Featured Not Closed Theology

A significant fraction of believers think God has exhaustively predestined whatsoever comes to pass. We are all like actors on a stage, simply mouthing our words and doing our foreordained actions. But the fly in the buttermilk is that such a viewpoint means we are not responsible for our sinful thoughts and actions as they were foreordained by God and we cannot resist His power to compel.

Thus any system of theology that hold humanity responsible for sin is not a closed theology, but an open, at least partially, theology.

The good news, the gospel of Christ, declares we can be forgiven all the consequences of "our" sin, whether volitional or inadvertent.

Thus to embrace "closed theology" is to deny the very foundation of the gospel.

 

Which translation reads: Matthew 10:29-30. "Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father's will.

It might be the NKJV, or it might be the WEB, as both have "will" as part of the text. However, "will" is not found in the KJV (TR) or the NASB (CT). Several variations are found among our English translation, apparently reading into the text "how" the sparrows fall is not "apart or without" the Father. Several have unknown or unperceived.

So once again a vague verse translated with an interpretive addition, is used to support false doctrine.

God is sovereign in that God either causes or allows whatsoever comes to pass. Thus no one is claiming "rogue atoms" are in play.

None of the verses cited say God causes all things, thus He allows humans to sin or not, rather than compels their sins by predestining them.

If a sinner has "free will" then his or her choice to sin or not has not been predestined. Some posters want to have it both ways, God causes everything but we are still responsible for the sin He compels. Utter nonsense.

To embrace "closed theology" is to deny the very foundation of the gospel.

 

God is sovereign because He either causes or allows whatsoever comes to pass. This view concedes no ground to those who redefine words to pour false doctrine into God's word.

If God only allows man to choose one option, that is not a choice! If God allows people to choose, they must have a choice of more than one option. If they can only choose to reject God and Christ, that is compulsion, and not allowing choice.

If God is said to "allow" only one choice, that is to say God compels that choice, which is the opposite of allowing someone to make a choice between alternatives.

Some sought to redefine the meaning of words to claim God's sovereignty is not defined by "God either causes or allows whatsoever comes to pass."

Sovereign = Supreme Power = God Almighty

Nothing happens unless God either causes it, or allows it to occur. His power is supreme.

Closed theology is a fiction from the dark ages.
God allows humans to make choices and holds them accountable for those choices.
No two ways about it!

 

Thanks for the on topic response!

Open Theology says God has not predestined everything, that humans can choose to believe in God and His Christ and alter the outcome of their lives. Closed Theology says humans were either saved or damned from all eternity for all eternity, and there is nothing we can do to alter that outcome for ourselves or our loved ones.

R.C. Sproul did indeed use the same phrasing I did in his defense of Calvinism, claiming the Westminster Confession did not mean God predestines whatsoever comes to pass, but only that God causes or allows whatsoever comes to pass. Thus he redefines "ordains" to mean causes or allows when it actually means "predestines."

Note that the Calvinist leaning postes on this board at first claimed "caused or allowed" was invalid, then fell silent when another poster correctly, as you have also correctly, pointed out R.C. Sproul's view matched my view which is a non-Calvinist view.

 

You can argue that the R. C. Sproul "caused or allowed view" is held by some Calvinists, but the majority posting here rejected that view.

 

In post 86, one Calvinist leaning poster argued the lost are unable to choose life, thus God sets before them the choice of death only. This is incompatible with God allowing us to sin or not sin. This redefines choice to mean choosing from only one option, i.e. a non-choice.

In post #113, another Calvinist leaning poster admits to the widely held Calvinist belief that God determined in eternity past, the outcome of our lives, and does not allow the lost any opportunity to alter that outcome.

 

Calvinists that believe God allows us to sin, rather than compels us to sin are Open Theology advocates.

Claiming Jesus knew the time of His return redefines Omniscience to an unbiblical construct. Admitting Jesus did not know the time of His return, yet was "all knowing" returns the concept of Omniscience to a biblical construct.