gone for a day

For those of you who may be in shock and extreme worry as to why I'm not at school today, I'm here to tell you to rest assured, I am in no danger. Today I'll be attending the ACSI Honors Symphony, which means I drive to Patten University in Oakland, practice with the orchestra all day, and then have a performance tonight at 7:30--it's free, so anyone can see the performance if they want to, but it's really not a huge deal. We'll be playing the Carmen Suite No. 2, along with some various orchestral hymn arrangements. It's always a blast; last year and the year before were very fun.

Gotta go! I'll see y'all on Monday (or Saturday night, for those of you high-class people who are attending/performing at the Fine Arts Gala).

awesome!!!

My good friend Skylar directed me to this awesome music service, which is like Pandora on steroids. Basically, it pays attention to what you listen to in iTunes frequently and puts together playlists for yo based on your past listenings. Not only that, but it allows you to share music with others and them to share with you, and it publishes your music as a radio station, that others can listen to whenever they want!!!

Can you say, "Holy freakin' awesome!!!"??!?!

last.fm
My screen name is "hijohnmark".

what is a will, continued

Well I measured, and indeed, that is by far your longest comment. Congratulations! You win a great big smile :)))))

I appreciate what you have to say with this issue, and will start by saying that I don't wholly disagree with you. You're absolutely right, God's dealings and thoughts are way too complicated for us to fathom. This issue has taken me all over the map, from my beliefs about God's sovereignty, to an interesting, provocative discussion with Chris speculating the idea that God has no control over the situation. The nature of God is something that fascinates us (or at least me), and causes me to constantly prod and poke at the subject with different "sticks", so to speak. Essentially, this is the very core of theology, which is the study of God.

I can't claim to know what God is up to or what his plans are, but I do strongly believe that whatever comes to pass will happen because he decided it would happen. He's programmed us all to fulfill a certain purpose (again, that purpose is unknown to me), whether for good or for evil, all for the final glory that is to come. Somehow, every breath, every thought, every word spoken out of a person's mouth, every minute vibration and wavelength are pieces to an enormously complicated puzzle that, when finished, will bring about the final victory of God over Satan, or the victory of "Good" over "Evil", however you want to put it. God didn't take just take a handful of personality and sift it over a boiling pot of human just to "see what would come out." He specifically designed each of us for certain things. Our parents, our friends, our careers, our environments, our communities, even things such as faith and redemption are foreordained by God for a reason.

The entire book of Romans is heavily laden with this idea, most notably chapter nine. In verse 16, it says, "It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy." In the context, Paul is talking about how God has reserved certain people for his service (such as Jacob, rather than Esau--this is referred to a couple of verses earlier). Later in verse 18, it says even more explicitly, "Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden." That entire chapter is wonderful, because Paul brings up all sorts of controversies that could arise from these statements (verse 19: "Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?") and duly addresses them. Later on, as far even as chapter 11, he is giving the example of the nation of Israel as a way to show the consistency of God's sovereign power. Starting in verse 2, Paul talks about how Elijah pleaded for his people, and asked God if he planned to finally wipe out the nation of Israel and himself for turning so far from his law. "And what was God's answer to him? 'I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.' So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace." All Christians should read the book of Romans--actually all Christians should just go ahead and read the entire Bible, it's jam-packed with depth and meaning. I'm preaching to myself here too...that's something I'm currently working on.

So what does this mean for me? How does my outlook change in light of these things? It means that I have absolute freedom from worry. I know that, no matter how badly I screw up (and that I will do quite often), God will bring about his plan for my life. Whatever he wants to happen, will happen, and there's nothing I can do or not do that will change that. Romans 8:28 tells me that God will work out all things for the good of those who love him. Does this mean that I neglect doing right and don't care about pleasing God because he'll bring about whatever he wants to happen? No! Rather, it intensifies my love for him and his amazing Grace in my life, and fills me with a deep desire to serve him however I can. God daily provides me with the strength and love I need to grow in him, and for that, I am eternally thankful. I truly have freedom live without worry, and with absolute confidence that God has everything under control, and that it's not up to me to make sure that things work out. It means that he is the only one who changes hearts, which gives me room to approach people in a comfortable manner and get to know them, and give them the time they need to process information about the gospel. I don't have to nag people or go door-to-door and try to processes converts like fast food. Rather, I can take the time to develop relationships with people who aren't quite sure what they believe, and are looking for a confiding, caring person to show them the way.

