Questions to ask ourselves concerning the sovereignty of God
Written by Sep 7, 2005, 7:15 am
2 Comments • Related Topics: theology
This is not meant to be disrespectful towards the Lord, or towards people who believe and teach a strict Calvinistic view of God. The term ‘hyper-sovereignty” [of God] was coined by a prof at my school, and my using it is not intended to be derogatory to those that feel differently, nor am I advocating that God is not sovereign at all, but I strongly advocate that the way His sovereignty is popularly taught is mostly wrong.
It is my concern that a lot of this view of God’s sovereignty paralyzes the body of Christ into inaction, “letting the pieces fall where they may” at the expense of taking any initiative of our own. Therefore this entry is not some theological list of things I think, but I hope to stir people up to realizing there is a cooperation to be had between us and the Lord in accomplishing His purposes in the earth.
This is intended to provoke thought, not arguments if people are looking for one with me.
If God is sovereign:
- Then why does He tell us to pray for our enemies? (Matt 5:44). What is God asking us to pray for concerning our enemies?
- Then why does He tell us to pray for the harvest, instructing us to ask that laborers be sent? Surely if He is sovereign, He wouldn’t need to have laborers go, let alone be prayed for to be sent and go. (Luke 10:2)
- Why, when talking of the signs of the end of the age, does Jesus tell the disciples, and us readers to pray for their & our flight not to be in winter or on a Sabbath (Matt 24:20). Would it not be a fixed time in the future? Or could the timing of these events be conditional upon something?
- What does Luke 18:7 mean when it says “will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them?” What happens if his ‘elect’ don’t cry to him day and night, does that lengthen the delay spoken of? Does God do what is asked of Him if it’s not prayed for?
- Why would Jesus instruct us to pray and not lose heart? Why bother praying at all?
- What does it mean in Luke 18:8 when the Lord asks if he will find faith on the earth? Wouldn’t He know if He will or not? Or are some things conditional and we play a part in them?
- Why are we instructed in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 to pray without ceasing?
- What does Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit mean when he says Work out your salvation by fear and trembling? (Phil 2:12)
- What does Jesus mean when He says the violent take the kingdom of heaven by force (Matt 11:12)?
- Why does Peter tell Simon to pray, that “if possible the intent of your heart may be forgiven you” when he tried to buy the power to impart the Holy Spirit to people? Is it feasible to say there was a chance it was not possible for Simon to repent? Would Peter make this suggestion if God had pre-ordained Simon not to be forgiven of his sins?
- Why does God have bowls of incense filled up with prayers of the saints? (Rev 5:8, 8:3-4) What use are they to Him? If they get filled up with prayer [of the saints], do you think it matters if the saints don’t pray, or will they somehow automatically fill themselves up regardless of what the Body of Christ does?
- If God has already pre-ordained who will be saved and who will be damned to hell, how could Moses have persuaded God to change his mind and not wipe out Israel? (Exodus 32:10-14)
- Would intercessors be wasting their time?
- If God is not willing that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9), then how could there be a single soul in hell?
- And interestingly enough, this passage about the Day of the Lord is rather interesting to me: “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn!” (2 Peter 3:10-12)
- How can we be involved in hastening the coming of the Lord? Isn’t it some fixed event in the future? Or are there conditions to be met first, that we as a body of believers play a part in?
Anyway, I strongly believe there is way too much inaction in the Body of Christ because of so many sacred cows concerning how God works and operates. If we overcome them, we’d easily see how many things are a cooperation between us and Him, and that He doesn’t just write history and then sit back and let it unfold regardless of our involvement.
Could it be said that certain views of God promote laziness in the believer?
Tags: prayer, sacred cow, sovereignty
September 7th 2005 on 7:02 pm
Hmm… Thought provoking.
I have often called myself a Calvinist. I do believe in election, predestination, eternal security and all that other “sovereignty of God” stuff. (That is clearly taught in scripture).
I also believe that human beings have free will, and that (to quote the somewhat tired KJV) “the prayers of the righteous availeth much.” (These as well are clearly taught in scripture)
These two seem mutually exclusive and contradictory, and for a human to attempt to reconcile these (or to argue for one over the other) it is futile. I accept God’s wisdom over mine, and accept that I do not (and cannot) understand everything.
I think the point of prayer / worship / evangelism is clear. We are created for the specific purpose of glorifying God (Romans 11:36). Doing the above is the method God gives us to glorify him.
And to those that are “lazy Christians,” I think the best advice is that we are commanded to evangelize, and those that don’t will be judged. (And of course to those that do there is a reward, as if seeing the lost reconciled to the Lord isn’t reward enough).
September 10th 2005 on 11:38 am
This indirectly responds to your comments, and says the same thing with different words (except I refuse to adhere to traditional Calvinism as it’s taught)
This is a quote from an entry I wrote this winter, just stumbled across it today and post here:
It’s like two flies flying over a giant rocket. One lands underneath the rockets, the other lands ontop of the ship’s nose, and upon takeoff both have a radically different experience–one is scorched by the flames from the rockets as the ship lifts high into the sky, the other is taken up into the skies at new heights. Both have a legit experience, but form radical conclusions diametrically opposed to each other–but one has no right to assume their experience is the sum total of how a rocket works. Likewise I cringe when I listen to people in the Body of Christ insist on one side of a view that has many more angles. Such examples include but are not limited to divine healing, the Holy Spirit [and by default ways He operates], and Calvinism(predestination) vs. Arminianism (emphasis on man’s free will to chose salvation)–neither Jean Calvin and Jacobus Arminius are in the Bible, so why they are treated like authors of the Bible is beyond me.