If there could ever be a balance between Arminianism and Calvinism, I believe Norman Geisler delivers an appropriate firmness with his proposition on a “balanced view of divine election.” In his book, Chosen But Free, Geisler rejects the extreme Calvinist view that people do not have free wills because of the sovereignty of God and that God only offers salvation to the elect or to those God has purposefully selected and chosen to be in heaven. Geisler is a moderate Calvinist and his book is heavily supported and backed with scriptural references. I specifically want to interact with Geisler’s proposed theology on his balanced view of divine election. Geisler believes that the “foreknowledge” of God is a completely separate and eternal quality a part from the “fore choosing” of God. Geisler believes that God does not limit salvation. He supports the view that salvation is a gift offered to the world. I agree with Geisler because I believe Christ’s sacrifice on the cross was the propitiation for all of the sins of the world. Christ died for the sins of all and salvation would come to all that came to faith in Him. God offers salvation has a gift, but I think all people are free to choose how to interact with that gift. Someone could offer you a piece of candy, and instead of putting it in your mouth and savoring it, you could easily take it and throw it out. I believe God’s sovereignty is so complete and perfect we will never be able to understand it. The only thing I know about God’s sovereignty is that it is perfect and that is all I am saying on the matter. I do not know anything else about the sovereignty of God, so I am deciding not to write about it. Wisdom entails us what we could speak or write about based on the knowledge we have as human beings. That is why I think the debate between Calvins and Arminians is so heated. This debate has caused many people to think that to be Christian means to be either a 5-point Calvinist or have an extreme view of Arminianism and believe that God does not have enough knowledge to do certain things. I believe when we take certain stances based on our own limited knowledge, we tend to humanize God and try to limit Him. God is a part from us and there are certain things that we will never be able to understand, so I believe we should not neglect God’s hidden and eternal qualities that Geisler addresses in Chosen But Free. God could have just made robots, but He did not because that is not love. God wants us to choose to love Him with all of our hearts because he first chose to love us. That is why it says in the scriptures, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). The fight should not be between the foreknowledge and fore choosing of God, it should be about understanding that eternal salvation found through faith in Christ was the call. Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection were God’s calling to all of humanity to choose to live a life free and set a part. God knows something we do not know even surrounding the choices he allows us to make in are daily lives based on our own limited human knowledge. God works all of that out according to His will.  

Word Count: 594

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Outside of the Walls: Extensive Worship

When I first came to know Christ, I learned the purpose of human existence is to bring glory to God. Understanding human purpose, help us realize that worship is extensive. That means worship is more than proclaiming God’s truths through song and singing during congregation on Wednesday and Sunday. True worship is about living out God’s truths by physically acting out the proclamation of God’s glory. This is done through spiritual worship in prayer and singing, service, and daily choices.  The act of becoming more like Christ and dying to the old self and sinful desires is a form of worship. We could demonstrate worship to the Almighty by the smallest of choices of deciding to not indulge in the flesh. We are able to worship because we are representing the image of God and the sacrifice that Christ has accomplished on the cross and inside of His followers.  Worship is a choice of renewal to serve God everyday even despite of the emotional rollercoaster that could bring us to points of complete joy and happiness or to the lowest points of apathy, laziness, and grief. Most people look at worship as those feelings of heightened emotions when crying out to God. Worship has to do with emotions sometimes, but pure worship is praying through and serving God through those feelings when we do not feel like serving God at that moment. Worship is a choice and action to serve, not a fickle and fleeting feeling.  Worshiping God is proclaiming God’s grace and mercy and serving others with the gifts that God has bestowed to each and every one of His children. God has given each and every one of us blessings and what we do what those blessings to serve others, demonstrates our worship to God. It sometimes requires asking the question, “Am I serving and loving God with all of my heart?” or “Am I using my gifts to serve others or am I just keeping them to myself?” Those two questions influence our will, choice, and act of worship. We have to bring worship outside of the walls and into the life of daily choices. Our worship should reflect the light that shines inside of us and the power of the Holy Spirit. If we are only demonstrating worship through signing and heightened emotions, “How are we going to get through the tough times?” Or worst, “How are we going to proclaim, God’s love, mercy, grace, goodness, and forgiveness to the world?”

