"partially closed, and partially open"... It's amazing how things like this can seem so obvious and undeniable at this stage in our walk, when for many years it was somehow presented to us as being all one or the other. Praise God that He is patient with us and reveals these things through His Word.
I’ve always been taken about how “open theism“ is used like some sort of a magical talisman for when people don’t want to engage in a debate. For some reason, nobody wants to go down that road.
At some point it always to me seems like a bit of a academic Convo anyway because the thing that I really care about is your relationships Across the spectrum.
Your relationship with God
Your relationship with your environment in the universe around you
I always enjoy your podcasts and essays, Andrew. My wife and I have been going through a process of shedding everything we've been taught. Not to throw it away, but to read the text and see if it sticks. Not all of it sticks, so it has been a healthy process. We stand on the shoulders of giants far too often when with today's technology (BLB, logos software, and gasp--ai) and earnest study, you can stand your own ground and form your own understanding.
The timing of this essay is interesting. As part of said process above, we left our un-churched condition that has held us for more than a decade. RRN, canary cry, operation red pill, etc. and our favorite Anchorage pastor who calls himself a "4.5 point Calvinist" were our church.
This new church we've stumbled upon is perfect. I can't wait to ruin it. They are a verse-by-verse church. Just happen to be doing the book of Romans. We joined mid way through ch 8. Ch 9 has been the last few weeks. Is this national "study the argument of free will" month?
Great job brother. The truth is very clear an cuts through dichotomy. There is usually a pair of false choices presented to us yet both are tempting us to veer off to one side or the other away from the truth using a false binary. A clever way to cause division and keep the waters muddled.
If a specific event is mandatory to happen in the eyes of Yaweh (let's use the proper terminology please) then free will does not exist. One example is Yaweh hardening the heart of the pharaoh so that the prophecy is fulfilled "by the letter". As soon as free will was an inconvenience Yaweh took a big steaming dump on it. And because events are chained through cause and effect Yaweh had to take other dumps on it along the way (did Moses really had a choice of not becoming Yaweh's tool? maybe he hardened/softened his heart too).
It's really funny seeing one go through all these mental gymnastics when one can easily believe in God just by looking at nature. Of course, you cannot derive any other characteristic of God just by looking at nature. You cannot say it's good, or eternal, or even alive (maybe God killed himself after he created the Universe). And you can definitely cannot say he has a heaven awaiting you.
"There is always somebody that knows more theology than you; the quantity of nonsense that can be said about something that does not exist is infinite" - Anonymous
"partially closed, and partially open"... It's amazing how things like this can seem so obvious and undeniable at this stage in our walk, when for many years it was somehow presented to us as being all one or the other. Praise God that He is patient with us and reveals these things through His Word.
I’ve always been taken about how “open theism“ is used like some sort of a magical talisman for when people don’t want to engage in a debate. For some reason, nobody wants to go down that road.
At some point it always to me seems like a bit of a academic Convo anyway because the thing that I really care about is your relationships Across the spectrum.
Your relationship with God
Your relationship with your environment in the universe around you
Your relationship with other people.
I always enjoy your podcasts and essays, Andrew. My wife and I have been going through a process of shedding everything we've been taught. Not to throw it away, but to read the text and see if it sticks. Not all of it sticks, so it has been a healthy process. We stand on the shoulders of giants far too often when with today's technology (BLB, logos software, and gasp--ai) and earnest study, you can stand your own ground and form your own understanding.
The timing of this essay is interesting. As part of said process above, we left our un-churched condition that has held us for more than a decade. RRN, canary cry, operation red pill, etc. and our favorite Anchorage pastor who calls himself a "4.5 point Calvinist" were our church.
This new church we've stumbled upon is perfect. I can't wait to ruin it. They are a verse-by-verse church. Just happen to be doing the book of Romans. We joined mid way through ch 8. Ch 9 has been the last few weeks. Is this national "study the argument of free will" month?
Great job brother. The truth is very clear an cuts through dichotomy. There is usually a pair of false choices presented to us yet both are tempting us to veer off to one side or the other away from the truth using a false binary. A clever way to cause division and keep the waters muddled.
If a specific event is mandatory to happen in the eyes of Yaweh (let's use the proper terminology please) then free will does not exist. One example is Yaweh hardening the heart of the pharaoh so that the prophecy is fulfilled "by the letter". As soon as free will was an inconvenience Yaweh took a big steaming dump on it. And because events are chained through cause and effect Yaweh had to take other dumps on it along the way (did Moses really had a choice of not becoming Yaweh's tool? maybe he hardened/softened his heart too).
It's really funny seeing one go through all these mental gymnastics when one can easily believe in God just by looking at nature. Of course, you cannot derive any other characteristic of God just by looking at nature. You cannot say it's good, or eternal, or even alive (maybe God killed himself after he created the Universe). And you can definitely cannot say he has a heaven awaiting you.
"There is always somebody that knows more theology than you; the quantity of nonsense that can be said about something that does not exist is infinite" - Anonymous
Surely you mean "Arminian" and not "Armenian"? Big difference.
Yes, my mistake.