My Crazy Faith

Romans 9: One of the chapters most used to teach Calvinist predestination, which makes it one of the most misunderstood and misapplied chapters. (Part of the "Predestination vs. Free-Will" series) Romans 9:22-23 :   “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?   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...”   Ah, the big chapter!   (Read it all if you want to.)   The one that really does make it sound like God decides whom to make for heaven and whom to make for hell.   If you're a Calvinist, that is. But I don’t believe this passage is talking about individuals being specifically, deliberately created for destruction.  

Updated slightly, 2022 (Part of the "Predestination vs. Free-Will" series.  And I covered this in the previous post in this series, but it deserves its own post too.) 1 Peter 1:1-2:     “To God’s elect ... who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood.”   Let's look again at this verse (because it is a verse that predestination hinges on, even though the word "predestined" isn't in it), but let’s dig even deeper.    As I sought to understand  1 Peter 1:1-2  more accurately, I learned that the Revised Standard Version of this verse says this:    “... To the exiles of the dispersion ... chosen and destined by God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ and for the sprinkling of his blood ...”   The NIV's "elect" is simply translated "exiles of the dispersion" in the RSV. Maybe you...

(Part of the "Predestination vs. Free-Will" series) 1 Peter 1:1-2:   “To God’s elect . . . who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood.”   People who believe in predestination (Calvinists) define the “elect” (the “chosen” ones) as those whom God has pre-chosen for salvation.   And everyone else is destined for hell, with no chance of being saved.   They would say that this verse confirms it.   That we are chosen by God to be believers or unbelievers.   For starters, I don’t think “elect” means "specific people chosen by God to be saved."   And I don't think this verse is saying that God has prechosen people for salvation.  I think this verse means that God foreknows who will choose to believe in Him and that He has pre-decided to help them grow in obedience to Jesus Christ, through the work of the Spirit.  N...

There's a lot of different ideas out there for how to do a War Journal or War Room .  Here's an idea for a simplified daily plan (can be done in any order really): 1.   Quiet your mind.  Remind yourself that God is already there with you, that you are meeting with our great, holy, powerful, good God.  (You're in His presence all the time, but now you're consciously "meeting" with Him.)  Maybe start by playing a worship song that touches your heart, and singing along.  Worshipping God makes the devil crazy!  And it gets your heart and mind into the right place.  2.   Pray that God speaks to you this morning.  Tell Him to open your ears to what He wants to tell you. 3.   Read the Bible, either following your normal daily reading plan, or praying about what God wants you to read that day.  Read until the Holy Spirit speaks to you about what you're reading or gives you some sort of insight.  Journal it. 4.  ...

(Part of the "Predestination vs. Free-Will" series) Does God cause us to be obedient or disobedient?   If you believe in predestination – that God has predetermined that some people will go to heaven but that most people will go to hell and there is nothing they can do to get to heaven – then you have to say that God ultimately causes us to either be obedient or disobedient.       But I strongly believe that we have the responsibility to decide if we will obey or disobey.   And I think the whole Bible attests to this, from the Fall . . . to the fact that God lays out “the blessings path” and “the curses path” for the Israelites to choose between . . . to the many calls to “obey” and “choose whom we will serve.”  

So apparently, China is starting a new program - a social scorecard , a rating system for all its citizens where your score determines what kind of things you have access to.   Yeah ... I don't see how this could go wrong at all, do you!?! 

Atheists like this ought to be ashamed of themselves! I mean, seriously, what's wrong with you!?!   Prohibiting prayer for a sick 4-year-old is about as evil as evil gets! And people need to stop giving in to these atheists.  Stop letting them get their way.  It's only makes them more powerful!   People need to stop saying, "Oh, okay, we'll do whatever you want" ... and start telling them, "Yeah, well, you can't always get what you want, Cry-Babies.  So suck it up, stop whining, and learn to deal with it.  Not everything is about what you want, you intolerant monsters!"  (And we need to be praying against their agendas and for their salvation.  God can accomplish things we could never dream of.  And we need to be calling on Him more and more in this increasingly godless society.) Can you tell I'm a little sick and tired of them crying "foul" about everything, demanding that everyone changes everything just for them, destroying...

(Part of the "Predestination vs. Free-Will" series) Since we're on the topic of God's Will , let’s look at Romans 12:1-2 :   “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship.   Do not conform any longer to the pattern of the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.   Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will.” This verse says that we can “test and approve” what God’s will is.   (What need is there to "test and approve" God's Will if it's always the only thing that happens, as Calvinists claim?  If God always does His Will, regardless of what we do or think, why would He care if we "test and approve" it?)  I have always wondered about this phrase, about what it means and what it means for us.   The conclusion I have come to is that as the Holy Spirit...

Because I refuse to believe that anyone is beyond the reach of Jesus!  I refuse to believe that Jesus didn't die for everyone, that He didn't die for all sins, that He doesn't love everyone, that there are people without hope! If other people want to believe that, then that's their problem.  But I refuse to believe it because ...  I don't think it's what the Bible teaches. I believe Jesus died for all, that every person can find hope and healing and salvation in Him.  I believe He loves all people and wants a relationship with all of us.  I believe that His death made salvation available for all people, but it's up to us to decide if we will accept Him or reject Him. Calvinism - the idea that God has already predetermined who goes to heaven and who goes to hell, and that there's nothing we can do to change it - is a Bible-altering, faith-damaging, soul-deadening theology.  And I've had enough of it!  It makes me sick to hear how it destroys Jesus...