I never really considered the ontological questions of where I came from and how I got here until a tragic car accident turned my world upside down. My brother got into a devastating car accident on his 21st birthday that completely changed his life. My brother almost died five times in the hospital, and he suffered physical and mental injuries from a traumatic brain injury. My brother came home from the hospital with a supernatural understanding of God. My brother knew where he failed morally in the grand scheme of things and how he needed God’s help and forgiveness to draw him back into a right relationship with God. At the hospital, my Dad found some reading material that led him directly to the same type of knowledge my brother acquired after his sustained injuries. A large potion of my family came to believe in that new knowledge except me. I did not care about any of that stuff and I ended up turning to drinking, partying, and girls. I left high school with that attitude and I carried that behavior with me right into college. I got involved in a fraternity, heavier drinking, and a lot more girls. I decided to go home on Spring Break and embark on a trip to Hilton Head, South Carolina with my Dad. I only agreed to go because I had my two buddies going with me and we had our own hotel room. I looked at that as the perfect opportunity to drink and party for the week. My Dad and his pastor became really good friends after my brother’s accident, so my Dad invited the pastor with him to go fishing. The last night at Hilton Head, I decided to eat at the family dinner table and something happened after they prayed for God to bless the meal. Praying before eating was not an unusual thing because I have been hearing my family pray before every meal for awhile, but something was different that time. After they prayed, I started asking questions about right and wrong, where I came from, how I got here, and where I was going after I died. It was at that point where the pastor opened up his Bible and started showing me passages that revealed all of the answers I was asking. It said in the Bible that no matter how good I tried to be, I still missed God’s mark of perfection and that ultimately separated me from God forever. The Bible said the only way I could become right with God again was if I accepted what Jesus Christ did on the cross for the wrongs that I have done in my life. After that night, I learned and accepted that God came down and was born into human flesh and bore all the wrongs of the world by dying on the cross. God was Jesus Christ and Christ paid the punishment for all the things the world has done wrong by dying on the cross. Jesus Christ satisfied the wrath of God that was intended to be for us. That night Jesus Christ became my Lord and Savior. That means Christ became my ultimate guide for all of my choices and decisions. My choices would be different because they would be based on God’s moral standard, not just what I thought was right. I was different because I would live according to His will, not my own will.

Life seems so unbelievably unpredictable. At certain points my life levels out and I think I can easily see my future based on my current surroundings, circumstances, passions, and desires. I imagine my calling, career, and people who are going to be in my life and I think that is how it is going to be. I reached this point of uncertainty even in the choices that I think I am going to make because each day doesn’t promise the choices and circumstances I will make or know tomorrow. Things can change so abruptly and the slumber of the night can awaken something deep in my soul that was not there the day before. How did I get to this place? Where am I going now? I believe only God knows and it is purely based on His will along as I remain obedient to His calling on my life. These past two years have been trying, but very rewarding. I have learned a lot when it comes to relationships, friendships, brothers, sisters, love, and peace (long suffering). Only through those experiences can I be where I am today. All I know is that today, I live in the present life and live tomorrow with Philippians 3:14 written on my heart. I press on toward the goal or mark in the high calling of God through Jesus Christ.

Face Buried Hands Drowning Sorrows,

Overwhelming Presence Willing Tomorrow.

Hiding places found by Singing,

Paralyzing sounds, Lightning streaking.

Burdening substance encapsulating thoughts,

Loving Unconditionally is Eternally wrought. 

A new song that I wrote a few months ago. Maybe I should be a songwriter or just a writer in general. I have a lot of great ideas that I could communicate through writing.

My eyes are turning back, I am staring in the past

I have moved off the path of your security and rest.

I am doing it my way and I am falling away,

Who in the world can redeem me?

The heartache inside reveals

I am hiding the light that lives within me.

I need to slow down to hear your sound

And realize what you did for me.

Let it fall down

Oh, let it fall down

So that I may see, that You live in me.

Lord let it fall down

Send it down

So the pain I see will bring me to my knees.

I’m going blind

The dark one is confusing my mind

And it’s getting harder to see how you still smile on me

Let it fall down

Lord let it fall down

In the morning of the day

When Life might seem ok.

Oh Let it fall down

Come crashing down

I will never feel safe

In the choices I make a part from you.