The Trouble with Theological Heels

 

Tuesday, May 24, 2022

Your royal laws cannot be changed.  Your reign, O Lord, is holy forever and ever.  Psalm 93:5

The story begins:  John Calvin and John Wesley walk into a tavern and discover Martin Luther sitting at the bar.  Anyone who’s been to Sunday School more than twice can take that scenario into an infinite number of directions, none of which would likely reach a conclusion.  (Unless, of course, it were pre-destined.)

All three of historical note, Luther, the priest who broke with the Roman Catholic Church, Calvin, whose history, current events, and eschatology are set in immovable type in Heaven’s print shop, and Wesley, somewhere in the vague middle, shuffling Scripture, experience, tradition, and reason, to hold together the wildfire of theological movement; these are a sort of earthly tiumverate of heels, firmly-dug in theological sand, a monument to stubbornness, passion, and total surrender to movements, still evoking deep thinking and shallow arguments. 

Not wishing to add to the arguments of which of these theological heavyweights was right, with apprehension I wish to submit that they were all wrong.  And, of course, I’m not referring to their institutes, general rules, or theses.  I am pointing at the manner in which these were held.  If historical portraits of the battles royale held by those who followed these pipers are correct to any degree, you can imagine the bloodshed over which group “won” anything worthy of laying at the feet of Jesus.  Therein lurks the devil of the details of theological heels dug in the sand…the sand gets torn-up, and the furrows continue, a plowed field of misery.

I recall one seminary class, taught by Dr. Jerry Breazeale, at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.  We were discussing the topic of predestination…that God has designed and is orchestrating all of history’s events.  You could easily sense the argumentative anxiety of students raised in this denomination or that.  It was nearly palpable…is it once-saved-always-so, or can you drop-off heaven’s roster in a single, sinful act?  Is there any wiggle-room…or does God have everything planned, down to who I’ll marry, and what I’ll have for breakfast?

To his unending credit, and with my undying thanks, Dr. Breazeale wouldn’t be drawn into the abyss of arguing either side.  Instead, he told one of his Louisiana Bayou Cajun Thibodeau jokes…exceedingly hilarious, and nowhere near the point of predestination or free will.  After the laughter died-down, one of the more surly students (whom I’m certain didn’t even get the joke) raised the question to press the professor into declaring which side he was on.  Dr. Breazeale, in his best bayou Thibodeau affect, drawled, well, y’see, I’m t’inkin ‘bout dis ting…I prozlabhy gots jus’ enuf Calvin in me t’ know deep down, dat dere ain’t nuttin God can’t do.  An’ He be havin some kinda plan…enough to keep dat ol’ debel down whar he belong.  An’ if God be wantin me to joins Him in dat fight…God will make me some room right next t’ His-side.  Dat’s whut I’m t’inkin.

Class dismissed!

For You Today

Predestination and Free Will aren’t supposed to hurt your head by getting it all down in forty pounds of textbooks.  These are gifts of God to bless your life, if you’ll understand that the love which gave it to you doesn’t need a theological defender…only an open heart of surrender.

If you haven’t got a Cajun friend to explain these things to you, I suggest you get one. 

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road with Jesus; have a blessed day!  

[1] Images:  WikimediaCommons Calvin Wesley Luther Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

God's Plans

 

Friday, August 28, 2020

All this happened so they would follow his decrees and obey his instructions.  Psalm 105:45

Doctrine (what you believe about what you value) can be tricky, and it runs a wide path through culture; as wide as the different opinions in a church meeting on what color the new carpet in the foyer ought to be.

From this one text in Psalms it is easy to see why some people imagine the doctrine of predestination to mean God moves people around in despotic manner – they have little or no choice about the outcome of their lives; God’s plan is final, and that’s it!  While that is a supra-fatalistic view of God’s intervention in human existence, the polar-opposite doctrine has God in a hands-off mode.  That was a doctrine quite popular a few generations ago.  The picture is of God, the Creator, once having made the universe and all it holds, somewhat like a master clock-maker assembles a grandfather clock, the final move being to gently push the pendulum to get things started, now takes His hands off the masterpiece and lets it run as it will, for good, bad, or indifferent.

This is essentially the debate which has been carried on since Job sat in ashes and grief over the misery in his life, while his three friends tried to force their theology on the sufferer.  The question hasn’t been settled throughout the formation of Jewish understanding, nor the last two thousand years of Christian discipleship.  It’s a wide space between the fringes of God totally ignoring us as opposed to God holding us so tight that we have no say in the matter.  Is it free will, or frozen-stiff in God’s will?  Here is the Apostle Paul’s signature verse on the topic:

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.  For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.  And having chosen them, he called them to come to him.  And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself.  And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory.  Romans 8:28-30

My theological understanding, after puzzling the jumble of thoughts on this issue the last 50+ years, is somewhere near the middle of the fringes.  It would be hard to keep a straight face and say there’s no such thing as free will; there are too many if’s, but’s, and perhaps passages in Holy Scripture to deny human will is autonomous, a free-agent, so-to-speak.  It would be equally naïve (or a downright assault on truth) to declare that our human autonomous will is not influenced, and ultimately accountable-to God’s will.  He is, after all, the Sovereign God, Who created us! 

