Stepping on toes here....

WARNING! This will probably upset you. But it is my blog and I can ramble about whatever I want to.

   Do you ever get the feeling you're like a person in a movie? Who is simply going by the script without anything ever going askew? Well I certainly don't. Things go wrong in my life all the time. I have to make hundreds of decisions on a daily basis. I call out to God repeatedly throughout my week to help me in various situations. I make my own decisions..... or do I? Do I have a free will to decide things for myself? There are a couple different theories I've heard concerning free will.

   The first is that we don't have a free will. In essence, we are robots. Now anyone who believes this view will deny that. This also goes along with the view of election and predestination because if we don't have a free will, we obviously can't choose to follow Christ.
   The big question that is always brought against this view is "what about missions?" Every person with this view who I have asked that replies with 2 answers: #1 We need to be missionaries because God commanded us to. (Matthew 28:19-20.) #2 That is how God saves people.  (Romans 10:14-15.)
   This may be true, but if you know that the people in that tribe you are about to spend your whole life ministering to, already have check marks or X's on their heads, any one's response to that is going to be "What's the point? God is going to save them no matter what I do, and I have no chance with the people he has already rejected.... So why should I go?" To which someone could answer with those verses again, but really? I mean no matter how hard this view tries to legitimatize missions, the core of this view denies it.
   Another thing frequently brought up against this view is that it isn't fair. It isn't fair that some people are chosen and others are not. The answer presented to this is "God is just. He can do what he likes, but we can rest assured that he is just, even if it doesn't seem like it in our eyes." Now that answer, I completely agree with. But there is something that seems like a major flaw in this belief... Try to follow me on this... Ok so us human beings are created in the image of God. (Genesis 1:27) That is what sets us apart from animals. Throughout the bible the impression is given that God lovingly created each and every one of us. (Psalm 139:13-16 for example.) Now let me ask you to use logic here..... Why would an artist paint a masterpiece, and put it in his house, then set fire to the house? Why would a potter spend days carefully sculpting a beautiful vase, then smash it on the ground? Because this view basically says that's what God does to most of the people on this earth. Because the bible says few will enter the kingdom of God. (Matthew 7:14, 22:14, Luke 13:23-25.) God is just. And I have a small finite mind, and his is infinite..... But I'm sorry.... I can't fully believe a view that denies all logic. It simply doesn't add up.

   The second view is that we have a free will. This would mean that we choose to follow Christ. (John 3:16 "...that whoever believes in Him shall not perish..") It also means that we can make decisions that will affect our life. Can I just say that I think there are different levels this can be believed on, and I do not believe it should be take to the extreme. (I firmly believe that God can do anything he desires to. After all, he is omnipotent.) Since I went into this on my last post, I'm just going to share some verses:
-Matthew 23:37 "...but you were not willing."
-John 15:6 "If anyone does not remain in me..." (The act of remaining in Christ.) (This goes a little bit further into whether or not a christian can lose his/her salvation, which I don't want to go into right now.)
-Hebrews 3:6 "...we are His house if we hold on to our courage..."
-Hebrews 10:26 "If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left." (We can choose to keep on sinning.)
-1 Timothy 2:4 "Who wants all men to be saved." (If God wants it, and yet it doesn't happen, it seems obvious to me that he has given us the choice.)
-1 Timothy 4:1 "...some will abandon the faith..." (Making the choice to abandon.) (Again this is going into the idea of losing salvation which I'm not going into at the moment because this post is long enough as it is.)
-2 Peter 3:9 "...not wanting anyone to perish, but wanting everyone to come to repentance." (Again... I think this really strongly supports God giving us the choice of following Him.)
-1 John 2:2 "...not only for ours, but for the sins of the whole world." (Christ died for the sins of the whole world, not just the sins of a few people God chose beforehand.)
   As I said in my last post, I believe there are verses that support free will and verses that support predestination/election. Because the bible can not contradict itself, my opinion is that both are true to some extent, although I'm not entirely sure how that works.

   The third view goes something like this.... God decides the start and finish of our life, but we get to decide what's in between. I don't know a whole lot about this view, nor have a read many verses that seem to support it. I just find the idea intriguing so I thought I would share.

~Melody