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Sunday, September 19, 2010

Compare Your Experience With Dominoes & God's Sovereignty

I often grow frustrated with the sentiment that God has created us with a free, morally unimpeded, will of near absolute effectiveness. The most common resulting conclusion is the appeal to pity, not scripture, that God is not a puppet master, or a rapist, or neither has he created automatons with no independent thought or provocation of their own.

I grow indignant with the utter lack of experiential, or thoughtful comparisons in our own life, that we fail to apply fully to God in our desires, but rather fully in our limitations; we inadequately try to describe God. We use our own lack of comprehension, or omniscience to describe God's, or our own lack of omnipotence to describe Gods. How stupid and foolish!

As I read "Theology" by Vincent Cheung, I'm struck with this very human experience that entirely explains, in my opinion, what it must be like to be utterly in control of the object you desire, while it operates under your control, to perform a task which you've prescribed, without defect to the manner in which you prescribed it. And that, being perfect and good.

If ever you've played with dominoes, you've likely set them up in ornate rows, long columns of white ivory, or ceramic, all with the intent of one final goal. To knock them over. They serve many purposes, but apart from your hand and imagination they can do no other. Certainly they may be different in appearance, and some have slight variations in weight, but their differences do not impede your control over them in any way. It's a likely scenario that you enjoy and delight in the purpose that you have for them. In fact they serve you entirely. Your singular purpose is your enjoyment and to that end you've completely arranged them. And when you knock them over, do you enjoy the domino effect breaking down and ending what would have been a marvelous conclusion to all of our predetermined joy? Surely you do not enjoy the failure of your plan? Surely if it be in your control you would not let it fail for this would diminish your joy and the process must start again. OR, do you find the most joy when, in complete agreement with your predetermined desire for joy with your creation, the creation performs exactly as it was designed, planned and intended to. Yet surely there are minor imperfections in each domino and in each tip that falls the next piece...yet, the final goal is not deterred and you being fully in control, accomplish that which you set out to do. This is exactly what God's sovereignty looks like in practice.

One minor exception I would draw to be as complete as this author can be, God DID create you, specifically with your imperfections, and planned each fall, so that you, his child would ultimately come to realize his joy in a life in service to him, adopted as children, invited to be partakers, a chosen race, a holy nation, royal priesthood. Certainly a God, worthy of all of that, would have the sense to make sure his planned cannot be foiled or even delayed by the mindless and ignorant 'choices' of men.

3 comments:

The Hairy-tick said...

I could only add that I am not a Royal Priest, not part of a chosen nation, nor can I "service" God.
I was chosen by God before the foundation of the world to be a member of the Body of Christ.
I am complete in Him.
He prepares the good works so that we can walk into them.
Believers have no more to do with thier selection by God to believe, than Abram did with his selection by God to become God's chosen man.
The theory of "human freewill" is a fortress of the Adversary. It is used by him to house many a diversion from the truth of God.

Joshua Barnes said...

Yeah, so I did lift that from Peter, though, why don't you appeal to Paul's declaration that Christ's death was intended to break down the wall and remove the dividing line?

I guess your perspective might be that that explanation is directional, in that gentiles did not have to become jews "circumsized" for their salvation to be real...which, seems plausible on it's surface.

Joshua Barnes said...

I might also ask, what is your role in the coming kingdom? Is it described?

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