So, do we have free will?  Or are our lives predestined?  Well, in a word, YES!

Now, before you start planning my execution for taking the 5^th, and bailing on this little question, I really do mean “yes” – both are real.  We do have free will, and God, in His sovereign will, has some wonderful plans for our lives He will bring about. 

And that works the way I heard Dr. Herschel Hobbs describe it as he led us in a small group Bible study in 1979.  He said[1]:

Predestination works like an election.  God and the devil are having a dispute over your soul.  The devil casts his vote to destroy every part of who you are.  The Lord casts His vote to redeem you and give you eternal life with Him in glory.  It’s one-fer, one-ag’n; the election’s a tie.  And the only way to settle it is YOU get to cast the tie-breaking vote!

Not bad theology for a country boy with a PhD!

For You Today

The Psalmist said God arranges and does stuff so we will follow God’s commands and will.  It’s a smart thing to listen to God’s plans (read and study Scripture); in the long run it will head off a long list of mistakes and heartaches.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road today.  Have a blessed day!

VIDEO

Title image Pixabay.com  ∞ Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

For another posts on Psalm 145 see: Telling the Story

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[1] Dr. Hobbs (1907-1995) was a Baptist scholar, and speaker on the Baptist Hour radio program.  The quote is as close to verbatim as my memory allows, but the gist and understanding are still clear as a fire bell ringing

 

The Plan

[1]

Listen to this sermon HERE

All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.  Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.  God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ.  This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.  So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son.  He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins.  He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.  God has now revealed to us his mysterious plan regarding Christ, a plan to fulfill his own good pleasure.  And this is the plan:  At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth.  Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.  God’s purpose was that we Jews who were the first to trust in Christ would bring praise and glory to God.  And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you.  And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago.  The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people.  He did this so we would praise and glorify him.   Ephesians 1:3-14^(NLT)

God loves YOU!  That is the message of Paul in this passage. 

Me?  He loves me?  Yes, and He has done so much for us that we don’t deserve or even know about.  It is His will, His nature. 

Now, another big question is HOW; how does God love us?  Having created everything, does God just sit back and watch us, hoping for the best?  Or did God plan out everything that will happen to us, and everything we will do in our lives?  

In theological discussions those are somewhat competing doctrines.  One is called free will, where everything is up to us in this life.  The other is the doctrine of predestination, where God is controlling everything. 

A popular dictionary[2] defines predestination this way: 

…the doctrine that God, a deity, or fate has established in advance everything that is going to happen and that nothing can change this.

Now that may be consistent with our human rationale that a sovereign God can (and does) do what He wants.  However, I think it is too incomplete to just leave it there; there are other issues to consider. 

Five or six years ago I took a walk around the block with my grandson, Micah.  When we got back near the house he ran up the driveway, touched the garage door and proclaimed, “I won”!  My thought was, “Nobody was racing except you, boy!”  My grandson had “won” his race based upon an incomplete understanding; in order for there to be a race, there must be more than one participant.

We tend to think that way about God; we assume that our understanding must be right, because it works for us. 

The founder of Methodism, John Wesley, had strong thoughts about predestination.  But even with very strong convictions on the topic, Wesley treaded very lightly in his doctrinal sermon,[3] calling this what the Apostle Peter mused about Paul’s writings….some things are really hard to understand.

What Wesley pointed out was that we sometimes throw terms around without really applying them correctly. 

The prefix “pre” in predestination indicates some action or event in point of time.  This is not relevant when you refer to God, as He is outside and above time and space.  For God, a thousand years is as one day. 

Does He know our future?  Of course; God sees all time at once, experiences all time as present, past and future.  As Creator it is impossible for him to be less than what He created; He is not hemmed-in by time as we are.

The “other side” of predestination is “free will”.  The equally popular train of thought here is that my relationship to God, and all my actions, thoughts and experiences are all up to me.

The author Isaac Bashevis Singer was once asked whether he believed in free will or predestination.  We have to believe in free will, he replied. We’ve got no choice.[4]

The Debate

The debate is obvious…if God predestined everything, down to the indigestion you had when you added anchovies to that pizza, then nothing will change; it will all happen as He planned, and we are insignificant. 

On the other hand, if there is free will, we are everything, and God is only a spectator.

