R*o
发帖数: 3781 | 1 by Dave Hunt
Why would God need to foreordain something in order to foreknow it? Yet Calv
inists persist in this unbiblical doctrine which actually diminishes God's s
overeignty in the act of defending it: "If God did not foreordain all things
, then He could not know the future. God foreknows and knows all things beca
use He decreed all things to be." 24 If God can only know what He himself ha
s decreed, and would be taken by surprise if man had free choice, then His k
nowledge would not be infinite (i.e., God would not be omniscent).
Palmer and the other contemporary Calvinists we are quoting are expressing t
he very heart of Calvinism. They are being true to John Calvin, who in turn
reminds us that the same was taught by Augustine. The latter has been descri
bed as the first of the early so-called Church Fathers who "taught the absol
ute sovereignty of God." 25 Reformed theologians (as they call themselves) t
race Calvin's view of God's sovereignty back to Augustine. He acknowledged h
is debt to Augustine in his Institutes concerning God's absolute control ove
r mankind's every thought, word and deed, good or bad, including all evil co
mmitted:
[W]e hold that God is the disposer and ruler of all things - that from the r
emotest eternity, according to his own wisdom, he decreed ... that, by his p
rovidence, not heaven and earth and inanimate creatures only, but also the c
ounsels and wills of men are so governed as to move exactly in the course wh
ich he has destined ....
In short, Augustine everywhere teaches . . . that there cannot be a greater
absurdity than to hold that anything is done without the ordination of God;
because it would happen at random. For which reason, he also excludes the co
ntingency which depends on human will, maintaining a little further on, in c
learer terms, that no cause must be sought for but the will of God .... I sa
y, then, that ... the order, method, end, and necessity of events, are, for
the most part, hidden in the counsel of God, though it is certain that they
are produced by the will of God .... 26 | R*o
发帖数: 3781 | 2 by Dave Hunt
Why would God need to foreordain something in order to foreknow it? Yet Calv
inists persist in this unbiblical doctrine which actually diminishes God's s
overeignty in the act of defending it: "If God did not foreordain all things
, then He could not know the future. God foreknows and knows all things beca
use He decreed all things to be." 24 If God can only know what He himself ha
s decreed, and would be taken by surprise if man had free choice, then His k
nowledge would not be infinite (i.e., God would not be omniscent).
Palmer and the other contemporary Calvinists we are quoting are expressing t
he very heart of Calvinism. They are being true to John Calvin, who in turn
reminds us that the same was taught by Augustine. The latter has been descri
bed as the first of the early so-called Church Fathers who "taught the absol
ute sovereignty of God." 25 Reformed theologians (as they call themselves) t
race Calvin's view of God's sovereignty back to Augustine. He acknowledged h
is debt to Augustine in his Institutes concerning God's absolute control ove
r mankind's every thought, word and deed, good or bad, including all evil co
mmitted:
[W]e hold that God is the disposer and ruler of all things - that from the r
emotest eternity, according to his own wisdom, he decreed ... that, by his p
rovidence, not heaven and earth and inanimate creatures only, but also the c
ounsels and wills of men are so governed as to move exactly in the course wh
ich he has destined ....
In short, Augustine everywhere teaches . . . that there cannot be a greater
absurdity than to hold that anything is done without the ordination of God;
because it would happen at random. For which reason, he also excludes the co
ntingency which depends on human will, maintaining a little further on, in c
learer terms, that no cause must be sought for but the will of God .... I sa
y, then, that ... the order, method, end, and necessity of events, are, for
the most part, hidden in the counsel of God, though it is certain that they
are produced by the will of God .... 26 | R*o
发帖数: 3781 | 3 predestination is so unbiblical
Calv
s
things
beca
ha
k
t
turn
【在 R*o 的大作中提到】
: by Dave Hunt
: Why would God need to foreordain something in order to foreknow it? Yet Calv
: inists persist in this unbiblical doctrine which actually diminishes God's s
: overeignty in the act of defending it: "If God did not foreordain all things
: , then He could not know the future. God foreknows and knows all things beca
: use He decreed all things to be." 24 If God can only know what He himself ha
: s decreed, and would be taken by surprise if man had free choice, then His k
: nowledge would not be infinite (i.e., God would not be omniscent).
: Palmer and the other contemporary Calvinists we are quoting are expressing t
: he very heart of Calvinism. They are being true to John Calvin, who in turn
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