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Post by Soleia Reiss on May 30, 2007 14:32:46 GMT -8
Ulan: It wouldn't be effecting their will to or not to live for God (in other words, they won't be sent to heaven or hell as a result of what God is using them for), it was just a matter of God finding people he could work with and using them for a short time in the given situation to fulfill his purpose, I guess you'd call it devine intervention. Free will isn't only refering to eventualities, free will is refering to every choice you make. I would assume that God wouldn't force you to make choices that would send you to hell, but even making you ask a single question of someone that you wouldn't have asked otherwise is still affecting your free will. Hmm, I think God could temporarily intervene if He had to, but it's possible nobody's will was effected in this situation, God may have merely searched out the sort of people who would be inclined to ask such a question when seeing Peter (I'm sure there were many around) and strongly impressed into their minds to ask it. If for whatever reason the person resisted, God could have found someone else.
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Post by Soleia Reiss on May 30, 2007 15:07:50 GMT -8
I don't know if I've brought up the story of Abraham sacrificing Isaac before, so I'll share that as well.
When God asked Abraham to Sacrifice Isaac it was a test to see whether he would be obedient or not. "And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt (test) Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of." Gen. 22:1-2.
Of course, if God knew beforehand that Abraham would obey Him there was no need for this test. Skipping to verse 10, "And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. (11) And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. (12) And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son."
Think about it, if God had known beforehand, why would He say "now I know"?
These verses show that the reason God tested Abraham was not for Abraham's sake, but for God's, so He would know whether Abraham was worthy of the blessing or not. (15) "And the angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, (16) And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou has done this thing, and thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: (17) That in blessing I will bless thee..."
The same sort of thing is found in Deuteronomy 8:2 speaking to the Israelites "And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no." I think it's safe to say God didn't already know beforehand whether they would obey Him or not.
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Post by darthdodo on Jun 2, 2007 17:10:56 GMT -8
well... God knows beforehand... but at the same time people have a free-will...
this is one of those things that is hard for us pathetic, puny humans to understand...
as I always say... sometimes we have to remember that we think as human's... so we're nitpicky and we constantly want to explain EVERYTHING... well.. not everything is explained in the Bible...
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Post by Soleia Reiss on Jun 2, 2007 19:48:34 GMT -8
If you believe foreknoweldge may not be explained in the bible then how can you say God does know everything beforehand? Wouldn't your guess be as good as mine?
Everything we need to know here on earth is explained in the Bible. I think understanding whether or not God has foreknowledge is a big part of understanding His character; I believe God, as our Father, wants us to understand His character so that we know what sort of leader we're following. Before we decided whether or not a topic is covered in the bible we should check to see whether or not it is, either through examples or teaching.
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Jacinth Visor
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Post by Jacinth Visor on Jun 2, 2007 19:56:50 GMT -8
God wouldn't just drop a clue on having forknowledge or not and then not further explain Himself. He is not the author of confussion (1 Corinthians 14:33) and also remembers what we're made out of- that we are dust (Psalm 103:14) and knows to explain things to us.
This is an important thing in a Christian's life to know. The extent of the foreknowledge of God can affect how you pray. Prayer is very important.
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Jacinth Visor
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"I am not just a man vastly lost in this world, lost in a sea of faces." Credits: 8,500
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Post by Jacinth Visor on Jul 26, 2007 9:55:57 GMT -8
Either we won or people just took a long break
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