"If my understanding of predestination is not correct, then my sin is compounded, since I would be slandering the saints who by opposing my view are fighting for the angels." (RC Sproul, Chosen by God, pg. 14)
"Answer all [the Calvinists'] objections, as occasion offers, both in public and private. But take care to do this with all possible sweetness both of look and of accent...Make it a matter of constant and earnest prayer, that God would stop the plague."
"God sovereignly decreed that man should be free to exercise moral choice, and man from the beginning has fulfilled that decree by making his choice between good and evil. When he chooses to do evil, he does not thereby countervail the sovereign will of God but fulfills it, inasmuch as the eternal decree decided not which choice the man should make but that he should be free to make it. If in His absolute freedom God has willed to give man limited freedom, who is there to stay His hand or say, 'What doest thou?' Man’s will is free because God is sovereign. A God less than sovereign could not bestow moral freedom upon His creatures. He would be afraid to do so." A.W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy: The Attributes of God
"Besides, even true and living faith in Christ precedes regeneration strictly taken, and consisting of the mortification or death of the old man, and the vivification of the new man...For Christ becomes ours by faith, and we are engrafted into Christ, are made members of his body, of his flesh and of his bones, and, being thus planted with him, we coalesce or are united together, that we may draw from him the vivifying power of the Holy Spirit, by which power the old man is mortified and we rise again into a new life." [Works Vol.2 pg. 233, Wesleyan Heritage Collection].
There seems to be far too much reliance on the notion of prayer being a temporal event as opposed to the eternal divine decision. This strikes me as philosophical musing hoping to skin the cat in another direction. Consider the prayer of a righteous man. If it indeed avails much in the heavenly realm and in the eyes of God so to speak, how can righteous prayer be anything less than eternal? I suppose one could argue prayer becomes a forgotten event somehow but the truth remains that prayer brings eternal consequence.
I suppose my inclination is to accept the plain instruction of scripture at face value unless given a reason to submit it to mystery or mask.
Mallet,
I think that is a valid point. We need to be more concerned with what Scripture teaches, than what we believe to be valid theories of space and time, etc. We need to be careful not to put limit’s on God’s abilities, and as “Arminian” points out, God is capable of being affected by prayers because He sovereignly decides to allow prayers to affect Him and influence His decisions and actions, and His ability to do that should not be limited by our various theories concerning what is and is not possible with regards to our very limited knowledge of how time operates, and our total ignorance of God’s unfathomable abilities concerning a phenomena that He Himself created.
It is also extremely important to note that Anderson has so far side stepped the objections raised, by “Arminian”, concerning the effectiveness of prayer and the claim that it can serve as a “cause”, given Calvinistic presuppositions concerning exhaustive determinism.
God Bless,
Ben
What Anderson seems to be doing, common to any sectarian dominated theology, is try to force the round scripture into a square understanding. The LORD has provided scriptural truth in a manner that even a child, born in Christ, can grasp. The LORD acts on the prayers of His saints. He responds to our faithful entreaties. The only reason I can fathom for rejecting what is clearly stated is the need to buttress a philosophy anchored in a mirey clay.
I pulled up E.M. Bounds Power Through Prayer after reading the post on SEA. It is still comforting to know that wise words on prayer remain an inspiration when confronting misplaced zeal.
I’m with both of you. When all else fails (as it usually does) stick to the scriptures and rethink your philosophical notions.
I like your blog, by the way. I added it to my links. My blog is also geared towards Arminianism. Your welcome to add me to your links as well if you would like.
http://theotrinsic.blogspot.com