Trying to drive when you're in the passenger seat is something that is extremely frustrating (though sometimes you may feel like you're in control). When you realize that God has always had and will always have the steering wheel, you are free to "be the passenger", as it were, and pump up the volume on the radio station, knowing that God won't crash and knows exactly where he's going.

I'd love to hear what you guys think about this, whether you disagree or have something to add. In all of this, I pray that God gives me an attitude of open-mindedness and love. I seek truth because I believe it is an act of worship. Therefore, whatever truth God wants to teach me could very well come through what any number of you have to say. I hope I'm making sense, and that my posts aren't getting too long;) Thanks for being so involved in this, Mr. Q; it really shows me that you genuinely care for your students. May God daily fill you with the joy of his grace.

what is a will...

Well, I'm coming out of my shell here to probe back into some theological discussion. Lately the idea of a "will" has been brought up a lot (almost excessively, especially in Bible class, though Pastor Burch did mention it in his message on Wednesday). Actually, whenever Mr. Gross subs on Mondays we end up talking about the idea of will. Or rather, Mr. Gross shares with us his understanding of things. It's interesting to hear him speak. He knows and agrees with one side of the argument very very well.

He once told us that there are many times mentioned in the Bible where God changes his mind. Where does it say that? Where, in the Scriptures, does it say that God changed his original plan? Rather, we see passages (like in Jonah) where God says (through his reluctant prophet--but that's a different story), "Forty more days days and Nineveh will be overturned." This, of course, is a conditional statement. We know that because (A) the context indicates it and (B) it matches up with other similar instances throughout the Old Testament. What do I mean by a conditional statement? Basically, if the people were to repent and humble themselves before God, they would not be overturned and God would spare them. Why else would God send a prophet all the way to Nineveh? Just to notify them of their impending doom? Or was it also to give them a chance to repent? From what happens next, we see clearly that God sent Jonah in order to bring the Ninevites to repentance. Did God change his mind? Certainly not. He took a course of action based on what the human response would be (which, of course, he knew would happen and planned for). There are many scriptures referring to God as "unchanging." Perhaps just one example that speaks most clearly on this is I Samuel 15:29[click link to see in context], where Samuel is rebuking Saul and declaring God's decision to remove him from the throne. He says, "He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a man, that he should change his mind." This verse describes two things: the unchanging nature of God and the pliability of man. They are distinguished clearly, as two separate things. The reason God does not spare Saul's position is because Saul has already had many chances to repent of his sinful ways, but has never done so. Therefore, the consequence of Saul's action is rejection from the throne of Israel. The New Testament also has many references to God's sovereignty, but all of those scriptures are listed on a previous post that I wrote last year.

Based on this information, I would make the case that God does not change his mind (though he might appear to); rather, he is an omniscient God who knows everything that has happened, is happening, and will happen, and being at the same time an omnipotent God, has planned it accordingly. Imagine if God had "changed his mind" about earth? He had more than enough reason to do so. But he planned for something else to happen, and that is what I praise him daily for.

Perhaps someone can break down my argument with something I haven't thought about. If so, please do not hesitate. I'm not trying to "win" anything here, I'm just trying to seek the truth. I hope I'm blessing you rather than causinig you a burden, whoever might be reading this. At all costs, I'm trying to maintain an attitude of love and desire to advance God's kingdom in whatever way I can, rather than one of selfish ambition. Please let me know if you feel that's not the case (unless you're Matt or Chris, who will of course take that sentence out of context and relentlessly notify me of my shortcomings;). May God daily manifest the wonder of his gospel of Grace to all of you.