re: United Methodist Church special session this week

quote:

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I always sort of thought that God didn't pick who would chose Him, but He can look through all of time and therefore already knows what choice everyone will make. If that makes sense.

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A couple of problems with this as I see it:

1) this is not God choosing His people, but His people choosing Him. This results if man getting the glory, or at least sharing in the glory, of their salvation because they get credit for doing something to contribute towards their salvation: they chose God. God is essentially rewarding people with salvation for their choice, which seems to contradict Paul's statements in Romans chapter 4 where he contrasts works of the law with faith as a gift from God. A works-based salvation is a wage earned. A faith-base salvation is God's gift that is not earned. If God is looking into the future to see what we do, He is giving us what we earned rather than gifting us with something we don't deserve.

2) If God has to look ahead to see what we will do, He is not omniscient. It means He doesn't know all things but simply has the ability to learn all things. That is not doctrinal orthodoxy. What is more scriptural is that God knows what we will do because He ordained it and brings it about.