In The Empire Strikes Back, Yoda delivered that memorable line. He had told Luke to do something "impossible" using the Force. Luke said, "Okay, I'll try." And Yoda answered, "No. Try not. Do ... or do not. There is no try."
It's contrary, of course, to what my junior high coach told me. "There is no 'can't'! 'Can't' means 'didn't try!" No, coach, sometimes "can't" means "don't have the ability". And Yoda is mistaken as well. Sometimes there is "try" without "do". But you get the idea. Don't approach it with a "maybe". Do it! You know ... positive thinking ... that kind of thing.
This positive thinking thing only goes so far. It's good as far as it goes. It can move you from despair to hope, from not trying to trying. It can get you past unrealistic fears and motivate you to proceed where you should. It does not, however, produce results. Take, for instance, the recent ad I saw for the Susan G. Komen 3-Day walk for the cure. What they told me was "We can cure breast cancer if we can walk 60 miles in 3 days." Well, that's a nice sentiment and it is certainly positive thinking, but walking does not cure cancer. In fact, they've had these 3-day walks for some time now and cancer has not been cured. No, curing breast cancer requires research, time, knowledge we don't yet have (which suggests that it's hard to come by) and so on. Raising money for this effort makes securing the cure more possible, but it does not cure cancer. Thus, positive thinking only works as a motivator, not as an accomplishment.
Meet God. He's the ultimate positive thinker. As we all know, God sent His Son to save the world from sin. His will, apparently, is that all should be come to repentance. He has worked hard to accomplish this goal. And if anyone would be positive, it would be the Omnipotent God. Since He works all things after the counsel of His will, this is a goal that He should reach. God is trying to save everyone. Unfortunately for Him, He didn't get Yoda's message. "No. Try not. Do ... or do not. There is no try."
Isn't this a problem for some Christians? Isn't this a conundrum? Or is this just one of those things you chalk up to cognitive dissonance and forget about it?
5 comments:
Problem? Conundrum?
I suppose only if you begin by assuming God Sovereignly determined that all men will be saved.
I have been in 1 John in my devotions for several weeks and the book is ripe with phrases indicating there are those who "walk in the light" and those who "walk in darkness"; those who "confess our sins" and those who "claim to be without sin"; those who "obey his commands" and those who "does not do what he commands"; those who "does the will of God" and those who "loves the world"; those who "acknowledge the Son" and those who "denies the Son," and this is just in the first 2 chapters. In chapter 5 we are told three things we know: "We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true."
My previous devotion was the book of Romans. Chapter 8, verses 28-30 "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified."
If we say that in His Sovereignty God intended to destroy the plans of the evil one, to provide a sacrifice for atonement for all people and that all He predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son, then there is no problem at all.
We do read in 1 Timothy 2:4 that God wants all men to be saved. God tells us many things in scripture He wants us to do, yet we do them not. There is a difference between what God reveals that He wants us to do and what He has determined in His Sovereignty to do.
In the case of the latter, per my proposed previous paragraph, items 1 and 2 are done and item 3 is being done in perfect accordance with the council of His will.
By the way, you realize you have opened up the "untouchable" can of election worms don't you. Shame, shame, shame.
Jeremy D. Troxler: "God tells us many things in scripture He wants us to do, yet we do them not."
I see God as having multiple "wills". There is God's Sovereign Will. That's the one referenced in Eph 1:11. You know, the "God works all things after the counsel of" will. There is God's Preceptive Will. That would be the things He tells us to do that we regularly choose not to. Is it God's will that I commit sin? From His Preceptive Will, the answer is clearly "No." But if I sin and God is Sovereign, then from His Sovereign Will the answer would have to be "Yes". Genesis 50:20 exemplifies this. "You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good." Did God will that Joseph's brothers abuse him? Not in His Preceptive Will; certainly in His Sovereign Will. There is a third one as well. I think of it as God's "nice to" type of will, the things that would please Him. He takes no pleasure, for instance, in the death of the wicked. Still, He does it. "It would be nice if." It would be nice if all men came to repentance. They won't. That's not part of His Sovereign Will. It won't produce the best outcome that He desires. He would like that, but the best is what He really wants.
Jeremy D. Troxler: "By the way, you realize you have opened up the 'untouchable' can of election worms don't you."
Well, sort of. While many people point at Election and say, "That can't work! God wants all men to be saved", I point at "God wants all men to be saved" and ask, "Why did God fall so short?" In other words, it's not like one side has a problem and the other does not. ;)
Stan,
Multiple wills seems to be necessitated by scripture (your case here as the most obvious). Sovereign Will and Preceptive Will as you have stated it, or as I have more often seen it God's hidden Will and His revealed Will, must both exist. I think you are right, that most times the problem is with our assumptions and thinking in terms of what seems best to us, as opposed to what scripture says and who God has revealed Himself to be. We must, at the end of the day, be consistent with those not what seems best to us.
In my mind, we as believers had better at least be thinking very hard about these issues and discussing them because anything other than random light reading of scripture or discussion outside very closed circles will bring them to bear upon us, like it or not. And, as you said, the problem is for both sides and cannot be dismissed as "cognitive dissonance."
Thanks for the post and for the challenging truth of the Word. God is Sovereign and thank God it is so.
God is not trying to save everyone. If He were, everyone would be saved.
My kids tell me they're trying all the time. But they're not. for them trying means not succeeding and being able to say "at least I put forth some effort, now leave me alone."
A friend of mine used to put a pen on the table every time I would use the word try. He would say, "try and pick up this pen." Every time I would pick it up. His point was that by succeeding in picking up the pen I failed at trying. With my kids, any time they say they will try, they've already failed. I think that is true with many people today. I think the only time the wod try can be applied is when we are attempting a feat that seems impossible. "I will try to be on time", "I will try and make it to the gym 3 times per week", I'll try and sturdy enough to pass this test" - these are all statements that used to make us not feel so bad when we don't succeed in these things. Every one of these things can be done and are not beyond the ability of anyone. "trying" in these cases is failing before even starting. "I will try and lift 10 pounds more than I have ever been able to lift before" is a reasonable 'try' statement.
"by succeeding in picking up the pen I failed at trying."
I liked that one.
Certainly "try" is a cover story for a lot of folks. I remember hearing, "I tried that born again thing; it didn't work." I didn't even know what that meant. And certainly people use "try" as an excuse to stop. But you're right. If God was trying to save everyone, everyone would be saved.
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