Links to "Understanding God's Will, with notes on Calvinism" series

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 I've been meaning to do this forever, but here are the links to all the posts in my "Understanding God's Will, with notes on Calvinism" series (I finally got around to doing this while updating my "Healing your soul from Calvinism's damage" post, which I will repost next):


Introduction part 1 and part 2

1.  Our Impact On God's Will 
2.  Cause versus Allow
3.  God's Will Is A Verb
4.  Taking Our Responsibility Seriously
5.  Prayer Matters
6.  But God Can Read Minds
7.  But God Already Knows Our Needs
8.  Advice About Prayer
9a.  "Name It and Claim It" Nonsense
9b.  Help for the Journey
9c.  Considering Other Prayer Verses
9d.  Idolatrous Prayers
9e.  Unanswered Prayer
9f.  Maybe God's Not Listening
9g.  Other Convicting Verses
9h.  Summing Up Effective Prayer
9i.  Still Waiting For An Answer
10.  Why Do Bad Things Happen?
11.  Does Everything Happen For A Reason?
12.  God Works All Things For Good
13.  Limiting God's Power?
14.  Does God Cause Nations To Sin?
15.  Is God Sovereign?
16.  Can We Change God's Mind?
17.  But God Can't Change His Mind
18.  Our Responsibilities Regarding God's Will
19.  Praying For The Wrong Things
20.  Missing The Path
21.  Will God Lead Me To Where I Don't Want To Go?
22.  So What, Ultimately, Is God's Will? 

Most Popular Posts of the Week:

Hardest Spiritual Lesson #7: Accepting Love and Forgiveness

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Another lesson that's really hard for many of us:  Letting Yourself Be Loved or Forgiven (note: there's a bonus section at the end of this post). Not everyone will face this lesson, but those with broken pasts will know what I’m talking about.    One of the hardest lessons I have had to learn in my spiritual life (and in my earthly life) is to let myself be loved by someone ... by Someone.   I come from a very dysfunctional home.    Three dads by the time I was 8.    And then another dad (after a  very messy  divorce) when I was in my late-20's/early-30’s.    I didn’t grow up with my bio-dad or his family.    I didn’t even really meet them until my teens.    And then after that, I’d see them about once or twice a year, sometimes less.    I never really felt like I belonged to a dad or had a place in my extended families (or that my mom was an emotionally-safe person, so I never went to her for enco...
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Another great sermon: What if love meant more than you thought?

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Before I get to part 2 of   "White Horses and a cup of tea,"   here's another great sermon from Willow Creek (they're on a roll):  What If Love Meant More Than You Thought? A sermon like this is especially needed in this "outrage culture" where people spend their days looking for things to be angry about, for people to lash out at.  Ugh. But there's a better way.  It doesn't have to be like this.  We don't have to let the news and social media lure us into an ever-increasing spiral of hopelessness and discouragement, antagonizing us into hating life and everyone around us. If you've already spent enough time letting the online world break your heart and blood your boil, why not take a break and try something else, something relaxing and encouraging for a change?   L ike reading the book of John in the Bible, followed by the rest of the New Testament.  Or talking a walk and enjoying nature (start a collection of interesting things you find on ...
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List of Calvinist Preachers, Authors, Theologians, Websites, etc.

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I  found a lot more names to add to my list of known Calvinists (found in my various  "How to Tell if a Church, Pastor, or Website is Calvinist"  posts).  But instead of adding this huge list to all those posts, I am going to put it here, and I'll just provide a link on those posts to this one.  [FYI: I added a note at the bottom of this post on May 5, 2021.] So here it is, a "master list" of known Calvinists to help you be careful and discerning about who you listen to and where you get your theology from.  There are plenty more Calvinists out there, but these are just the names that I ran across the most.   These are either definite, self-professed Calvinists or "most likely Calvinist," in my estimation.  (I haven't heard of most of them, but it's good to know their theology before I do.)   After finding these names in various places online, I looked up each person to see if they are Calvinist.  If they did not self-identify ...
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A Quick Study Of Calvinism's Favorite Words

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  I am going to do a quick study of several of Calvinism’s favorite words – sovereign, predestined, elect, chosen, whosoever, and hardens - looking them up in the Bible (in context) and in the concordance to see what we can learn about them.   1.   Sovereign Despite the fact that Calvinists heavily build their theology on their idea that being “sovereign” means that God has to control every detail, every sin, every choice we make, every speck of dust or else He can’t possibly be God … this word NEVER shows up in the King James Bible or in the concordance.   (Strong’s concordance uses the King James.) And when it is used in, say, the NIV, it's used as a title (Sovereign Lord), not a description of how God has to act.  Sovereign is about the position God holds, being the Top Dog, the High King, the One over and above all, the One who has the final say in all matters. “Sovereign” is about the position of power and authority that God holds.   But...
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Some Good Posts Against Calvinism

