Here it is...

Please read "Disclaimer" and "On Hold" even if you can't make it through this whole thing.

In the beginning God…
Seems like as good a place as any to begin. And God Said…
How precious is the Word of God. How incredible is the fact that HE, who created the heavens and the earth would choose to make Himself known to such insignificant beings.
In the beginning, God created (Genesis 1:1 of course). And what may be known about Him is plain to us, to all of us, because since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities, His eternal power and divine nature has been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. (Romans 1:19-20). Creation would have been enough. But he also gave us His word. He communicated with us, from the beginning. And as insurance that the message would be clear and eternal, He chose the languages in which to write the words, and hand picked the prophets, scribes, secretaries by whose hands it would be written. First mentioned is Moses. Exodus 17:14 “Write this on a scroll as something to be remembered… Exodus 24:4 Moses then wrote down everything the LORD had said…Numbers 33:2 At the LORD’s command Moses recorded the stages of their journey. And this is confirmed by our LORD - John 5:46 If you believed Moses, you would have believed Me, for he wrote about me. What did Moses write? The Torah, the Law, The first five books of the BIBLE, the first recorded covenant between God and His creation, those created in His image and likeness, for His purpose. Ah, the first point of contention. I have heard it said that although man was created in the image and likeness of God (male and female He created them) after the fall man was no longer the image of God, but a totally depraved creature who can not seek God on his own. I would point to Psalm 8:4-6, but on a surface reading in most English translations, I supposed one could argue that David was writing about man before the fall, although I would disagree. James 3:9 mentions “men, who have been made in God’s likeness” and I Cor. 11:7 says that man is the image and glory of God. But again, it could be argued that those verses are talking about men saved by grace. I will just say that it shocked me to discover that some believers do not believe that humans still carry in them, from birth, the image and likeness of God. What does that make us before being saved? It seems to diminish the sanctity of life as I understand it. But going back to Genesis, it is clear that God continued to have communion with mankind even after the fall, and that He spoke to, and cared about individuals even after they totally rejected His covenant and warnings. I’ve already posed the question of Cain in Chapter 4.
In the NIV: Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door. It desires to have you, but you must master it.
In the CEV: If you had done the right thing, you would be smiling. But you did the wrong thing, and now sin is waiting to attack you like a lion. Sin wants to destroy you, but don’t let it. So God is giving Cain a warning and a choice.
Peter and James, who knew our LORD on a very intimate level gave similar warnings.
1 Peter 5:8 “be on the alert, your adversary, the devil prowls like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. James 4:7 Submit therefore to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you. Warnings and choices, from the very beginning. If and Then, This or That, make the choice, receive the blessing or suffer the consequences. Where does it say that the choice has already been made for us?
Before I move on, while I am still in Genesis, please look at Genesis 6. Can we read it without some theologian telling us, what it really means is this…or of course it doesn’t really mean that. Can we just look at the words as they are written, and draw the logical conclusion? Unless of course Logic is of the enemy and not a quality we can attribute to God. Genesis 6:5-8
NASV - Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually and the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth and He was grieved in His heart, and the LORD said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land…for I am sorry that I have made them…But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.
CEV - The Lord saw how bad the people on earth were and that everything they thought and planned was evil. He was very sorry that he had made them and he said, I’ll destroy every living creature on the earth…I’m sorry I ever made them, But the LORD was pleased with Noah.
KJV - And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth and it grieved him at his heart and the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth…for it repented me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.
Did God know when He set the earth in motion exactly how things were going to turn out? Does He know every single choice we will make before we make it, or does he know every possible/probable decision and consequence of those multitude of choices we make every day? What about the Book of Life? Does (can/should???) man seek God? Who are the Elect? The Predestined? What is our destiny? Jesus taught us to pray…”Thy will be done” in fact He prayed those very words right before he was betrayed into the hands of the angry crowd. Why pray those words? Of course God’s will will be done. Why pray at all? Everything is unfolding exactly as God knew it would (foreknowledge). Everything in fact is unfolding exactly as God planned for it to unfold. (Sovereignty) Now, lest some of my readers (if I have any left that is) start rejoicing, thinking that in my delving into the word, I discovered “they” were right and I was wrong…I am merely stating here the doctrines I will be addressing in this way too long post. Already 1100 words long. And I’m still in Genesis.
