Today I'm feeling rather bored. I don't know whether or not I want to go to youth group tonight or not. Most of the people there ignore me, but it's my one chance this week to get out of the house and hang out with other kids my age. The game time is (sometimes) really fun, and then the music is cool, too.
We're studying 'predestination and election' in the bible study part, which I find really confusing and boring. From what I've figured out, according to the philosophy that the teachers have, God chose me to go to heaven or hell, at His whim, and there's nothing I can do about it. So in other words there's no point to life? I can just go out and do whatever I want and commit every sin in the book, but still go to heaven (that is, if I'm one of the select few)? Or I can believe that I'm saved, but I wasn't selected, so no matter what I do, I'm going to hell? I just don't get it. Predestination is a tricky subject. I usually end up zoning out half-way through it (and hope no-one asks me a question) because I just can't follow everything they're saying!
Now, my other choice of a way to get out of the house is to go to a pool party being hosted at the local pool. It's for boy scouts and their families, and S. is a boy scout, so I could go if I want to. That might be fun, since I've only been in a pool once this summer. But (there's always a catch), the only people I'd know there would be Mom, Dad, and my brothers. And what fun is a pool party if you don't hardly know anyone? Of course, my dad would point out the extreme abundance of teenage boys there. (With the stories S. comes home with, I don't know whether or not it's safe around that wild bunch! They have a pyrotechnician, a drill sargent, a candidate for the Funny Farm, a hyperactive nut or two, and who knows what else!) And the one sane one in the bunch that I know isn't in boy scouts any more.
At youth group, it's "new freshmen Sunday", which means that everyone has to introduce themselves, giving their name, age, and grade. But what grade am I in?? I chose Junior last year, because it meant it would be a longer amount of time before I'd have a certain teacher (I really don't like his teaching style. At all.), even though I was only 15 1/2 at the time. Now I'm stuck. I can't say this is my Senior year, because that raises questions.
"Aren't you only 16??"
"Yes, but..."
"How can you be a Senior??"
"You see..."
"Is it because you're homeschooled?"
"Yes, sort of..."
"So you're a year ahead of everyone else?"
"Not really. I'm just..."
"But you just said that you're 16 and a Senior."
"I know, but..."
"Whatever."
But then again, I can't say I'm a Junior, because that's what I was last year. So. I'm stuck. That's one of the disadvantages to homeschooling. My family's grades are all mixed up. It's frustrating! >:-[ (those are little frowny-eyebrows on the face there)
Maybe I'll go ahead and go to the pool party. Sometimes I hate having choices! It can be annoying. Anyway, we'll see.
Well, that's all I have time to say. K. wants to get on Angus now (Angus is the name of the computer. Weird, I know, but it fits it. Somehow.), so I'd better get off.
Adios!
~Kiwifruit
7 comments:
Hey,
Have you ever read Romans 10:13? It says "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."
Whosoever means anybody. There's no such thing as predestination. That is in direct conflict to the Word of God.
John 3:16 says "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
If there was really such a thing as 'predestination' than why would Jesus die on the cross?
-Judi
I do not believe in Predestination... I believe that if you accept Christ you are saved.
Hope you don't mind me asking, but what type of church do you go to?
Yes, Judi, but there are other places that say things that are interpreted as meaning we're predestined. We were studying Romans 9, 9:11-13 "Yet before the twins were born (meaning Jacob and Esau) or had done anything good or bad--in order that God's purpose in election might stand: not by works but by him who calls--she was told, 'the older shall serve the younger' Just as it is written: 'Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.'" From that, and other verses like it (I don't remember any references), some people believe that we're all predestined. I believe that God KNOWS who's going to come to Him and who's not, but I don't think He'd just chose someone and tell him, 'You're goin' to hell.' and the next person 'Oh, I like you, you can come to heaven'.
Zoe: No, I don't mind your asking! We go to a Evangelical Free church. What type do you go to?
~Kiwifruit
Kiwifruit,
Those verses in Romans means that God knows who will do good and evil. Even from infancy. Evildoers can be used by God to work His will. For example: He hardened Pharoah's heart to bring to the surface what He knew was already there.
First Peter 1:2 says "Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied"
That verse means that God knows who will be saved only because of his omnipotence, not because He chose some for heaven or hell.
Like in the Old Testament God's elect was Israel, and Israel rejected God. They wanted to worship idols and kings. God allowed them kings. He worked His will (the coming of Christ) through the kings (ie: king David) That all happened in the Old Testament (the old covenant). God made a new covenant so now all of us are God's elect.
The old covenant is gone thanks to the new covenant. God elected all of us to be saved.
Second Timothy 2:10 says "Therefore I endure all things for the elects' sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory."
The elects in that verse are us. All of us. He died for us, and left the decision up to us whether or not to believe in Him. We are the ones who reject or accept.
In Mark 16:16 it says "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned."
It's just like in Isaiah 45:22 "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is no one else."
And Jesus said in John 3:16-18 "For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."
When you study the Bible, study all places in the Bible where that topic is written. Also study in context, the whole passage. In the original Word, no breaks were inbetween chapters. They were written as a whole.
When you study the Bible let the Bible interpret the Bible. Make sure that you study the Bible for yourself. A lot of people twist the Scripture, and back it up with commentaries that are twisted, too.
God wants us to know and understand His Word. Study the Bible, and He will reveal answers.
Study it for yourself, Kiwifruit, and you'll find that God is omnipotent, but he has elected all of us. It's up to us to decide whether or not to believe in Him and accept Him as our savior.
-Judi
I wasn't arguing with you, Judi, I was just telling you what the teacher said. I wish I could remember what they said about John 3:16, because there was something in those verses he said suported the election/predestination beliefs.
I don't think predestination is true, either, because then there isn't really any point to living according to the Bible. And other reasons, too, but I can't list them all now.
Thanks for your comments! I'll definately try and read some of those passages you quoted from.
~Kiwifruit
I am Assembly of God.
I agree completely with Judi! That Jesus died on the cross, so that whoever believe in Him could go to heaven. There isn't any 'predestination'.
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