude that this quote conveys; that leadership and techniques and the next big trend are more important than a pervading attitude of Christ exultation and God centerdness in the church.

To say that "leadership is the most important thing" is blasphemous and the very reason for the sad state of the American church. O, that the church would stop exalting man above his rightful status as the one being saved and start exalting Christ as the center of everything we do! We have abandoned this in favor of fluffy stories, books on leadership and weak, man centered worship. God centered worship, preaching, and teaching are what is going to save the church, not another charismatic leader!

"Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let Your glory be over all the earth." ~ Psalm 57:5

Birthday

Yeah, I'm 24 today. It's kinda funny how unimportant my birthday is to me anymore. I didn't even remember that it was my "big day" today until I opened up my Facebook and saw 17 "Happy Birthday" wishes this morning.

Ah, Facebook...nothing like digital friendships to make a guy feel loved. (heavy sarcasm)

Anyway, that's all I have time for. I'm going to Districts today...wohoo!

Travel Log...Kind Of

So here is a bunch of random things that I have learned over my past two weeks of travel. Some are deep...most aren't. I've noticed that a lot of my blog posts tend to be really random. Oh well, it's your fault for reading.

My car gets ridiculously good gas mileage. I love Hondas!

I never, ever want to get a tattoo. Thank you, Jon for helping me solidify this in my mind.

Juno is one of the best movies I've seen all year. I know, Trav, I say that a lot...but I really mean it this time!

Good Italian food is always best with a good glass of wine...and tiramisu for dessert.

Dinkytown and Uptown are really, really cool places.

Sometimes I wish I lived in a big city. Then I deal with bumper to bumper traffic everywhere I go and I change my mind.

My sister is getting way to old way to fast!

I really enjoy playing basketball...but I am not in nearly good enough shape!

I have a great family.

Skiing is really fun...but it is so much more fun when you can do it with fun people!

$130 in gift cards does not go very far at American Eagle.

Guitar Hero 3 is really awesome! But some of the songs on 2 are better.

Neillsville is smaller than I pictured..but still cool, mostly because of the people who live there.

The Wentz's have the best dog in the world...and the most annoying bird, too. It pooped on my shirt.

Having the flu really, really sucks. But it is at least a tad bit more tolerable when you can be in the house of a family that you love. Thanks, Fischers!

Seeing a dead, bloody dog on the side of the road disturbs me more than I thought it would...Cullen, too.

I don't like drama...and I don't mean the movies.

I am SO grateful to have all of the friends that I was able to see on my trip. Thank you for being who you are.