1. Welcome to Baptist Board, a friendly forum to discuss the Baptist Faith in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to all the features that our community has to offer.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon and God Bless!

Do you take God being Sovereign to mean he determines Everything that ever Happens?

Discussion in 'General Baptist Discussions' started by Yeshua1, Apr 23, 2013.

  1. Yeshua1

    Yeshua1 Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Mar 19, 2012
    Messages:
    52,624
    Likes Received:
    2,742
    Faith:
    Baptist
    that all things are directly determined and caused by Him to happen?
     
  2. Matt22:37-39

    Matt22:37-39 New Member

    Joined:
    Dec 4, 2011
    Messages:
    730
    Likes Received:
    2
    Lam 3:32-33: "Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone." His "bringing grief" may be more about allowing (think Job?).

    Jer 32:35: "They built high places for Baal in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to sacrifice their sons and daughters to Molek, though I never commanded—nor did it enter my mind—that they should do such a detestable thing and so make Judah sin." God seems to flatly deny even mentally causing them to do such a detestable thing.
     
  3. Yeshua1

    Yeshua1 Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Mar 19, 2012
    Messages:
    52,624
    Likes Received:
    2,742
    Faith:
    Baptist
    I take it that you would answer 'No"
     
  4. Matt22:37-39

    Matt22:37-39 New Member

    Joined:
    Dec 4, 2011
    Messages:
    730
    Likes Received:
    2
    Again can you be more specific I can't read minds?
     
  5. Yeshua1

    Yeshua1 Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Mar 19, 2012
    Messages:
    52,624
    Likes Received:
    2,742
    Faith:
    Baptist
    You don't see the Lord having absolute sovereingty, as He has granted unto man a free will?
     
  6. Matt22:37-39

    Matt22:37-39 New Member

    Joined:
    Dec 4, 2011
    Messages:
    730
    Likes Received:
    2
    Question: "What is the difference between God's sovereign will and God's perfect will?"

    Answer: When speaking of God’s will, many people see three different aspects of it in the Bible. The first aspect is known as God’s decretive, sovereign, or hidden will. This is God’s "ultimate" will. This facet of God’s will comes out of the recognition of God’s sovereignty and the other aspects of God’s nature. This expression of God’s will focuses on the fact that God sovereignly ordains everything that comes to pass. In other words, there is nothing that happens that is outside of God’s sovereign will. This aspect of God’s will is seen in verses like Ephesians 1:11, where we learn that God is the one “who works all things according to the counsel of His will,” and Job 42:2, "I know that You can do everything, And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You.” This view of God’s will is based on the fact that, because God is sovereign, His will can never be frustrated. Nothing happens that is beyond His control.

    This understanding of His sovereign will does not imply that God causes everything to happen. Rather, it acknowledges that, because He is sovereign, He must at least permit or allow whatever happens to happen. This aspect of God’s will acknowledges that, even when God passively permits things to happen, He must choose to permit them, because He always has the power and right to intervene. God can always decide to either permit or stop the actions and events of this world. Therefore, as He allows things to happen, He has “willed” them in this sense of the word.

    While God’s sovereign will is often hidden from us until after it comes to pass, there is another aspect of His will that is plain to us: His preceptive or revealed will. As the name implies, this facet of God’s will means that God has chosen to reveal some of His will in the Bible. The preceptive will of God is God’s declared will concerning what we should or should not do. For example, because of the revealed will of God, we can know that it is God’s will that we do not steal, that we love our enemies, that we repent of our sins, and that we be holy as He is holy. This expression of God’s will is revealed both in His Word and in our conscience, through which God has written His moral law upon the hearts of all men. The laws of God, whether found in Scripture or in our hearts, are binding upon us. We are accountable when we disobey them.

