Comments on: 10 Spiritual Questions and Their Answers

By: Jamie

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 20:02:21 +0000

You are not alone FreeWilly in struggling to understand the tension between the sovereign will of God and the responsibility of humanity’s free will. Theologians have wrestled with how those two can be true at the same time. I think it is crucial in important issues like this to focus our attention on what God has said to us in the Bible, after all, “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true” (2Timothy 3:16) so God must have given us all we need to understand this as best as we can.

So to start off God says, “For I am God– I alone! I am God, and there is no one else like me. Only I can tell you what is going to happen even before it happens. Everything I plan will come to pass,” (Isaiah 45:9-10) So to answer your questions; yes, God does know everything before it happens, and yes, He does have a plan and the power to carry out that plan perfectly. Now if He was a cruel god that could be a very scary thing but as Moses testifies, “He is the Rock; his work is perfect. Everything he does is just and fair. He is a faithful God who does no wrong; how just and upright he is!” (Deuteronomy 31:30) That gives me great confidence because I know that His plan for my life is going to play out just as He intends it to and I know that His plan is perfect.

But God doesn’t just leave it there, because as you point out, why not just throw your hands up in fatalistic defeat because God is going to do what He is going to do so I should just sit back and wait for it to play out. God is clear in His gift of free choice to humanity. The Bible is full of stories of people choosing to either follow God or follow their own way and God holds them all responsible for their choices. Right from the beginning His instructions to our father Adam was “And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.” (Genesis 2:16-17)Moses makes that clear to the descendants of Israel when he encourages them, “Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life” (Deuteronomy 30:19) We see men and women choosing well and being blessed by God, while others choose unwisely and are held responsible for their choices.

So somehow, God is able to exercise His sovereign plan without impinging on humanity’s freedom to choose. Some have tried to explain this by suggesting that God in His foreknowledge knew how people would choose so He set His plan accordingly. I think that might diminish the perfection of God’s plan so I am not altogether comfortable with that. Others have demised God’s knowledge of the future to say that God knows the infinite possibilities of our choices but doesn’t know exactly what we are going to choose; as we choose He then reacts with a perfect plan. That is in contradiction to how God speaks about His omniscience (perfect knowledge of past, present and future) so we must reject that explanation as well. I don’t think our finite minds can explain the tension between these two truths because God is so much greater than we can comprehend. Therefore, if we want to remain faithful to what is true we need to accept the God-inspired words in the Bible and acknowledge that God is sovereign and has a perfect plan that allows for us humans to choose freely and be held responsible for those choices.

How do you feel about that FreeWilly? Does that fit what you have been thinking?

By: Ashama Grace

Ashama Grace — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 15:54:23 +0000

@Freewilly: i think you have answered your question without even knowing. Yes God is all powerful, all knowing and he gives us the ability to choose. An example is God desires that we all be saved thats why he sent his son but yet we are not all saved because he wants us to make the decision for ourselves. Secondly like you said Jesus foresaw that Peter would deny him and he told it to Peter. He did not force Peter to deny him peter did out of fear. Its like a football match where i come and predict that chelsea will win man u now will chelsea win because i said they will or because they played well. God knows the end from the beginning but he can only tell you, what you now do with what he tells you is your choice. He cannot force himself on you because if he could we all would be saved. I pray this helps you.

By: FreeWilly

FreeWilly — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 04:59:55 +0000

My big problem here stems from the idea that God gave people free will. Didn’t Jesus predict that Peter (Frankly, I don’t know if that is the right name and don’t really care) would deny him three times before a rooster cawed and was right? If Jesus can see what people will do shouldn’t God be able to? Next, if God is all powerful, wouldn’t he have the power to see the future? From my perspective, if God doesn’t know what we are going to do, then God isn’t all powerful. Also, what about that age-old saying, “it’s God’s Plan”, if God has a plan for everyone, then are we able to alter from the plan. If we can’t, then what free will do we have? Not trying to start an internet fight, just really curious about the whole idea of free-will and what not. Thanks! :)

By: Jamie

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 16:35:48 +0000

Hi Philip, I am so sorry for all of your losses. They become all the more difficult to respond to when they get stacked like that.

I want you to know that God does love you. I know that can be hard to believe given all that has happened to you but I can say it with confidence because I know Him. He never lies, He never misleads and He never recants. When Jesus says, “God so loved the world” you can know that it is true and it includes you.

