Hi Rick, here are a few emails to go along with your thoughts on this.
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If it is God who controls our every thought and action, would'nt your teachings be in vain? If we cant make the decision to renew our minds, then why waste your energy and time trying to convince us of truth? I agree with 99.9% of your teachings, but I'm struggling with this one. God Bless Your Heart, Chad
Dear Chad: I get asked this question about every 72 hours, month after month. You make all your own choices and you think all your own thoughts, and you have a "will" to do so. What you don't have, is a will that is FREE FROM CAUSALITY to do these things. People will say things like: "What ever MADE you think that; or what ever MADE you do such and such." There is your answer. We know inherently that there are reasons CAUSES for your thoughts and choices. You can make a choice that does not have a cause somewhere, and if something is caused to happen it could not have been otherwise. I teach the truths of God because this is just one way that God CAUSES people to see the truth (I Cor. 1:21). The foolishness of teaching and preaching CAUSES people to see and understand and believe and act accordingly. It is not correct to state as you have that "God CONTROLS our every thought and action." He does not need to "control" us, as He already knows far in advance exactly what we WILL DO AND THINK based on the conditions and circumstances of our individual lives.
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My random house dictionary seem to be telling me that accountable & responsible are somewhat the same. Once I use to say, if man has the power of choice to choose his own way, why then does God punish him? Now I understand that man does not possess such a thing. But I come up with the same question: if man is just clay (like clay), why does God punish him as if he is responsible or even accountable for what he does.
Maybe the problem is with the word PUNISH, PUNISHMENT. Could it be that God is instructing, training, etc. him when he says he punishes him?
God bless!!!
Dear Calvin:
"For He [God] said to Moses, 'I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.' So then it is NOT of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but OF GOD that shows mercy...You will say then unto me [Paul], WHY DOES HE [GOD] YET FIND FAULT? For who has resisted His will [intentions]?" (Rom. 9:15-16 & 18).
Since man can't do any different from what God has purposed and foreknew must be, why do He find fault and then punish or judge us for what we had to do? Here is Paul's and God's answer: "NO BUT, O MAN, WHO ARE YOU that replies [talks back or accuses God of unrighteousness]? Shall the thing formed [the pot] say to Him that formed it, 'WHY have you made me thus [this way, so that I SIN]?"
Paul replies: "Has not the Potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel of honor, and another unto dishonor......" ETc. (Verses 20-21, read the rest of the chapter).
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Why does God pre-ordain for certain men to rape little girls?
Why does He preordain for this to happen?
Lee
Dear Lee:
We must be careful how we use words and phrases and also be careful not
to draw fallacious conclusions from Scriptural Truths. The Bible nowhere says
that God "pre-ordained" such sins. It says he has a fore-knowledge OF such
sins. Many people over the years have tried to force me into saying that God sins
and that God is evil, but I won't say it, because I don't believe it. God nowhere
says that He "ordains" sin, and so I don't say it either.
God did not "pre-ordain" me to eat Girl Scott cookies today, but I did. Man has
the ability to think, plan, create, imagine, and carry out these devised lusts of his
heart, and yes, God KNEW a long time ago just what we would do, but nowhere
does it say that God "pre-ordained" our sins. We live and operate under law. We
automatically do certain things under certain stimuli. It does not need to be "pre-
ordained."
Maybe what you are really asking is why did God create humanity so that they would
sin under all of these different stimuli? But that's a topic too big for an email. Besides,
I have covered these things many times in the articles on our site. If you look up ordain
or ordained in a concordance, you will find that God has ordained dozens of things in
the Scripture, but nowhere does it say He ordained particular sins.
http://forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/topic,4029.0.html --------
I understand you've gotten a load of emails regarding your "god did not for-ordain me to eat girl scout cookies" email and i appologize if there is something obvious that i am still not understanding but have you taken in consideration....
16 your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
-psalm 139:16 ?
so is everything pre-ordained or not?
Dear :
As I mentioned, there are numerous words translated "ordain[ed]," which have various meanings. These need to all be considered, which I really just don't have the time to go into now. Ecc. also tells us that there is a 'SEASON' for everything under heaven, but does this mean an actual "ordination" of each event? Etc. Way too big a subject, and I just can't take the time to go into it now. We KNOW FOR A FACT that God knows the end from the beginning and therefore foreknows ALL THINGS. So I don't really even see the point in splitting hairs over semantics in this, other than there are those who have always been trying to trap me in a condradiction so that they will then feel they are not responsible for ANYTHING that they have learned and can go back to their old way of sinning.