I began my research for this piece by reading Deuteronomy 29. The book that I have been using for a guide line referred to Deut. 29:29 and it is a verse that I rediscovered this past year at a Bible Study. ‘The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever. That we may follow all the words of this law.” I was willing to apply this to the question of predestination vs free will, that there were just some things the LORD chose not to explain. But the Bible teacher that recently pointed me to that verse said that we can understand predestination clearly, without question, because it has been revealed to us. No question or debate. What is, is and what the Bible teacher said was, was.
Anyway, I went back to Deut. 29:29 and not wanting to take a verse out of context, I decided to read the whole chapter. And, OHNO! I got hung up on verse 4 - but to this day, the LORD has not given you a mind (heart) that understands That sounds like only people who God chooses to understand will understand. And the rest? Well, damn them anyway. So I grabbed all my other translations, and my Strongs. Here is my discovery. The word that is rendered heart or mind has to do with the intellect, the knowledge. Up until the point of this writing, people hadn’t been given all the information they needed to understand all there was to understand. What they had seen first hand should have been enough, but they were too dense. The whole chapter is about how God expects us to get it, at least as much as He had revealed at the time, about His covenant and our choices. And as far as verse 29 is concerned, of course we can now apply it to the whole of scripture, but note that at its writing the only thing about predestination or divine election revealed was that the sons of Abraham had been chosen as a people set apart.
I want to be very careful not to say “this is what it means.” I want to stick with “this is what it says”. But I have also discovered that “this is what it says” must be qualified sometimes, depending on what version(s) you are using, what Bias or Preconception the translators may have had - since all our translations were produced after the influence of Augustine, Luther, etc affected theology - and what context the words were written in. When it comes to the contexualization of the gospel, we need to be consistent. I am not insinuating that we should all become Jews, but I will point out that the scriptures were written primarily by Jews with a Jewish perspective and that Jesus’ teachings were often directed toward the Jewish leaders of the time. The context we should consider is 1st century Jew (and Gentile) not 15th century Europe.
When I approach the Scriptures, I do so with the understanding that God has revealed Himself as a covenant making and covenant keeping KING. That God is LOVE, mercy and justice are two of His most prominent attributes. That
He is light and in Him is no darkness, or confusion at all. What is true is true, no matter who says it. But truth is not a concept. It is a person, He who said, “I am the Truth…” and so one of the first concepts that I balked at here in the world of blog was that No One Seeks God.
If I were willing to play the game, “I have more verses than you, so I’m right!” I could win this one easily. I have at least 14 and I haven’t gone beyond Psalms yet. Usually, though, when I bring up those verses I hear, “But to whom are they written?” To all of us, right? To anyone who dares to read them. Right? Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. So the Scriptures are the Word of God and they are for anyone who hears it (reads it) but ummm, no. Not everyone who hears will believe. And not everyone who says they believe really believes. John 3:16 says, “whosoever believes” James says “Faith without works is dead.” what a tangled web we weave…And yet the Word seems so clear.
“God has set eternity in the hearts of man…Ecc 3:11
It’s there, He put it there. I know citing theologians or philosophers does not hold as much clout as quoting scriptures, but I really like Pascal’s allusion to the “god shaped hole”.
Deuteronomy 4:19...but if from there you seek the LORD you God you will find Him, if you look for Him with all your heart.
In Matthew 7:7 Jesus says “Seek and You will find…” What are we to be seeking? Sutff, Wisdom, Salvation, Truth, God?
My favorite “search God” verses from the New Testament are:
Acts 17:26-27 “From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth, and He determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that man would seek Him and perhaps, reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.”
And Hebrews 11, the faith chapter
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him (verse 6)”
One more, from my all time favorite book of the Bible
Isaiah 55:6,7 Seek the LORD while He may be found, call on Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts, Let him turn to the LORD and He will have mercy on him…
So what about Romans 3:11 where Paul is quoting Psalm 14 and 53? ’There is no one who seeks God, no one who understands…”
Well I say, if you look at the Psalms mentioned, you see the same image as in Genesis 6:6. God, looking to see if anyone is seeking Him, but seeing only corruption and then the lament., will the evil doers never learn? All have turned away. Turned away from what? He gave us choices, at times it seems as if everyone is making the wrong choice. If only those who God calls can seek Him, why should He care that the other guys aren’t looking for Him? But He does care. Like with Cain, He gives us warnings, He sends us prophets with words of instruction. It is not His will that any should be lost. He interacts with us daily, hourly, giving us grace, showing us mercy. But we have the choice and the responsibility to choose. We all fall short, and we are to accept the responsibility of our own sins and confess (1John 1:8-10)
Do our choices ever surprise God? Do our prayers ever change His mind?
