The Key to being able to teach both Predestination and Free Will

The Key to being able to teach both Predestination and Free Will by Sandy Simpson When I was in college one of the favorite all-night jam sessions was the Predestination vs. Free Will debate. We would stay up all night and never resolve the problem. Though I was a Christian I was somewhat immature at the time and had not learned the principle of not imposing manmade constructs on the Scriptures (eisegesis) but rather letting the Bible interpret itself (exegesis) since it consists of the Word of God as breathed by the Holy Spirit (2 Tim. 3:16) through the prophets, Apostles and of course, the Word incarnate, Jesus Christ. There is a famous saying that states: "A text, out of context, in isolation from co-text is always a pre-text." It certainly was a “pretext” for our lengthy useless arguments on this subject. I heard a biblical teacher and scholar, who I respect, state while teaching Romans 8, that he did not really understand how to explain Predestination. I remembered that I used to say that and I have heard many less than five-point Calvinists say the same thing. The reason I say that is because full five-point Calvinists have no problem saying that God predestined some people to heaven and some to hell without explanation. I discovered many years ago that if your doctrinal position prohibits you from explaining Scripture or causes you to skip certain troublesome verses altogether, then you need to readjust your doctrine, not the other way around. When you find that you cannot teach certain passages of Scripture that is a good indication you have a lot left to learn. I am not saying a person can fully explain the Trinity, for instance, but we can at least illuminate what the Bible teaches while stating that the full mystery of the Trinity will be revealed when we see Jesus in the Resurrection (1 Cor. 13:12). We need to stick with what the Bible teaches instead of theologians who may have had some good ideas but may also have had wrong interpretations that have led many into error. I talk about the many problems of Calvinism vs. Arminianism in an article I wrote some years ago here. I resolved many years ago to stop being a 3.5-point Calvinist and start teaching what the Bible teaches. On the subject of Predestination vs. Free Will, I found myself finally able to teach verses like Rom. 8:29-30 (Predestination) and 2 Pet. 3:17 (falling away). I could teach them without interjecting some lame interpretations to make them fit in with a system of doctrine but rather for their own merit as they were intended. You can get this on DVD here: http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/thekeyDVD.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Apologetics Coordination Team FAIR USE DISCLAIMER This video is for educational purposes. In the Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a doctrine in the United States copyright law that allows limited use of copyrighted material without requiring permission from the rights holders, such as for commentary, criticism, news reporting, research, teaching or scholarship. It provides for the legal, non-licensed citation or incorporation of copyrighted material in another author’s work under a four-factor balancing test. The term “fair use” originated in the United States. A similar principle, fair dealing, exists in some other common law jurisdictions. Civil law jurisdictions have other limitations and exceptions to copyright. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use) The U.S. Copyright Office “Fair Use” definition can be found here: http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html Fair Use Notice Section 107 of the US Copyright Law This video contains some copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in (processed as of May 13, 2006) section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/.... If you wish to use copyrighted material from this video for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------