Ronnie W. Rogers, “Taking every thought captive…”

Of course the answer to this question not only relates to the issues addressed, but also with the problem of evil, and every evil, harmful act…that is a part of our existence; however I have addressed that particular issue in another blog. This one seeks to explain my belief about the origin of sin as it relates to being a “minor calvinist”.  The following is a summary of what I affirm and disaffirm regarding this issue. (more…)

I believe that God has been, is and will always be ruling over the plans, ideas or rulings of angels or man.  I do not believe that man can ever thwart the plan of God.  I believe that God granting sinners a real choice to accept His gracious provision of salvation ”by grace through faith” is more consistent with God’s sovereignty when considered in light of the totality of the picture presented in scripture and the fullness of the person of God.

Consequently, I do believe and extol the sovereignty of God, but I do not believe that necessitates or is even enhanced by viewing it through the lens of Calvinism. (more…)

I affirm that God’s predetermination and foreknowledge are coextensive; therefore, God foreknows what He predetermines and predetermines what He foreknows; moreover, the distinction between predestining something to happen a certain way and predestining to allow some human freedom to affect outcomes are both within the scope of the biblical meaning of predestination and/or foreknowledge and compatible with and demonstrative of sovereignty so long as He made the decision freely, thereby being a part of His plan rather than contrary to His plan, which He did in fact do.

I disaffirm that God’s infallible foreknowledge or predetermination caused man to sin or spend eternity in hell;¹ further, that foreknowledge or predetermination eliminates real free choices of man in salvation and the first sin. Further, that God’s foreknowledge of events, which makes certain their coming to pass, means that he was the efficient cause² or in any way the direct cause of every event to come to pass or that comes to pass, although, He is the ultimate cause. Moreover, that foreknowledge is the same as causation because epistemology (study of knowledge) deals with foreknowledge and etiology (study of cause) deals with causation, and to conflate the two is a fallacious confusion of categories.³ Afortiori, the scripture ties salvation to God’s foreknowledge⁴ on more than one occasion (Romans 8:29; 1 Peter 1:2).

Next Topic: Double Predestination

1. The Calvinist position that God elected to regenerate some and all that He regenerates will necessarily believe inescapably leaves God with determining to send some to hell who could have been spared that torment if He would have chosen for them to, since all that He elects to regenerate must believe and all that He chooses not to regenerate cannot believe. This is in contrast to the position I am espousing whereby God enables all to have a real choice of whether to believe or not, and those who go to hell are there because they rejected a real chance to not be there. [↩]
2. He is the ultimate cause of all good, the direct (efficient) cause of many things, but other events (sin) happen because He created “efficient causes,” e.g., man and his ability to choose. [↩]
3. I am not saying that all knowledgeable Calvinists do this, but it is a common mistake among young Calvinists, some older and many ponderers. [↩]
4. Foreknowledge is not the same as predestination; the very sentence before us distinguishes the two. “His foreknowledge marks out the persons; His predestination determines His purposes and acts on their behalf.” (W. E. Vines, Commentary on Romans 8:29 [↩]