Predestination

I came across an article recently by William Lane Craig presenting the idea of Molinism which I found interesting. Basically, Molinism is the idea that given all the possible realities that might have existed if various choices and circumstances had been put into place and set into motion with man's free-will in full operation, God examined all these and chose the best one to be the actual reality.

I think Molinism is a nice way to approach the idea of how God might have decided to make things the way they are, but still doesn't address what I have always seen as the most pressing issue which is the relationship of God's and man's responsibility to choice. If God is sovereign or does any kind of predestination at all on what men will choose which the Bible clearly indicates that he does (even if he chooses a particular set of choices that I might have chosen to be the ones that I actually choose as Molinism indicates) then isn't God really the one doing the choosing and not man? How can we escape the idea of being robotic drones with only an illusion of choice in our lives?

After thinking about this I came up with a way of understanding simultaneous predestination and free-will that I think makes sense. I believe to comprehend predestination, free-will and who the Bible says God is in relation to this we must rid ourselves of the idea of singular ownership of choice. God and man have shared ownership of choice with moral statuses attributed independently not to the choice, but to the choosers. So, a choice exists that was made by person X and is owned by person X as well as by God. There is no moral status that can be attributed to the choice in and of itself, but rather a moral status regarding the choice is attributed to the choosers of it. The moral status attributed to God is always good, but the one attributed to the person is sometimes good and sometimes evil. God's act of ordaining the choice does not mean the person loses responsibility for the moral status attributed to him or her in relation to it. This is precisely because of the existence of a dual ownership of the choice. While the choice can be attributed to two owners the moral status of the owners is in relation to their motives for the choice. This idea of dual ownership of choice is made possible because of two different perspectives of reality that are involved here.

God and man have different perceptions of reality and in a sense can be said to live in two different realities, although I think more accurately we might say that their is one reality which God has a perfect ultimate and infinite perception of and which we only have a limited perception of. From now on however, I will refer to God's reality meaning his unique infinitely perfect and all-knowing perspective of it and our reality as man's limited view of it. Though we can come to somewhat of an understanding regarding the shape of God's reality we can never actually enter into it ourselves. One of the things that defines God's reality as it is, is his ability to perceive the particulars of fates which he has predestined for men and all things. Though we in our human reality can understand that he knows these particulars, we can never ourselves know them until they have actually occurred for us. It is precisely our lack of knowledge that enables the reality we live in to have the shape that it has. So, in other words the existence of free-will for us is dependent on our lack of knowledge regarding the particulars of our ultimate fate.

I can become consumed with the idea that all actions are futile, because of a false perception that I understand my fate. However, because I don't know my fate I can pray for God to change some circumstance I see in the world or in my life and then in my reality I can perceive God answering that prayer as though my original perception of the fate of this circumstance had been altered, however in God's reality the overall fate of that situation remained the same from beginning to end outside of time despite my lack of knowledge concerning the particulars of it. It is this lack of knowledge in us that makes our free-will possible. Granted we have a perception of free-will, but this perception is more than just a simpleton's deception it is an actual inescapable reality for us that God intended for us to live in. We know this because we are told that we will be held responsible for the choices we make according to this perception of free-will that we have and live in. If God is solely responsible for choices we make then punishing or rewarding us for them contradicts the justice attributed to him in the Bible. Christ sacrificed himself for the world. God wouldn't ordain this to happen for something that is a mere illusion. Clearly, our choices are real and the consequences for our choices are very real. So, the moral status attributed to us and judgement due us because of it in regards to the choices we've made are dependent and directly related to our motives and perception in the reality we live in made possible by our lack of knowledge regarding the particulars of fate. God is responsible for our choices in relation to his reality and motives which are ultimately good. Nothing I do can change what God has fated to happen to me. My choices in life are decided by God in one sense and by me in another. One choice, with two choosers. Although it may be difficult to see immediately how a clearly evil choice that I choose to make could ever have been chosen by God we know that all things work together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose. (Our ability to judge the over-all goodness or evilness of a choice especially with respect to God in his infinite all-knowing perspective from our own limited one is clearly prone to the possibility of error.) So, we have individual choices with two choosers in relation to them.

