Contoured Beliefs
Welcome to another edition of Discussions Ahoy!
A while back, I posted about the idea of predestination. While I’m still, honestly, on the fence about it, and I know it’s a heated debate among everybody, I want to know more about how your belief in either side shapes your faith.
So, if you believe in predestination, how does that affect your faith? What would you do differently if you believed you weren’t predestined? What are you struggles with it? Etc.
And if you believe in free will, how does that affect your faith? Are you inclined to tell more people about the Word? What would you do differently if you believed in predestination? What are some struggles you have? Etc.
I do believe in free will, though I also believe that God knows what I am going to choose. He can't help it, He is God. He knows everything. That's His nature.
How does that affect my faith? Hmmm… I suppose one way it affects the way I present my faith is that I feel the need to be gentle. Not meek exactly, just keeping in mind that gentleness is one of the fruits of the Spirit, and that I can cause someone to become further away from God if I tread too forcefully. I don't want to be the cause of someone making the wrong choice.
Maybe if I believed in predestination, I would be less concerned that one thoughtless word blurted out by me could make someone run toward Hell and end up there forever.
I hear you! But, on the other hand, shouldn't we take courage in the fact that we alone cannot convince someone to run to Jesus anyway? Isn't He the one to bring people to Himself, and we're just the instruments?
I had commented early in the last discussion – then only checked back recently and enjoyed reading all the other comments.
It's an issue I wonder about often – definitely lean towards free will/choices.
So my answers to your free will questions are …
I believe my faith is my choice, so I need to cherish and feed it.
I am not an evangelist, but I tell people about the hope I have – even though this life is messy.
If I believed in predestination – I would still tell people about my hope, because that's part of who I am. Then again, maybe I won't feel the need, because it would be his responsibility. And I would blame God for all my bad decisions and choices – hey, what a cool way to live!
Struggles I have? I wonder how God's free will/choices affect my world (and the whole world) since he has more power than I do. But I think his love outweighs the use of his power, so he respects my choices and doesn't do anything to force me to any preset plans/purposes he has.
Looking forward to the discussion!
You say you're not an "evangelist" but yet, you tell people about the "hope" you have. Isn't that what an evangelist should be? Isn't that what we should tell people?
When I say/hear evangelist, I think of a person that tends to walk around saying, "Have you heard about Jesus?" (or something like that) I don't do that, but as I develop a relationship with a person, they soon know that God/Jesus is a part of my world.
I would call that evangelizing. We're all supposed to be showing Christ through our lives, so, we're all kind of evangelists.
And, I think, as someone who isn't a predestinationist, we have a hard time not looking at predestination with a negative light.
If you're looking at it in a positive light, God has chosen YOU to be a light in the world of those around you. Maybe He's chosen YOU to be the one to bring the Word to an unreached people group. God CHOSE YOU.
As I commented before, my belief now is of predestination … but I prefer the word 'chosen'. There is a LOT of scripture in which God explains many times that we were chosen long before we were born. We cannot make someone believe, but that does not mean we should not evangelize. We have no idea who is chosen and who is not. God has commanded us to spread the word. Once a person has heard the word, God will choose the moment for that person to come to believing it. It took me a long time to come to this belief. It sounds really radical. We still have free will. And thankfully, through GRACE we are totaly forgiven. This is what Jesus has done for us. He stepped up for us so that we would always be forgiven. That alone, is mind boggling! We don't deserve it.
But, the question is, how does that belief change how you worship, evangelize, etc.?
That belief does not change how I worship … my worship is always to PRAISE God … but I guess you could also say that I thank Him for choosing me! It does sadden me to know He may not have chosen others … but I can't think like God, and I try to just rest in His Grace. It also does not change how I evangelize, because it is not up to me to know who God has chosen. It is up to me to tell others about Him. And I must say that I fail at doing this as often as I should. It is something I am learning to trust Him to help me do more often. We should never take for granted that God is doing His 'thing' and that there are plenty of others who can do the evangelizing. It is something He has asked of all of us.