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On Eternal Decrees,Predestination, and Foreknowledge
- Thread starter Agent47
- Start date
I'll try my best, brother.
In Scripture, a "decree" (Psalm 2) is God's "eternal purpose" (Ephesians 3) or "determined counsel" (Acts 2). These are the same thing.
The way I understand the term, a "decree" of God is by definition sovereign, it is certain because it is something God has "determined", and it is "necessary" because it is God's "eternal purpose".
Thank you. I wholly agree. I was told God decrees everything because he is sovereign. Do you think God decrees everything?
It depends on what you mean by "everything".
I believe that we "cannot speak and it come to pass unless God has commanded it" (Lam 3:37). But I do not believe that God "decrees" men to sin (James 1:13).
Everything has one definition sir;it means ALL.
Sinning is an event so if you hold onto God decreeing ALL events but not sinning, you are contradicting yourself.
Of course you could be Arminian if you believe God permits some events without determinately rendering them certain and necessary.
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he has decreed all that happens will fitr into His own plan and purposes, but He either determines history, orpermits it to happen!
Permission is the language of Arminianism
Certain brands of Calvinism also!
The confused type
Not so, as only Hyper cals hold to no permissive will!
Is God the Author of sin:
Louis Berkhof:
“This, if true, would naturally be an insuperable objection, for God cannot be the author of sin. This follows equally from Scripture, Ps. 92:15; Eccl. 7:29; Jas. 1:13; 1 John 1:5, from the law of God which prohibits all sin, and from the holiness of God. But the charge is not true; the decree merely makes God the author of free moral beings, who are themselves the authors of sin. God decrees to sustain their free agency, to regulate the circumstances of their life, and to permit that free agency to exert itself in a multitude of acts, of which some are sinful.
For good and holy reasons He renders these sinful acts certain, but He does not decree to work evil desires or choices efficiently in man. The decree respecting sin is not an efficient but a permissive decree, or a decree to permit, in distinction from a decree to produce, sin by divine efficiency.
No difficulty attaches to such a decree which does not also attach to a mere passive permission of what He could very well prevent, such as the Arminians, who generally raise this objection, assume. The problem of God's relation to sin remains a mystery for us, which we are not able to solve. It may be said, however, that His decree to permit sin, while it renders the entrance of sin into the world certain, does not mean He takes delight in it; but only that He deemed it wise, for the purpose of His self-revelation, to permit moral evil, however abhorrent it may be to His nature.
Louis Berkhof:
“This, if true, would naturally be an insuperable objection, for God cannot be the author of sin. This follows equally from Scripture, Ps. 92:15; Eccl. 7:29; Jas. 1:13; 1 John 1:5, from the law of God which prohibits all sin, and from the holiness of God. But the charge is not true; the decree merely makes God the author of free moral beings, who are themselves the authors of sin. God decrees to sustain their free agency, to regulate the circumstances of their life, and to permit that free agency to exert itself in a multitude of acts, of which some are sinful.
For good and holy reasons He renders these sinful acts certain, but He does not decree to work evil desires or choices efficiently in man. The decree respecting sin is not an efficient but a permissive decree, or a decree to permit, in distinction from a decree to produce, sin by divine efficiency.
No difficulty attaches to such a decree which does not also attach to a mere passive permission of what He could very well prevent, such as the Arminians, who generally raise this objection, assume. The problem of God's relation to sin remains a mystery for us, which we are not able to solve. It may be said, however, that His decree to permit sin, while it renders the entrance of sin into the world certain, does not mean He takes delight in it; but only that He deemed it wise, for the purpose of His self-revelation, to permit moral evil, however abhorrent it may be to His nature.
This is mere word play because permissive decrees rendered certain can't be resisted by Man.
Once again you prove you have little or no knowledge regarding the subject. The permissive decree allows the man to do as he pleases. It is his own will to do so, which God permits. The whole point is that he does not resist his on desires.
I know that.
Explain on the rendering certain bit. Is it not making it impossible to be otherwise?
Mankind has always chosen freely to be sinners, to disobey the Lord, correct?
Why is this?
Due to all of us have sinned, and fallen short of the glory of God!
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