The word translated "ordain" as in "ordain" Elders in every city" etc. is something that is done in a special spiritual way that certainly would not be applied to a statement like: "ORDAIN perverts in every city to rape little girls and cut their heads off." I am really getting tired and a bit weary of this whole debate.
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Dear Harley: You need to read several dozen times my introduction to "The Myth of Free Will Expose" found in my Fire" series. You cannot discuss or even have an opinion on "free will" unless or until you know what it is. Not having fee will or free choice does not mean that you do not HAVE a will or choices. Of course we have a will and of course we make millions of our own choices, but the fact of the matter is, neither is FREE to think or do anything that is not first CAUSED BY SOMETHING. We "sin" because the pulls and trials, and tests, and temptations of our environment CAUSE our hearts to desire and commit sin, because our "deceitful hearts" (Jer. 17:17) ARE NOT FREE FROM CAUSALITY TO RESIST SIN. The ONLY way to resist sin is by the power of God's Holy Spirit, and if it takes the power of God's Holy Spirit to resist sin, then obviously we do not have a free will which can decide to do in on its own. It is a humbling experience to realize that God Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth is actually, and factually, and literally, more powerful than we are. NO MAN will tell God He doesn't want to repent when God tells him: "NOW is the time for you to repent, and YOU WILL REPENT"!!
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As it is absolutely Scripturally true that man has no free will, and therefore is always subject to the higther powers that be, when people begin to see this truth, they often balk at it and feel that God is unfair and that man is being judged for things that God MADE HIM DO AGAINST HIS WILL. When in reality, NOTHING COULD BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH!!
Most of the human race has always believed that it possesses "free will." And so as long as any man believes this falsehood, he is operating in his own little world with absolutely no grudge against God for his personal decisions. But when he begins to see that he has no free will, he then does begin to think that he has a justifiable grudge against God for MAKING HIM SIN. He was wrong when he thought that he had free will, and he is just as wrong when he thinks that the only alternative is that God MAKES HIM SIN AGAINST HIS OWN WILL.
I have stated many times that God DOES NOT MAKE OR FORCE ANYONE TO SIN AGAINST HIS OWN WILL--MAN DESIRES TO SIN, WANTS TO SIN, AND THEREFORE VOLUNTEERS TO SIN. God did not FORCE or MAKE Eve eat of the forbidden fruit. Her own DESIRES caused her to lust and eat of the forbidden fruit.
And so the real question is: "Does God have the right to make mankind subject to the desires of their own heart?" Think about it, as I have, for a few thousand hours, and maybe God will grant to you the spiritual understanding of this matter.
Hundreds of totally deceived and spiritually blind Christians have told me that: "God does not want robots to love Him--He desires people to love Him by their OWN FREE WILL." Oh really? And can the carnal mind indeed love God by its own nature; its own heart; its own desires? NO IT CAN'T. And so the very thing that Christians demand as necessary for our love for God to be genuine, is the very thing that totally disqualifies it from being genuine. The natural mind is totally incapable of loving God: "For the carnal mind is enmity [deep-seated HATRED] AGAINST GOD..." (Rom. 8:7).
It all starts with God, not with us: "We love Him [God] because He FIRST LOVED US" (I John 4:19).
God created mankind spiritually WEAK--subject to the lusts and sins of his own heart, so that man will learn that he CANNOT love God first; he cannot obey spiritual laws and commandments; he cannot please God; he cannot accomplish anything of lasting value through his wicked and deceitful heart. (Jer. 17:9). And therefore God's ways will justify His means. The rewards and the blessings are not even to be compared with the glory that God is creating in the human race (Rom. 8:18).
And so here is the answer to your question:
BEFORE spiritual conversion man FALSELY THINKS that he has free will and is for all intent and purpose a god unto himself.
AFTER spiritual conversion man will be eternally thankful that God never gave us such a foolish concept as "free will," or he would never ever reach the marvelous heights of power and glory that God has in mind for him.