I think, as with any good parent, God has high hopes and expectations that we will choose wisely. He knows the ultimate outcome of our right choices and of our wrong. Before we decide, He has a plan to prosper us if we choose correctly, and help us if we choose wrong. Since He knows all the possibilities, He is never surprised, yet He may be disappointed. Again Genesis 6:6 and a new discovery I just made, Jeremiah 3:19 “I thought you would call me Father…”
And it pleases Him when we choose Him over our own wishes - “Now, I know…”
Genesis 22:12.
Is God lying, fooling around with us. Or does the Word mean what it says?
As far as prayer goes, intercession prayer specifically
Abraham for Sodom - Genesis 18
Moses and Aaron for the assembly - Exodus 16
Moses for Israel - Exodus 32
In 2 Kings 20, Isaiah is told by the LORD to deliver a message, “thus saith the LORD”.
The king crises and whines and the LORD sends the prophet back…He had heard the kings prayers and changed His mind, which turned out to not be a very good thing for the king, but that doesn’t change the fact that the king’s prayer changed God’s plan.
There are so many other directions I can take this, but it is 2500+ words already. Who will read it anyway? One or two gentlemen who will remain unswayed no matter how many verses I cite, verses that say man is meant to search for God, that Jesus and the apostles wrote that there is, can be, some good in man, that the book of life mentioned in several places is not a prewritten book in which are the names of the elect who were predestined before time to be saved. I read the stories, the records of the covenant, the conditions, the promises. I read of a God who interacts with people on a regular basis. If the plan is prewritten and the elect are predestined, why would He even bother? I’m tired of this. I may have to leave a church I love because of this. I know the Bible pretty well, and I get to know it more each time I read it, but I don’t know a God who wrote evil and pain and damnation into His perfect plan. I have another book in my hands right now, it’s got some good, logical stuff in it. I’d quote it, but it’s just a book. Not the Bible. It does however confirm my original blogging fear. See, I started this whole thing when I read an article by Chris P. on the emergent church. In it he mentioned “Open Theism” and by his brief summary of what it was, I thought, well that sounds like what I believe, but Chris P. said that was Heresy, and I wondered why it was heresy. I started reading some other stuff. Commenting here and there. What was so wrong with candles or incense, or using rocks for a visual metaphor of a Biblical truth, and dancing in worship, even doing the Hula maybe. But I rejected the label “Open Theist” because the anti people out there said that the Open Theists were relativists who did not hold to the authority of the Bible.
But now I have to admit. I am an open theist, as described in the book I’ve been reading.
Some things happen that are not what God planned for us. And sometimes people simply fall victim to unfortunate circumstances. Our experiences matter to God, here and now. He is infinitely sensitive to what happens to us. There is a profound sense of divine sympathy flowing from God, and there is nothing that lies beyond God’s capacity to work for good. Such recognition meets our natural desire to know that tragedies have not occurred in vain, they count for something. And the open view of God does not evoke the objectionable notions that God plans the tragedies to happen.
It has been said here in the world of blogs, that Free Will is not necessarily a Biblical concept. The question has been asked, where in the Bible does it say we are entitled to a Free Will. If it weren’t a Biblical concept, why does God, through His prophets say over and over again to choose? Are we free to choose? Or does God just lead us to believe we have a choice? To be sure, we may think that we are making a decision, but if in reality my selection is already determined by factors of which I am not aware, if God’s knowledge of the future is exhaustive, and liner, and He knows exactly what I will choose, then freedom to choose is an illusion. I am trying to bring this to a logical conclusion. And the only thought in my mind is “I love you LORD.” I need to end this with one more Biblical quotation. Just one more? But which one?
“Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all you heart and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this. Love you neighbor has yourself!” By the way, that says neighbor not brother. We’ve had some discussions about who our “Brothers” were as opposed to who our Enemies are. It’s been said we don’t have to worry about the unsaved. I can’t believe it’s been said by people who claim to be followers of Christ, but it has been. Remember how Jesus answered the question - Whose my neighbor?. But that is an all together different issue. Be nice. Jesus wants us to be nice. Merry Christmas, and God Bless Us - Everyone…may we all be like trees - Psalm 1:3 trees. 3321 words.