There is a danger in thinking about predestination that we will begin to believe it does not matter what you or I do because it is fated. If I knew precisely what my fate was then I would agree any attempts to circumvent it would be futile, but I don't. The fact that it exists as disconcerting as that may sometimes seem is not enough to bring about the loss of my free-will to me in my reality because I don't know the particulars of what that fate actually is. The moment I know that I know the particulars of my destiny regarding something, any choice I have in that matter is forfeit. It is important I think to realize that there are some elements of our destiny that we do know by faith and therefore have lost choice in. But this is a good thing. For example, I know by faith that when I accepted Christ in baptism and chose him to be my Lord and Saviour that my fate as one of God's elect was sealed and my choices no longer affect this matter with one condition. The condition exists because this is true only as long as my choices in life don't lead me to a loss of my foundational faith that is saving me. Notice that when my belief is completely lost, my knowledge of my fate of salvation is freed and in effect my fate of salvation may never have really existed in the first place, but only God in his reality can know the truth regarding that.

Worship

This morning I began to sing a hymn. I really don't sing to myself very often, but as I did this morning I realized I meant what I was saying. I remembered the verse that says his Spirit testifies with our spirit that we are his children and as I worshiped God in song I realized this is how Christians commune with the Spirit of God. I also realized that before I was worshiping the Lord I had almost subconscious troubled feelings. If we live in the Spirit and walk in step with the Spirit, the Kingdom of God is now for us as Christians and we can experience the fruits of his Spirit now. This is how we should live daily. So, my point here is we never have to be worried, or anxious, or afraid because of the Spirit of God living in us. Worship helps us connect with God and be able to live constantly with the fruits of the Spirit in our lives. Worship is an expression of faith. It is faith put into action. The action may not be as great as we might imagine some acts of faith, but it is possibly the most important act of faith we should make. I say it is an action because I not only intelectually affirm a theological idea in my mind, but I profess it aloud and when I do this in song I can express precisely how I feel about my statements. Worship in song is not the only kind of worship, but I've found it to be an incredibly bonding one. Eph. 5:19 says "Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord" Whatever music you make to God it should be sincere and from your heart. The reason I say worship is possibly the most important act of faith is because it is something I am realizing I should be doing every day and even every moment if possible. (Remember the verse that says pray continually.) It not only is a way to express love to my savior, but it also affirms my faith in His love and solidifies/strengthens my bond with God. I know we can worship without singing and I believe that is important too. If I speak a psalm or hymn or Bible verse of encouragement in faith I am worshiping. Whenever we speak something whether good or bad it has great power over our own perception and the perception of others around us. (Remember the verse that says do everything without complaining or arguing.) This is because it directs the focus of those who listen. Focus is simply attention or in more general terms putting your eyes on something. Have you ever noticed if you are driving and you start looking at something on the side of the road sometimes it is really hard to not start driving off the road towards what you are looking at! This is because we naturally start following what we focus on. Someone said, you become like what you worship. This is very true. Take a look at people who idolize skate boarders, certain kinds of rock stars or people in a club that they want to be a member of. Appearances of these people change and their minds are quite frequently on becoming more like what they are focusing on all the time. Their characteristics sometimes even subconsciously become like those of the ones they idolize. The awesome thing about becoming more like Christ is that it is more fulfilling than any drug, more satisfying than any vice and it is in fact precisely what God planned for us when he created us. It's side effects are all good things unlike things of the world that we try to satisfy ourselves with sometimes. Being like Christ, knowing him and living in him is what we were created for. Our lives will continually be void and we will always feel as though some huge gaping invisible whole is secretly in us somewhere until we find him and live in his Spirt. He completes us. Worship helps us solidify our bond with him.

"It is in the process of being worshipped that God communicates His presence to men." --C.S. Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms

Purpose

My next door neighbor passed away last week. He would come into my house and help us fix things. We had him and his wife over for dinner once. I've only had a few limited experiences with death, but when I do it always makes me stop and think about life. I remember writing a poem called "The Blur of Life" when I was in high school. It was after I got home from riding on the bus one day and it was about being on a train and watching all the scenery go by being like watching events go by in life. Often times I tend to feel like an observer riding on a one way train that doesn't stop and eventually though it seems far off is destined to roll off the edge of a cliff. A lot of times I have this underlying urge even passion that I'm supposed to do something meet some purpose yet I don't know what and so I sit there on my train car looking out the window. Sometimes I feel guilty because I want to change the world, but I'm not doing it and then someone says you can't change the world but only the things around you that you encounter in your daily life. I thought wow that's a great thought. It helps me relax a bit realizing I'm not responsible for the whole world, but I only need to try and influence those in my immediate circle that I come into contact with. Then I sit back in my train car chair more relaxed and continue to stare out the window. My point here is that it's really easy to do a whole lot of nothing. It's even possible to start to feel okay about it, sort of... There was a book that came out not long ago called "The Purpose Driven Life" that was very popular for a while. It was written to answer a deep question in the hearts of all men and women. Why am I really here? What is this existence, this life, really for? I mean it seems so futile like somebody put me in a rat race to see what I would do in it, but it's a timed race and before long its game over. A timed deadline is a great motivator. Many games have time limits. Have you ever played a game where you weren't perfectly sure what the rules were or how you could win, but there was most definitely a time limit? This is how one can look at life at times. Sometimes I feel like people get so apauled at death and murder and wars, yet sit idly by hardly giving it a thought as who knows how many millions of people inevitably die each day. Its like the whole world has a terminal illness and no one can live more than 80 to 100 years, yet people just accept it and go on. But then, what else can you do... Well, for starters you can devote what little time you have to figuring out why you're here and what if anything you should spend the time you have doing. Because one thing is for sure... death is coming. People look to something classified as "religion" to answer questions like these. Some people have one idea of what the answers are and others have totally different ideas. This is called faith. Some look at faith and its effects from a scientific approach... i.e. "I'll accept only what I see or can observe and classify scientifically and is commonly accepted in the scientific community" and others look at it from an anti-scientific approach... i.e. focus on one hand clapping, when you understand that, then you will reach nirvana or whatever. Belief is a powerful powerful force. It's like a dark room full of people with various paths they can walk on that have steep drop offs. You grope around trying to find which path to take, but only the one you believe in will you follow. Belief inspires action. Just because one believes in something however, doesn't mean it is the truth. If one is following the path they believe in and it fails them and they fall. It alters their faith in some way if they survive it. If it happens to alter their faith enough they may choose to trust in an entirely different path or maybe to not trust any paths at all. How can one in this situation know how to trust anything? If the person running the dark maze were to turn on all the lights everyone would trust in themselves walk out of the maze and it would be over. But what if the purpose of the maze is to teach the people not to trust in themselves, but rather in the one running the maze. In the Bible God promised Abraham a son which is something he desparately wanted. He promised him a myriad of descendents which was highly prized in that time. Yet God waited until Abraham was very old and Abraham as well as his wife Sarah had some doubts at times, but finally gave them a son. Then in their great joyous moment of receiving their long awaited child, God asks Abraham to sacrifice him! He asks him to kill his son. Why in the world did God do this? To teach the person in the dark dark maze to trust in the person running it. Abraham did trust God and was ready to sacrifice his beloved son reasoning that maybe God would raise him from the dead. The point is not that Abraham understood how it would work out, but rather that he trusted God was able to do all things and could work it out ultimately for Abraham's benefit. He trusted that God had his best interests at heart. When Goliath was belittling the armies of Israel David wanted to face him. His brothers and others mocked him. When he ran to face Goliath a massive giant with a huge sword and helmet and shield and he with only five small stones and a sling the point was not that David thought he was more powerful than Goliath, but rather that he knew he came against Goliath in the authority of the living God. His belief was powerful and his faith moved him to action. He trusted in the one running the maze. Not that he understood or knew the way out, but that he knew the one who did and had a relationship with Him. I say all this to say that I believe the purpose of our lives is to learn to trust the one running the maze. To grow in our strength of belief. To learn how to believe well. David believed well. Abraham believed well. The book of Hebrews teaches us that the most dangerous sin is unbelief. All other sins are offshoots of unbelief. Because when we believe in the power of Christ and the freedom we have in him from sin the sins can fall away.
I can choose to believe in many things and even change those beliefs over time, but in reading the Bible I've seen a picture of faith. I've seen a picture of courageous men putting it all on the line to stand on something they believe in, in the face of ridicule and even seemingly impossible odds and yet make it through victoriously... and it was beautiful to me. It is inspiring, beautiful and has powerful meaning that resonates deep in my soul like a low bass note resonates in a water pipe. It makes me think this is what life is for. To trust deeply in the maker and find that he is trustworthy despite all ridicule. To live courageously and be inspired to action through my faith in Him and find that he is worthy of my trust. This is my life-purpose.

Has it ever occurred to you that almost all movies feature some good courageous hero facing impossible odds, yet somehow triumphing over evil. Many feature a savior and some emphasize the faith of the hero which moved him to action. People throughout time and in our culture today have resonated with ideas presented in the Bible. The Heavens declare His glory. I am fearfully and wonderfully made. I've watched the Bethlehem Star movie (get it from http://www.bethlehemstar.net/) recently and it amazes me that the planets and stars were set in motion before time to align at just the right position to mark the coming of our savior Jesus Christ and that we can verify it today with software! :) There are many subtle indicators and many not so subtle ones, but the point is God does not want us to trust in ourselves or our own ability to see, but rather in Him. Believe well.

My hope is built on nothing less, than Jesus blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus name.