And presently, you and some few others, are in between these two extremes of human understanding. I will pray for God to grand to you a "spirit of wisdom" so that you will comprehend and apprehend the marvelous and mysterious working of our God.
http://forums.bible-truths.com/index.php?action=post;msg=63024;topic=7895.0 -----------
Dear Thomas: I will make some COMMENTS in your email...........> Dear Mr Ray Smith,
>
> Your articles are elaborate and thought-provoking. I managed to read
> the one on 9/11 and the Lazarus parable and liked them.
>
> But there is a problem with the Myth of Free Will. My wife has read
> this (and many of your other articles too) and now thinks she has no
> free will. If there is no free will one no longer becomes responsible
> for his/her actions.
COMMENT: That is absolutely not true, and I have never stated such a thing. I go to great length to point out that we are all "ACCOUNTABLE" and will give an accounts of ALL of our actions and deeds. God is "responsible" for this creation, but we are "accountable" for our actions. There will be no sin either, if everything is
> controlled and directed by God and men are only puppets just
> fulfilling God's plan.
COMMENT: I have never suggested that we are robots or puppets or that God has directed our sins or forced us to sin AGAINST our will. We are sinning machines. We sin voluntarily. We do not need to be MADE to sin. My wife is happy that the absence of Free Will
> absolves her of all her past sins, guilt feelings and resentments. She
> no longer makes any efforts to do good things or try to avoid hurting
> me by her harsh words.
COMMENT: Well I can't make any judgments on what her "harsh words" or means of "hurting" you are, but we are absolutely NOT "absolved of all past sins," as only the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ can accomplish this. And even then, we will never feel complacent regarding our past sins and mistakes. They are things that should always keep us humble, not haughty.>
> The doctrine of No Free Will has brought havoc in our family life.
COMMENT: The true of the sovereignty of God and man's lack of a will that is free or not subject to causal factors has done no such thing. However, I do not doubt that both you and your wife's attitudes toward this truth, and misunderstanding completely what it is, may have attributed to some of your problems.> All my attempts to bring my wife back to sanity have failed. She
> believes in you like Catholics believe in the Pope. Now, is my wife
> justified in her irresponsible actions, if your doctrine is correct?
COMMENT: Look, if God is sovereign, and if God forknows everything (WHICH HE DOES), then there is no such thing as a human free will that can THWART what God knows must and will be. God's foreknowledge of ALL things proves man has NO FREE WILL. And this, I assure you Thomas, is not "my doctrine." I did not come up with it. I read it in the Scriptures, and I have proven it in life, and in science.> Are these the effects you want to have in your readers after they read
> your treatise on The Myth of Free Will?
COMMENT: We are going on 4 millions visitors to our site, and your's is the first email of tens of thousands that has suggest that "free will" has caused a problem in someone's home.>
> The Bible is full of commandments and instructions for man to follow.
> Why all these if man is not responsible for his actions and therefore
> sin does not exist?
COMMENT: We do have a will, but it is not "FREE" to original anything that does not have a cause. Most people who argue that we have free will have not a clue as to what free will is. "Free will" is not "will." "Free choice" is not "choice." All of our choices have a cause, even if we don't know what it was, therefore no choice that is made is "free" to not have been made. Why are all of these commandments and instruction for man to follow in the Scriptures if man DOES HAVE A FREE WILL? The penalties for not keeping commandments is a CAUSE for keeping it. Something that "CAUSES" you to keep a commandment, is NOT "FREE" TO NOT KEEP IT. I know, it takes more than a few hundred hours of meditation to understand it properly.
God be with you, RayConfused husband
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> Ray,
> First, thank you for being an instrument of light and bringing God's truths to
> thousands through this venue.
>
> I have one quick question. You reference in several of your papers the
> distinction between God being responsible for man's spiritual weakness and man
> being held accountable. I believe I grasp the concept, however, when I look up
> both responsible and accountable in the dictionary, they are defined the same
> way. Can you help clarify the difference between the two for me in word form
> rather than just this perception in my head? Thank you so much again for the
> work you are doing. Now this is a gospel full of GOOD news and one to get
> excited about. Praise be to God!
> Blessings,
> Sherri
Dear Sherri:
Although dictionaries partly define responsibility as accountability; and accountability as responsibility, that is not their only usage. Here is how I mean to use the two terms taken from my first paper ever posted on bibletruths.com--Kenney's sermon on Hell and Africans:
RESPONSIBILITY
Not only are all the billions of heathens who never heard the gospel not responsible for their own salvation, but neither are we responsible for our salvation either. Nowhere in the Scriptures does God hold man responsible for anything. This is just another man-made doctrine that clashes with the Scriptures.
