God's Sovereignty

[Cosmicwaffle]

Hello all!

I wanted to know what you all think about these questions regarding God's Sovereignty.

Is he in control of ALL, SOME, or NONE of the events in human history?

Does God have a definite plan and purpose for this fallen world?
Or is he desperately trying to take us out of it? Just working with what he has, doing all he can.

Is there a purpose for evil? Or is suffering a tragedy that God cannot help due to free will?

Or maybe you believe somewhere in the middle?

 

[Cosmicwaffle]

To answer my own questions:

I fully believe God is in control of the WHOLE of human history (HIS STORY, get it?).

I also believe that God has a definite plan and purpose for this fallen world, which I could get more into.

I believe God is a God of ORDER, not CHAOS, and that he has planned all of eternity for his children. I mean, any good parent has a schedule for a day of fun: first ice cream, then the museum, then the movies, etc. God isn't just twiddling his thumbs saying "Do whatever you want!", because God is LOVE, and he has LOVINGLY prepared for us an eternity of good things.

Remember this verse?
1 Corinthians 2:9
However, as it is written: "What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived" -- the things God has prepared for those who love him --

Regarding the purpose of the fall and evil... God is light, and all his attributes need to shine forth so he can receive the full Glory he deserves! So how could his mercy and justice be displayed in an unfallen world?

That is why he has prepared vessels of mercy along with vessels of wrath! This is what Romans 9 is all about!

Romans 9:19-20
19 One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?” 20 But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’”

And besides, if your faith is in Christ, it is already evident that God loves you and has made you a vessel of mercy. We should rejoice that our Sovereign God will never forsake or lose us! And, rejoice that he has saved us at all!

 

[Major]

Hello all!

I wanted to know what you all think about these questions regarding God's Sovereignty.

Is he in control of ALL, SOME, or NONE of the events in human history?

Does God have a definite plan and purpose for this fallen world?
Or is he desperately trying to take us out of it? Just working with what he has, doing all he can.

Is there a purpose for evil? Or is suffering a tragedy that God cannot help due to free will?

Or maybe you believe somewhere in the middle?

1).
I know from reading your words here on CFS that you are a born again believer. Having said that I say that God is and has been in control of ALL human history and I base that on His Words in Scriptures.

1 Tim. 6:15
'He is the only Ruler, the King of kings, and Lord of lords"

Psalms 103:19
"His throne is in the heavens, and His kingdom rules over all".

Hebrews 1:3
"He sustains the whole universe by His powerful word".

Deut. 10:14...Psalms 135:6....Daniel 4:35
"The government of the entire universe is His".

2).
Yes, God has always had a plan and He is still working that plan.

Jonah 1:7 compared with Proverbs 16:33
"God, not chance, decides what happens in human affairs".

Amos 3:6
"Behind every circumstance is the Lord".

Job 1:21
"He can shorten life or lengthen it".


3).
There are occasions when God, desiring to show His wrath and to make known His power, has put up with evil individuals due for destruction.

Romans 9:22-23
"His purpose has been to make known the riches of His glory to those whom He has purposed to save".

Isaiah 10:5
"Sometimes God sees to it that the worst of people are allowed to be exalted so that they may fulfil His purposes without their knowing it."

Judges 2:14-15
He uses even the enemies of His people to discipline them in their disobedience."

Joshua 11:20
On the other hand, He can harden the hearts of His people's enemies so that they fall into His people's hands or even destroy themselves.

 

[Ravindran]

Hello all!

I wanted to know what you all think about these questions regarding God's Sovereignty.

Is he in control of ALL, SOME, or NONE of the events in human history?

Does God have a definite plan and purpose for this fallen world?
Or is he desperately trying to take us out of it? Just working with what he has, doing all he can.

Is there a purpose for evil? Or is suffering a tragedy that God cannot help due to free will?

Or maybe you believe somewhere in the middle?

