My Hippity Dippity Jesus

With predestination, an author like creator who has determined each and every action, of course they would have foreknowledge. They wrote the book. They created the story. They would absolutely know the outcome of all events, every choice.

For this to be so, the creator must be outside of time and space. They could react to events as they happen, or not, as they have written events long before they started.

However, with just foreknowledge, an ability to just see, and know how events transpire, then there is no predestination. This "gifted one" only knows what's coming, and maybe, can adjust some events to bring change before they happen.

For this to be so, the "creator" has to be in time, only reacting to events as they transpire around him. They can never completely control events. Some events would be beyond their power to change.

Which one can demand trust from us?

The second, can never fully be trusted. What if, your disastrous event was fixed, something that the "creator" could not change, because no matter what he changed in the past, it would still happen. He can't change it. He is limited.

Trusting a limited being is foolish.

With the second, it poses a rather big question. If the "creator" is limited by time, then isn't time more powerful? Who created time? If this "creator" just "happened" upon the story, or stirred the pot and knows the outcome, who made the pot? This absolutely implies there is someone, or something, yet greater.

Although this idea is not remotely biblical, it is the predominant theological perspective of God, taught and believed by millions.

Why?

Predestination is stated many times in the Bible. Even listed once, it discounts the second philosophy about God.

Why would man want to diminish God's power and authority?

Where did this idea come from?

Isaiah 14:12-15

[12] How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!

[13] You said in your heart, "I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. 

[14] I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High."

[15] But you are brought down to the grave, to the depths of the pit.

Yes, this is the one who came up with a plan to diminish God. He also shared it...

Genesis 3:1-5

[1] Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, `You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"

[2] The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,

[3] but God did say, `You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'"

[4] "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman.

[5] "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

This IS a serious issue. To trust someone, you must know and accept them as they are. If you change who they are in your heart and mind, by making them appear more comfortable to YOUR sensibilities, then you can't trust them at all.

Faith in God, through Jesus Christ alone is what saves.

If you make Jesus out to be a loving 60's hippy kind of guy, one who just loves and accepts everyone no matter what they do, are you saved?

No. Because you are trusting in someone who doesn't exist. Your version of god is an idol. A made up being that never existed. He can't save anyone.

How then, if the hippity dippity Jesus is obviously errant, why is your limited stuck in time, reactive god, any better?

It is not.

Jesus alone saves. We must know and trust Him, HIS power and authority.

When you do, you will see that He is both All Powerful and all Good.

That is what scripture teaches.

So, do you believe what is written, or do you ignore it, and rewrite it to fit your comfortable view?

I'd say it was your choice, but no, it is really not...

So, then...are you chosen?