I also want you to know that God has created you for a purpose. He has a plan for you that is far greater than you could ever imagine. A great reminder for me is, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10) That verse is talking about you!

My encouragement to you is to look to God. He will explain to you why you exist. He will direct you towards that good works that He has prepared in advance for you to do. He will show His love to you. Let me invite you to talk to one of our online mentors and they can help you discover God speaking in your life. If you fill out the Mentor Request Form at http://powertochange.com/discover/talk-to-a-mentor one of our mentors will send you an email.

Lord God I pray for Philip right now and ask that You would help him to see how You love him. Open his eyes so that he can recognize the way that You are leading him to accomplish the plan that You have for his life. I pray that You would comfort him as he grieves so many losses in life. Bring people around him who will show You love to him. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.

By: Philip

Philip — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 08:10:57 +0000

I was very glad I found this website!I am a 39 year old male about to turn 40 in 4 days and I am totally questioning my existence in life?First off I use to be a strong willed person that really never showed the emotion of sadness,Except of course at a funeral of a loved one.But June of 2011 my Mom was diagnosed with a terminal illness and passed away 6 weeks after being diagnosed.So while dealing with my Moms death I also had to deal with clearing out all of her belongings from the house I grew up in cause we lost the house because of financial reasons.So then I had to find a place to live and while I am going through all these things the love of my life decides to dump me,For reasons only known by her.So now I am without my Mom and still mourning losing her, living somewhere that does not feel like a home and having that lonely feeling every night I get home from work and every morning I wake!I really do need some solid answers as to why do even want to exist when all I feel is emptiness and no purpose in life for me????

By: Jason

Jason — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 23:42:55 +0000

All sins can be forgiven, except one, rejecting forgiveness. If you accept the forgiveness of Christ you will be saved for the Kingdom. It’s that simple. He made it this way to save as many of his children as possible, but there will still be multitudes who will not be saved as when the Holy Spirit offers his forgiveness they spat in his face and call themselves perfect. Don’t be one of them. Be humble and you will be with us for everlasting life.

By: Sharon

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 02:50:13 +0000

good article and good comments too thank you for posting it

By: Christina

Christina — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 19:40:57 +0000

Jesus Christ Is Lord! Always was And Always will be! Jesus will never let You down ever.
my brothers and sisters in Christ, Never give up on Him.
He never gives up on you. God Is Good!!! And He Loves each and everyone of you
keep on spreading God’s Holy Word!!! Come on all You nations let’s be one Nation Under God!!!

By: Doris

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 01:41:39 +0000

Yoly I would challenge you to actually research some of the statements that you have made here. I think you would be very surprised by the answers. Check out this article, Are You a Truth Seeker. Take the time to check out this series of articles which are also very powerful, Did Jesus Rise from the Dead?

By: yoiy

yoiy — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 01:16:01 +0000

Where do I start…… the Jesus question:
He is who he says He was
He was the biggest liar in history or
He was crazy, He was a lunatic on the order of the man who calls himself a fried egg.
If you think these are the only options, you really need to get out more, as in read, put down your bible and expand your mind and awareness….
Let me give you a few other possibilities:
4. He was a peace loving radical (ala Ghandi) who was misunderstood and the authors who recorded his teachings etc got a lot of what he meant wrong. Remember, we have NO first hand accounts of his teachings or speeches. The earliest gospel we have was written about 100 years after he died. Lots of time for getting his ideas wrong. Those who recorded Jesus words were very superstitious and unsophisticated folks (99% illiterate). Maybe Jesus was trying to get people to simply practice peaceful resistance toward the Roman Empire (again like Ghandi) but the bias of the times and the superstitious nature of the “listeners” caused a great amount of mistakes in understanding etc.
5. Perhaps Jesus was purposefully misinterpreted by individuals attempting to gain some power or project their agenda….?
6. Perhaps Jesus really never lived? There is only one other reference to Jesus in any other Historical writing of the time (Josephus – mentions a teacher or prophet…..) But remember, there were many profits and there was a vibrant mythology and narrative regarding a Messiah and thus the people were biased and prepped for this sort of fairy tale fulfillment.
7. He was an alien? You claim he walked on water – why is this so much crazier since an alien visiting earth would not necessarily violate physics as your messiah must.

Bottom line, we have no idea if the man even existed and lost of reasons to believe that the whole story is a bit of a fabrication (read some history and check your brain washing!!)