Hi Hemp! You wrote:
"The good news for the lost is that if we do not have faith, we need merely ask for it." What if you ask for it and still don't have it?
I believe that we must keep on asking and seeking as advised by the Teacher himself. Why he gives faith to people at different times, I don't know. Why did Thomas need to put his hand in the spear wound "before he would believe". Surely, he had been much exposed to Christ's teachings before his death. Why did Christ Himself the Examplar need to learn obedience from the things he suffered? There are mysteries.
But, I believe one thing is for sure. The fact that you asked, especially if from the standpoint of an orphan, was a gift from God. There is no doubt in my mind that if you keep asking it will be given, and at the right time. When it comes, you'll know that it was the exact opposite of what your flesh would like to do, and that it was a gift.
Mouthy! Yes , me too!
Praise God and give him glory!
bebu wrote:
It is a mystery how God can preserve our true freedom, AND choose us as well.
Yes, it is strange bebu. But, somehow he does it. He is doing it with me. The best way I can describe it is like when an adult guides a childs hand when the child is learning to write his ABC's and her first words. The child feels like they are doing it, and gets excited. Then, they may push the adult's hand away to try it for themselves. They fail. The loving adult doesn't punish the child for being too independent. But the adult patietnly and lovingly guides the child's hand again, and agian, and again, and again. The child begains to trust the guidance until the tasks are learned and the teacher moves the student on to more difficult things.
How are all student freedoms preserved in all teacher/student relationships? Through submission (permission) , and trust (faith), and acceptance by the teacher.
Lily wrote:
He died for ALL.
It seems to me that God really has only three choices with humans. He will save all of them; He will save some of them; or He will save none of them. There are different views within mainstream Christianity. Most believe that God will save some of them, although he certainly has all three options. However, the point is that God is under no obligation whatsovever to save any of them. They are all fallen Adam's offspring. They are not His children. Whether God chooses to adopt some of Adam's children or all is an excellent study. I personally believe that God has reserved his reasoning as to why he chooses some and not others to himself. To draw a comparison, in my opening story about the kind couple who adopted a little girl. Why did they chose her over others that were there? Only he and his wife know. One thing is for sure, they did not chose her because they felt she deserved more compassion than the others or because they had a greater obligation toward her than to the others. It was strictly an act of unmittigated kindness ....grace.
I believe that the Scriptures I cited above make it clear that Christ's sacrifice is only applied effectually only to those whom God gave him. Whether that is a small group, a large group numbering in the hundreds of millions or even billions, God knows. Clearly it is not our place to judge. God does the choosing not us.
In other words, it is not the natural children who are God's children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham's offspring. 9 For this was how the promise was stated: "At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son." 10 Not only that, but Rebekah's children had one and the same father, our father Isaac. 11 Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad--in order that God's purpose in election might stand: 12 not by works but by him who calls--she was told, "The older will serve the younger." 13 Just as it is written: "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."
14 What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! 15 For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." 16 It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy. 17 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." 18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. 19 One of you will say to me: "Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?" 20 But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? "Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?'" 21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use? 22 What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath--prepared for destruction? 23 What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory-- 24 even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?
25 As he says in Hosea: "I will call them 'my people' who are not my people; and I will call her 'my loved one' who is not my loved one," 26 and, "It will happen that in the very place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' they will be called 'sons of the living God.'"
I believe that God has adopted those that he has chosen from among Adam's kids.... out of his sheer mercy and for his own good pleasure; much the same way that humans sometimes adopt other people's kids.
Praise God for his mercy and may we never take it lightly!
