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Saturday, December 06, 2008

Saved by Foreknowledge

Probably, if you're a Calvinist-type, you've heard this. "Oh, I believe in the omniscience of God ... I believe that God knows in advance who will and won't be saved. I just don't believe that He predestines who will and who won't."

Think about that for a minute. Without even going into that "middle knowledge" or "foreknowledge is not the same as predestination" argumentation, think about the concept. God knows who will be saved; He just doesn't predestine it. Here is what they are trying to do with this type of statement. "Salvation is available for everyone. No one but the individual determines whether or not they will receive salvation." (I know, I know, it is possible for various individuals to differ with what I just said.) They want to maintain that the individual, not God, determines if he or she will receive Christ. So they want to maintain a type of uncertainty. They think that, somehow, if there is a group of people who will not be saved, then they are excluded somehow and God is not fair (and, maybe, we don't have to share the Gospel with them).

Here's the problem. If God is truly omniscient and if God knows who will and who will not be saved ... then the story is over. Those who will be saved will and those who won't won't. It cannot be changed or God has failed to properly know. In other words ... there is no uncertainty, and allowing for God's perfect foreknowledge is a tacit approval of predestination. Now what do you do? Well, until you find someone else who has perfect foreknowledge, I suppose we had better keep sharing the Gospel with everyone.

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