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Theology on grace
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A while back I remember reading something by Oswald Chambers in My Utmost for His Highest, he said something along the lines of God sends us through seasons where He teaches us doctrinal truths in order to prepare us for future trials. This was certainly the case in my own life. At the end of my sophomore year of high school, I started listening to a lot of John Piper sermons, which introduced me to reformed theology. The church I grew up in was not reformed, and the concept was new and confusing to me. This led me to study the doctrine of grace and specifically God’s attribute of being sovereign. After studying this topic in depth, I came to embrace the doctrines of grace and find joy in in its implications. What does it mean for God to be sovereign? God is in control over everything both in the universe and regarding salvation. He orchestrates everything for His glory and for the good of those who believe in Him. The first part is that God is sovereign over the entire universe. …show more content…
On the day they moved, I remember praying and asking God how any good was coming from this situation. Then He reminded me of Isaiah 55:8-9, “for My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.” I was filled with an overwhelming sense of peace and at the same time convicted for my lack of faith. How could I, as a finite human, fully understand what an infinite, omniscient God had planned? Since God is good and holy, I could trust that He is good, and His sovereign plan is good even when it looks so dark that I am completely unable to see it. I had peace in knowing that God deeply loved those kids, and even though they were suffering so much, somehow and someday it would be used for His glory and their
The Bible tells us God is sovereign and all throughout its contents we see the scriptures confirm the sovereignty of God. There have been many discussions on the selectivity of God pointing to the doctrine of predestination, the doctrine of predetermination, and the doctrine of election. But God makes it clear that He “will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy” (Ex. 33:19 KJV).
She struggles to grasp the concept that he could have stories in the Bible of killing so many people. She thinks this goes against everything he is for in the ways of loving everyone and treating everyone as his children. Even in present time she talks about a girl who was executed in a video she saw, and all the natural disasters. How can this amazing God let all of this happen to his people she wonders. That is something I have always struggled to understand growing up how can God be so evil to his children. The answer I always got was that there was a reason and purpose for everything, and God had a plan for everything. I found that answer hard to believe with all the evil that is in world today. Just like Evans I still struggle with understanding why God does some of the things He does, but I guess that is why He is God and I am
The traditional Christian answer to why God allowed the death of Christ is for the absolution of humanity’s sin. However, this begs the question, as an omnipotent God why was it necess...
There is so much that can be learned from the past. Especially from an event that was as catastrophic as this one. How does one person gain such a grip on so many people? How was he able to influence them to change their entire life’s to conform to what he wanted. Somehow he was able to get them to move to a completely new place and create a world all their (his) own. How does one person convince and force so many people that it was time for their life to end? How does he force them to kill themselves? So many questions that are still being answered to this day. There are plenty of movies and research done on this event but there is still a lot to learn.
...e ruler only holds power as long as his subjects obey his punishment commands. The sovereign does not determine the question of obedience to his commands, because that is ultimately a question the subjects determine for themselves, based on their assessment of their best interests and welfare. It therefore follows that the people as subjects, in due course, establish the very existence of the sovereign, which is dependent on obedience to his commands.
The Sovereignty and Goodness of God is a primary source document written in the 17th century, by a well-respected, Puritan woman. This book, written in cahoots with Cotton and Increase Mather, puritan ministers, tells the story of her capture by Indians during King Phillip’s War (1675-1676). For three months, Mary Rowlandson, daughter of a rich landowner, mother of three children, wife of a minister, and a pillar of her community lived among “savage” Indians. This document is important for several reasons. First, it gives us insight into the attitudes, extremes, personalities and “norms” of the Puritan people we learn about in terms of their beliefs, and John Calvin’s “house on a hill”. Beyond that, despite the inevitable exaggerations, this book gives us insight into Indian communities, and how they were run and operated during this time.