    Understanding this aspect of God’s will acknowledges that while we have the power and ability to disobey God’s commands, we do not have the right to do so. Therefore, there is no excuse for our sin, and we cannot claim that by choosing to sin we are simply fulfilling God’s sovereign decree or will. Judas was fulfilling God’s sovereign will in betraying Christ, just as the Romans who crucified Him were. That does not justify their sins. They were no less evil or treacherous, and they were held accountable for their rejection of Christ (Acts 4:27-28). Even though in His sovereign will God allows or permits sin to happen, we are still accountable to Him for that sin.

    The third aspect of God’s will that we see in the Bible is God’s permissive or perfect will. This facet of God’s will describes God’s attitude and defines what is pleasing to Him. For example, while it is clear that God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, it is also clear that He wills or decrees their death. This expression of God’s will is revealed in the many verses of Scripture which indicate what God does and does not take pleasure in. For example, in 1 Timothy 2:4 we see that God desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth,” yet we know that God’s sovereign will is that “no one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:44).

    If we are not careful, we can easily become preoccupied or even obsessed with finding the “will” of God for our lives. However, if the will we are seeking is His secret, hidden, or decretive will, we are on a foolish quest. God has not chosen to reveal that aspect of His will to us. What we should seek to know is the perceptive or revealed will of God. The true mark of spirituality is when we desire to know and live according to the will of God as revealed in Scripture, and that can be summarized as “be holy for I am Holy” (1 Peter 1:15-16). Our responsibility is to obey the revealed will of God and not to speculate on what His hidden will for us might be. While we should seek to be “led by the Holy Spirit,” we must never forget that the Holy Spirit is primarily leading us to righteousness and to being conformed into the image of Christ so that our lives will glorify God. God calls us to live our lives by every word that proceeds from His mouth.

    Living according to His revealed will should be the chief aim or purpose of our lives. Romans 12:1-2 summarizes this truth, as we are called to present our “bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” To know the will of God, we should immerse ourselves in the written Word of God, saturating our minds with it, and praying that the Holy Spirit will transform us through the renewing of our minds, so that the result is what is good, acceptable and perfect—the will of God.

    www.gotquestions.org
     
  7. Yeshua1

    Yeshua1 Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Mar 19, 2012
    Messages:
    52,624
    Likes Received:
    2,742
    Faith:
    Baptist
    How do you see free will of man in regards to getting saved by God?
     
  8. Matt22:37-39

    Matt22:37-39 New Member

    Joined:
    Dec 4, 2011
    Messages:
    730
    Likes Received:
    2
    You know what I LIKE YOU...you are not being obnoxious or I hope not. You seem to honestly be asking questions and are engaging. Although I'd loved to see more dialog from you. Thank you for being respectful...:)

    I did deal a little bit with the issue on the CHOSEN thread.
    I would like to add that our YIELDING/SUBMITTING is the ONLY "work" we do to get saved and continue to do so till we die. Just like God has His work we have ours...I write much about this and could be a chapter long if I was to explain it all on here....but I think that sums it up...it is about BALANCE God's part and my part

    The good pastor I had use to say this..."Pray as if everything depends on God and act as if everything depends on you"...they fit together.
     
  9. Yeshua1

    Yeshua1 Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Mar 19, 2012
    Messages:
    52,624
    Likes Received:
    2,742
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Are you saying that we use our free will to accept jesus and get saved, or that once God saves us, that we then have free will?
     
  10. Matt22:37-39

    Matt22:37-39 New Member

    Joined:
    Dec 4, 2011
    Messages:
    730
    Likes Received:
    2
    Sorry was on the phone

    Going by what I noticed in my life and what makes perfect sense when looking at scripture, plus a great book written in 1870 called "The Christians Secret Of A Happy Life"...read it like 4 times... is that all we are call to do before and during our salvation is YIELD/TRUST/SUBMIT/OBEY

    and even the ability to do all that is God given....Eph 2:8-9 "for by grace are saved through faith it is a gift of God not of works least any man shall boast"...it like the saying goes "which dog will win the fight?...the one I feed the most"

    I have to go as i have a few things to do...I could go on and on but I think that summarizes it.
     
Loading...