We can use the word "responsible" in a relative sense, such as: "It is a man's responsibility to provide for his family." We all know what the word means. But even if this man doesn't provide for his family, God will hold him accountable not responsible.
The problem with your sermon, Dr. Kennedy, is that you want to present God as a "fair" God. You know most men have lived and died never knowing God or even hearing His Name, so you try to relieve God of His responsibility for His creatures. You know that there is "no other name under Heaven by which man must be saved." You do know that, don't you? I'm betting that you do.
But God doesn't need to be relieved of His responsibility.
Knowing that billions of heathens have lived and died, never hearing that Name or knowing the true God, (and since you have all these man-made doctrines that clash with the Word of God), you try to "get God off the hook." And so you place the burden of responsibility for being saved on man's shoulders. God is not "on the hook." He doesn't need your help, my help, a missionary's help, or anybody else's help to save His children. God does use teachers, pastors, etc. to acquaint people with His Word. But this is a privilege for us, not a necessity for God. Remember the Scripture, that God can "raise up stones" if needed. The Scriptures tell us that all men everywhere are accountable to God, not responsible:
"For the word of God is living and operative, and keen above any two-edged sword, and penetrating up to the parting of soul and spirit both of the articulations and marrow, and is a judge of the sentiments and thoughts of the heart. And there is not a creature which is not apparent in its sight. Now all is naked and bare to the eyes of Him to Whom [God] we are accountable" (Heb. 4:12-13).
Even the King James Version, with its thousands of discrepancies, does not even once in its fifteen hundred pages, use the word "responsible" or "responsibility."
Yet churches evolve whole doctrines around this word "responsibility." Things like: "you're responsible for going to hell" or "it's your responsibility to accept Christ" or "the age of responsibility" or "everyone is responsible for his or her deeds." Strange to make so big a deal of a word that does not even appear in Scripture.
When a minor (a child) commits a crime, even the unjust courts of our land do not hold him responsible. Is his crime simply overlooked? No. He must give an account for his actions. He is accountable. He might be the victim of a broken home, with a drunkard father, a prostitute mother, drug-hooked sisters, and gang-member brothers. Thus, he is not considered responsible. Nonetheless, he is still accountable.
"Now I am saying to you that, for every idle declaration which men shall be speaking they shall be rendering an account concerning it in the day of judging" (Matt. 12:36).
"For all of us shall be presented at the dais of God ... Consequently then, each of us shall be giving account concerning himself to God" (Rom. 14:11-12).
Read the dozens of scriptures where we are likened not only to "children," but to "little children." God is dealing with mankind as minors. He holds them accountable, but nowhere does God hold man responsible. Show me one Scripture.
The church can only see the relative in God's word. They fail to see that God is behind everything in the "absolute."
" ... according to the purpose of the One Who is operating all in accord with the counsel of His will." (Eph. 1:11--Concordant Literal New Testament).
The only One in the universe Who is responsible [able to respond] is God And so, God takes full responsibility for everything even though He holds man accountable for his deeds. Man is accountable for his deeds, not because he could have done otherwise, but because he thinks he is responsible through his presumed free will. Because he actually did the things he did. However, the Scriptures tell us that, "not in all" is this knowledge. Puny man really thinks he is in control of his own destiny. He really thinks he is a "god unto himself." And the Christian Church hasn't done very much to educate him out of this dilemma."
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Dear Dean: Regarding the Forum's question as to whether God has a free will or not:
"Free will" is not a topic of Scripture. Humanity absolutely does not have a free will/free choice disposition. All thoughts and actions have a cause. God, however, is the First Cause. God answers to no one and no one dictates or causes God to think or do anything--all Protestant and Catholic prayers to the contrary included. However, we are told in the Scriptures who "God cannot lie," for example or why God never "changes his mind." This is a governing factor to God's disposition, but it is not an outside force. Here is how God thinks and operates everything in the universe:
"In Whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him Who works [operates] ALL THINGS AFTER THE C-O-U-N-S-E-L OF H-I-S O-W-N W-I-L-L" (Eph. 1:11).
God be with you,
Ray