God is being right to himself in the denial of himself in the person of Christ for the sake of the life of the world. Many wrongly suggest that justification is solely for the pardoning of sins apart from any action on our part. This wrongly suggests that salvation is either a universal experience or one predicated on God's predestination of the elect few. As Greathouse writes, “This [Rom. 3:23-24] might mistakenly be taken to imply that human redemption is as extensive and all-inclusive as human sinfulness. This is true in potential, but God's free gift of redemption is not unconditional, nor is salvation universal.”5 As Gorman correctly points out justification, as understood through the life of Christ, is one of both sacrifice and participation. Christ dies to himself, while participating in the life of God, in full hope of the resurrection. Justification is not without participation on the part of the recipient. The cruciformity of Christ is the breaking open of the life of God for the sake of the life of all creation. The response then becomes from humans to the divinely initiated act of redemption of Christ on the cross. Participation in fiath, as Gorman indicates, is the ongoing sharing in the co-crucifixion of Christ as means of living in the hope of also sharing in the co-resurrection of Christ, living out Christlikeness in the power of
Absolute monarchy or absolutism meant that the sovereign power or ultimate authority in the state rested in the hands of a king who claimed to rule by divine right. But what did sovereignty mean? Late sixteenth century political theorists believed that sovereign power consisted of the authority to make laws, tax, administer justice, control the state's administrative system, and determine foreign policy. These powers made a ruler sovereign.
Even without God reaching out specifically for us, nature and the world around us can prove to show man God’s ultimate power and authority. God created humans as the superior being on earth, therefore we have the ability to critically
There were people at my house going through my family’s belongings telling me what was worth keeping and what wasn’t. I felt like I couldn’t have my own opinion and if I shared my opinions, I would instantly be looked down on. I was in charge of my own things and had little to no say in anything else that happened. I wasn’t even allowed to go into my mom’s room to collect things that were special to her. I couldn’t even grab items of hers that would have comforted me while I was grieving. You could feel the tension throughout the whole house as we got closer and closer to getting everything packed up. We were all mentally, emotionally, and physically drained. Those emotions stuck around as we were welcomed into our new home. My siblings and I were introduced to new rules at our house and they were nothing like what we were used to. We had to eat as a family which was a new concept to us. We came from a divorced household where my mom was almost never home for dinner because she was working to support her kids. We were expected to get along and communicate with each other. I never felt connected to my legal guardians and that made simple tasks such as communicating, incredibly difficult. People were so happy about the situation and I didn’t understand why. I remember seeing the church bulletin announcing, “The Fruits family has grown by three! Welcome Michael, Sarah, and Rachel to the family”.
The trip opened my eyes and I was grateful for the opportunity to share what God had given to me. Another task we had the privilege of helping them with was building a new chicken coop. We built a new roof and cleaned it up so that the chickens wouldn’t get too hot. The tricky part was communicating that we built exactly what they wanted. Therefore, I was there to both help construct, but also help get communication between us and the owners under control.
Many of them succeeded and found the better future they were looking for. Many others found hardship and experienced the destruction of their hopes and dreams. All of them were transformed. Packing up and leaving one's home is one of the hardest things a person can experience. Unfortunately, there are many instances when people are forced to do so.
...se man does not understand why something occurred does not mean that God did not possess full power over the happening.
Austin asserts in his Command Theory of Law that that the law is the command of the sovereign, which is also backed by a threat of sanction in the event of non-compliance. As a noun, the sovereign is usually defined as a person who holds supreme ruler, like an absolute monarch. The use of ‘sovereign’ as an adjective also refers to a group of
One week I would be with my Mom and the next week I would be with my Dad. I knew that my parents still loved my sister and I , but it definitely took a toll on the family as a whole. My Mom seemed depressed some nights. My sister and I would sleep in her bed to make her feel better.That 's when my Mom relayed on her faith to get her through this transition. Every Monday, Wednesdays, and Sundays, My sister, me , and my Mom would be at church. If we woke up late we would have bible study in her living room. She found a different church in Athens, Georgia named Timothy Baptist Church .That’s when she actually felt accepted in a church. I knew during the week my Mom had me I would be at church every other day. The weeks with my Dad were slightly different. With my Dad, he enjoyed going out, shopping, vacations, movies, and etc. He kind of spoiled my sister and I a little more. He never really told us the real reason why he wanted a divorce , he always told us he will tell us when we are older. My Dad found a different church as well.His church was near Atlanta, Georgia and it was named Berean Christian Church. So, once my dad founded a home church, I was going to church with my Dad every single Sunday. Faith played a huge part in my parents forgiveness of each other. The weeks I’m with my Dad, he cooked more. Talked to more to my sister and I more and he became a better listener.It was like he was becoming a better father. The weeks