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God is a huge concept, not to mention a huge God. Grappling with biblical contradictions like predestination and free will can tax a person's understanding. And, while I don't believe we have to understand everything, there is in the Bible, often we find comfort in things we can understand.
One of my first blogs was titled, 'Who's going to hell,' and the discussion that led to that blog helped me to realize that Jesus's death on the cross was God's only option for saving us. Before that discussion I felt like God was infinite and the possibilities were just as infinite; however, after that discussion I realized that the infinite possibilities were narrowed down by God's desire to design us to have free will. In the end, God's only option was to offer salvation through Christ's death and resurrection.
So, back to that free will and predestination concept. I have recently thought of this conundrum as similar to philosophy's theory of infinite realities, or maybe they call it quantum realities, where there is a reality for every conceivable possibility for how life can turn out.
When I described this to my sister, using the scene from Star Trek at the top of this post, she challenged me as to why God would then allow one person to live and another person not to, one person to get saved and another not to, as He chose this particular reality, and, for at least today, I think I have the answer. I believe it's the same answer as to why Christ had to die on the cross. I believe that when God looked at the infinite possibilities for how this world could go, the current line of history is the only line that allowed His message, His purposes and His deliverance to be fulfilled. It was the only one where we could have free will and still have God's message of love and God's plan of salvation made available to us.
How grateful I am that God chose this reality with this life for me.
One of my first blogs was titled, 'Who's going to hell,' and the discussion that led to that blog helped me to realize that Jesus's death on the cross was God's only option for saving us. Before that discussion I felt like God was infinite and the possibilities were just as infinite; however, after that discussion I realized that the infinite possibilities were narrowed down by God's desire to design us to have free will. In the end, God's only option was to offer salvation through Christ's death and resurrection.
So, back to that free will and predestination concept. I have recently thought of this conundrum as similar to philosophy's theory of infinite realities, or maybe they call it quantum realities, where there is a reality for every conceivable possibility for how life can turn out.
When I described this to my sister, using the scene from Star Trek at the top of this post, she challenged me as to why God would then allow one person to live and another person not to, one person to get saved and another not to, as He chose this particular reality, and, for at least today, I think I have the answer. I believe it's the same answer as to why Christ had to die on the cross. I believe that when God looked at the infinite possibilities for how this world could go, the current line of history is the only line that allowed His message, His purposes and His deliverance to be fulfilled. It was the only one where we could have free will and still have God's message of love and God's plan of salvation made available to us.
How grateful I am that God chose this reality with this life for me.