The Dangers

Just as the debate is obvious, there are obvious dangers in getting too far on one side or the other.  (Everyone has an opinion…just how far you track to one side can have far-reaching consequences.)

Let’s consider the fringes of predestination and free will:

I.                 The foolishness of holding predestination and ignoring free will.

John Wesley[5] said it most simply:  if man were not free, he could not be accountable either for his thoughts, word, or actions.  Without some valid form of freedom to make choices that are consequential, we cannot be held responsible. 

And Scripture indicates plainly that there is human responsibility for our actions.  Paul said, the wages of sin is death; that is plain!

The danger (or foolishness) in ignoring free will is that shedding all responsibility – with the excuse that it is all pre-planned and fate can’t be changed – leads to rebellion; we want to rip the commandments out of the Bible which tell us we must live a holy life before God.

I have been chosen many times.  The first was when a little girl in the second grade decided I was her boyfriend.  Girls were “icky” at the time, so I rebelled against the choice – she hit me with her lunchbox.

Uncle Sam “chose” me too; the letter began…You will report to the induction station at Fort Dix, New Jersey….  I rebelled there too, but Uncle Sam’s lunchbox was bigger than the little girl’s.

The sovereignty of God cannot be questioned by anyone seriously considering the Almighty.  Yet, there is so much in the New Testament about freedom.  Jesus said the truth would make us free.  Paul’s letter to the Galatian church told them that they were set free to live free.  It is foolishness to hold only predestination, to the exclusion of free will.

II.              The foolishness of holding free will and ignoring predestination

Like my grandson who “won the race” which only existed in his mind, we have a freedom that extends only so far.  The moment our “free actions” contradict the sovereignty of Almighty God the contest is over! 

It is like a father who asks his six kids where they want to eat lunch.  They all scream “McDonalds”; then Dad recalls he has coupons for Burger King.  Dad’s commitment to keeping the family out of bankruptcy demands use of the coupons, so the “free will” of the six kids gets vetoed in sovereign favor of flame broiled Whoppers.

If holding to predestination alone leads to rebellion, holding only to free will leads to humanistic thinking – that we humans are the center of the universe.  We can become apathetic to God if there is nothing but self-help and personal growth.  God has never taken too kindly to being ignored.

One writer offered a unique perspective about the sovereignty of God in this Ephesians passage; all of the phrases begin with God doing something…He is the one taking the initiative; that’s what a sovereign God does:

Consider only the grammatical construction, with an eye toward who acts and who is acted upon, who gives and who receives:

  God "blessed us…

  God "chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world"…

  God "destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus…

  God "has made known to us the mystery of his will…

  In Christ, "we have redemption through his blood…

  In Christ, "we have also obtained an inheritance…[6]

God is the one Who is active and in control in this passage.  The writer also suggested that if you had to sum-up these twelve verses in one sentence “you might try this:  ‘Christ Jesus is in charge (and you are not).’”[7]

Conclusion

So, Russell, which is it – predestination or free will? 

For me?  Both! 

You cannot seriously or intelligently hold to one and completely ignore the other.  Since both are valid and important, it is dangerous to ignore either; it’s better, even profitable to embrace the mystery that there is a relationship between predestination and free will…and God is the referee. 

One preacher told of hearing God’s sovereignty and human free will described as “…two ropes going through two holes in the ceiling and over a pulley above.  If I wish to support myself by them, I must cling to them both.  If I cling only to one and not the other, I go down. 

I read the many teachings of the Bible regarding God’s election, predestination, his chosen, and so on.  I read also the many teachings regarding ’whosoever will may come’ and urging people to exercise their responsibility as human beings. 

These seeming contradictions cannot be reconciled by the puny human mind.  With childlike faith, I cling to both ropes, fully confident that in eternity I will see that both strands of truth are, after all, of one piece.[8]

This is a good way to remember that the mysteries presented in God’s Word must sometimes be understood as not being able to be understood…yet; we simply embrace the truth.

The bigger reality which flows out of this passage, (and more important for life and our relationship before God) is that God chose us!  It was His plan! 

He did not have to do anything.  Sovereign God could have refused to create us, forgive us, love us or make a home for us in heaven…but he did!

God loves YOU! 

The appropriate response to love like that is to be people of praise – those who live in loving response to the love of a sovereign God who chose us!

In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen!

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[1] Title Image:  By Μηχανικός1, via Wikimedia Commons

[2] Encarta Dictionary

[3] Sermon 58, On Predestination, (1872 edition, Thomas Jackson, editor)

[4] © 2009 COMMUNICATION RESOURCES, INC.

[5]Sermon 58, On Predestination, (1872 edition, Thomas Jackson, editor)

[6] Hans Weirsma, TheWorkingPreacher.org commentary

[7] Ibid.

[8] Paul Fritz quoting R.B.Kuiper on SermonCentral.com