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  Here are a few good, random articles against Calvinism (I'm still reading through them, but they all seem basically on-track so far.  If I find things I disagree with as I read more, I'll add notes.): The Modern-Day Pharisees: Calvinists   [Notice what the Calvinist he quoted says about how the elect were never on their way to hell because they were elect for heaven from the very beginning, and that this is why they need to hear the good news of their salvation - so that they can believe it, rejoice in it, and profit from it.  The Calvinist says that the Gospel doesn't make their salvation true, but it's that their salvation was already true and the Gospel just declares it.  Basically, the Gospel just makes the elect aware of the salvation they already have.   Do you really hear what this is saying about salvation?   It's saying that the elect have no responsibility to do anything to be saved because they enter the world already saved and j...
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Are We At The Very End?

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I'm not the only one who thinks that we are at the very, very end: https://www.raptureready.com/2019/01/11/loving-exhortation-alice-childs/ At least, that is my prayer! Hallelujah! by the Newsboys In The Sky by Bob Carlisle and others Coming My Way by City Harmonic Break Open The Sky by TobyMac People Get Ready by Crystal Lewis I Wish We'd All Been Ready I Have This Hope by Tenth Avenue North Holy (Wedding Day) by City Harmonic Oh, What Love by City Harmonic. Sweetly Broken by Jeremy Riddle
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"Honestly, I Need To Be Broken"

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(A post from my other blog , written March 2, 2022.  I was only adding new posts to that blog at the time, so that's why it wasn't posted here earlier.) I would like to dedicate the following song to anyone who is breaking down right now - like how I broke down this past weekend, sobbing to my husband about everything that's wrong in life and then vomiting uncontrollably for 11 hours because of tension in my neck that triggers my "throw up" button.   Is anyone else exhausted from trying to bear up under the pressures of this fallen, evil, upside-down, post-Covid world, from watching all their expectations crumble, from feeling like the future is just one big blackhole for you and your kids, from not knowing where to turn or what to do or how to do it anymore, and from knowing that you have to  testify against a close relative  in court very soon?  (Okay, maybe that last one is just me.   I've been dizzy every day since just hours before I got the ...
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Help for Anxiety, Depression, and Suicidal Thoughts (repost)

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It's so sad to hear about all the celebrities who have recently committed suicide (or about anyone who has committed suicide, for that matter).  My heart breaks for them, for the pain they went through, and for the ones who love them, for the pain they are now going through.  It is truly a tragedy. To anyone who is hurting really badly, who is struggling with overwhelming anxiety or depression, who is considering taking their own lives ... I dedicate this post.  Please, take some time to look through some of the links here.  This is a round-up of some on-line resources or posts about dealing with anxiety or depression, particularly as a Christian. But first: Quick tips for help: If you are desperate for some immediate help and don't want to look through the links I have below, try some of these (or if it's really bad and you're afraid you might hurt yourself, call 911 or go to the emergency room): 1.   Put on a worship song right now.  Or sing a...
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Just Keep Falling

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            Can I admit something that sounds terrible?   I haven’t felt like praying lately.   For a long while, actually.   I have been struggling a lot with thoughts of Prayer doesn’t really work anyway.   God doesn’t respond.   It doesn’t make much difference, so why wrestle and wrestle in prayer if the same disappointing thing is just going to happen anyway?   May as well just save myself the struggle and the pain that comes with hoping.   He’s just been so silent that I don’t feel like I can keep talking and talking.               (FYI, this is a repost from my other blog, a post I wrote about four years ago.  It's has a lot of the same "life facts" from "Where I'm Coming From ..." which I posted at the beginning of this blog.  In fact, that post is a shortened version of this one, so no need to read both.  But this post takes a deeper loo...
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Why is Calvinism so dangerous? (Introduction)

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[In this series, I'm breaking the long post "Why is Calvinism so dangerous?" into bite-sized pieces.] Why is Calvinism so dangerous? Because it  appears  to teach biblical truth while actually teaching  the opposite  - while using  manipulation and cult-like tactics to suck you in!  And it's spreading.  Stealthily, fast, aggressively. (We watched it happen firsthand in our church, which is why I wrote this blog.  See  "What's the best way to make people agree with your Calvinist views?"    Sadly, we ended up  leaving that church , a place we attended almost 20 years.) [ I updated this November 2022 to try to shorten it.  I failed.  But I hope it's more readable and streamlined at least.   If you only read one anti-Calvinism post of mine, I think it should be this one.  But I'm warning you, this post is long.  Very long.  So pack a lunch and bring a sleeping bag.  But it has to be long because...
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