Frankly there is no answer for this! God is completely in control and totally sovereign. Sin is purely there because of human fall. God did not sin by allowing sin. That would be the key point for me. Some people try to say God is not sovereign so that they confidently say God did not have anything to do with sin. He could not stop man. My belief is that God is totally sovereign. In that, He did not restraint man from falling. Could He have stopped? Did He have the power to stop? Certainly yes! It is the same God who is stopping me from sinning. The same God had the authority and power to stop sin. He permitted the fall. Why? We will never know answer for that!

 

[Abdicate]

God is indeed in control. That's not the issue. The issue is free will - there I said it. God set up a lot of laws, not the Ten Commandments mind you, but laws of life. God allows us to mate without issues. But if I mate with 50 women the odds are in my favor for developing something. Even if they're all virgins. Earth's law of gravity can be circumvented by flying faster. The speed to maintain a level orbit is about 17,500 mph. Go faster and you break orbit, slow down and you fall back to earth. Watching horror will affect your thinking for bad.

Our lives are traveling along the highway of time. Just like on a country road, the law is, stay on your side of the yellow line (in America). If you deviate nothing may happen. But the more times you do it, the odds are in your favor of hitting another on-coming car head on. If you cross the white line you may end up in the ditch. These lines are God's laws. You're free to cross them, but then you suffer the consequences.

Now let's say you're driving along and you begin to nod off to sleep. You drift into the other lane and a car is coming. The Lord sends a messenger to wake you up. You respond just in time to swerve back into your lane avoiding a wreck. He tells you to pull over and get some rest. Not learning from your mistake, you continue driving, now you're more tired, using all your energy to focus on the road, you nod off again. It happens again, but this time you don't respond and you're in a horrible car accident with grave consequences. Did God lose control? Not at all.

At the same time we have free will, His will is supreme. He got you to wake up so you wouldn't kill a family for which He has great plans. The next guy you killed was the next psycho, though you'll never walk again. Not something God wished for you to experience, but you would never know about the first car, nor the second, you only know what happened to you, and now you have to live with it.

Society is imploding because parents, judges, teachers and bosses, don't let those under their authority suffer for their actions so they don't grow up or continue to be fools, Pro 1:7.

 

[Major]

God is indeed in control. That's not the issue. The issue is free will - there I said it. God set up a lot of laws, not the Ten Commandments mind you, but laws of life. God allows us to mate without issues. But if I mate with 50 women the odds are in my favor for developing something. Even if they're all virgins. Earth's law of gravity can be circumvented by flying faster. The speed to maintain a level orbit is about 17,500 mph. Go faster and you break orbit, slow down and you fall back to earth. Watching horror will affect your thinking for bad.

Our lives are traveling along the highway of time. Just like on a country road, the law is, stay on your side of the yellow line (in America). If you deviate nothing may happen. But the more times you do it, the odds are in your favor of hitting another on-coming car head on. If you cross the white line you may end up in the ditch. These lines are God's laws. You're free to cross them, but then you suffer the consequences.

Now let's say you're driving along and you begin to nod off to sleep. You drift into the other lane and a car is coming. The Lord sends a messenger to wake you up. You respond just in time to swerve back into your lane avoiding a wreck. He tells you to pull over and get some rest. Not learning from your mistake, you continue driving, now you're more tired, using all your energy to focus on the road, you nod off again. It happens again, but this time you don't respond and you're in a horrible car accident with grave consequences. Did God lose control? Not at all.

At the same time we have free will, His will is supreme. He got you to wake up so you wouldn't kill a family for which He has great plans. The next guy you killed was the next psycho, though you'll never walk again. Not something God wished for you to experience, but you would never know about the first car, nor the second, you only know what happened to you, and now you have to live with it.

Society is imploding because parents, judges, teachers and bosses, don't let those under their authority suffer for their actions so they don't grow up or continue to be fools, Pro 1:7.

Good thoughts! I agree with you.