Friday, March 17, 2006
Election
J.W. Hendryx writing at Reformation Theology has an excellent look at the doctrine of election and the "drowning man" objection. Some highlights:
The first is depravity. Any other system of theological thought gives us an innocence that we simply do not deserve. I find nothing so convincing as history itself, and no single fact of history more convincing than that the great genocides of history were thought good by those that committed them. If Hitler thought the final soution good, what am I deceiving myself about - I simply must be depraved.
The second truth is that it is not about the fate of man, but the glory of God. God does not "save" us because of us - He saves us because of Himself. When we think He saves us for us we are guilty of sin all over again because we are putting ourselves in God's rightful place.
Related Tags: Christianity, calvinism, election, depravity, glory of God
Naturally the next question is why does God not save everyone then? That is a deep mystery but we know God conspires with His own goodness and wisdom and always does what is right. So while we do not know why, the Scriptures do teach that He does so and it is not for us to pry into the mystery of why or presume He has bad motives in doing so. We know the character of God is good so we can trust that He does so for good reason even though we do not understand. The fact that he does it is, in fact, the highest reason in the universe. There cannot, in fact, be a better reason than "God wills it". Can you think of a better reason?Increasingly there are two essential truths that I hold dearest and they are illustrated in this discussion,
[...]
Perhaps if our problem were only of a physical disability or of an innocent man drowning then of course we might be more inclined to make God out to be an ogre. But this is not how the Scripture describes the disposition of a sinner's heart. The Scripture says the unregenerate are rebels, hostile to God by nature. Realizing that analogies are imperfect, this drowning analogy still depends on pity for it to work at all but is actually imposing an alien presupposition on the Scripture that we were just helplessly, innocently in need and God is, therefore, obligated to reach out to save us, lest we drown. So according to this analogy the one condition for us to meet of God is to love us is to reach out and take hold of His hand which He is obligated to extend lest otherwise He must be evil, they reason. Not only is this kind of love conditional but this love does nothing to help the helpless except call to him from afar. I hope you see the clear problem with this reasoning.
[...]
We must remember also that God has more than just one attribute. Indeed, God is love and His love is like His word ... He says of it, "It will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it." This is beautiful and is what gives us help and hope ... but we must also remember that God is infinitely holy, just and wrathful. When we say we are saved what do we mean? What are we saved from? We are saved from God. Yes, saved from God. If God is truly a just God, His wrath must be poured out on the guilty. God is holy and no sin can stand in His presence - His justice requires just payment, a payment we cannot repay.
The first is depravity. Any other system of theological thought gives us an innocence that we simply do not deserve. I find nothing so convincing as history itself, and no single fact of history more convincing than that the great genocides of history were thought good by those that committed them. If Hitler thought the final soution good, what am I deceiving myself about - I simply must be depraved.
The second truth is that it is not about the fate of man, but the glory of God. God does not "save" us because of us - He saves us because of Himself. When we think He saves us for us we are guilty of sin all over again because we are putting ourselves in God's rightful place.
Related Tags: Christianity, calvinism, election, depravity, glory of God
