Chosen But Free

When I first came to Liberty University as a freshman staying on the dorms, I never really thought of the importance in the difference between Armenianism and Calvinism until I heard the overwhelming rush of debates over the topic in the hallway. Predestination versus free-will has always been a topic that has been less interesting to me because all I really cared about growing up was believing in a God who I know had perfect will and would not leave us in a misunderstanding here on earth.  In Norman Geisler’s , Chosen But Free, the old controversy between free will and predestination has been looked at, analyzed, researched and prayed about as he explains a moderate view from both sides.

            In chapter two, Geisler brings to attention the three basic views of divine sovereignty and human free choice. First off, there is the extreme sovereignty view, which I do not agree with for many reasons, that says that God is in complete control and nothing we do can change the way he planned everything to happen. I personally cannot agree with this view because then I would have no purpose in being here. It would almost be as if God is playing a giant board game and we are the pieces that he moves along the board and all we are here for is for him to play around with. There is no room in this view to show God’s love. The second view is the extreme free will view, which I think is nearly as silly as the extreme sovereignty view, which describes the idea that God gave away some of his sovereignty to his creation so that they would have complete free will. The reason that I cannot agree with this is because in Jeremiah 29:11 God says that he has a plan for us and if he gave us all complete free will and he has no control, then there is no way that he has a plan for us. Then there is the third view, which is the balanced view, a view that I can agree with, which balances out the ideas of sovereignty and free will. I can agree with this view because of the verse found in 1 Corinthians 10:13 that says that God will not let us be tempted beyond what we are able to bear. To me this verse means that God is allowing us to make our own decisions but he is there to guide and protect us along the way.

            I think that the reason there is so much controversy is because free will and predestination creates a dilemma.  If both those terms were used in one sentence it would pretty much be an oxymoron. As humans, we are simple-minded creatures who can never fully understand God. We will never be able to fully understand what God has revealed to us. Geisler uses many passages in scripture to support what he says within his book, and provides great detail as to what the different views are. As a personal believer in Christ, I believe that God loves us so much that he wants us to make our own choices and that he will be there to protect us along the way. 

Word count: 544

THEO 202-003 WORSHIP

As a young kid growing up in the church, I was a regular attender of the worship service. For me, that meant the service that included singing and praise. For most of my life I grew up believing that worship meant singing Church songs that God enjoyed. As I got older and got more into the word of God, I realized that singing is only one form of worship. Worship is more then just singing but it is a term of adoration. When we worship God, we are showing honor and adoration to God. This means that we can worship out side of the church in many different ways. These ways can include singing but may also include praying and talking to God, by giving cheerfully, taking part in communion, make our bodies living sacrifices and so on. The Lord intended us to be in constant worship. This does not mean that we need to walk through the streets singing. This means that we can spend our days keeping God as our number one focus and giving him the praise and honor that He deserves.
For myself, I personally enjoy worship through song because it allows me to feels Gods presence more closely. When playing a worship song, I can let loose of everything and just sing words to God and not have anything else on my mind. Sometimes I don't have the words to say to God but when I am singing words to a song that I know the lyrics too then it allows me to express my feelings towards God. I have realized over the years that singing to God is more then just singing the words that you see on the screen. As I have grown older I have learned to sing those words to God and send them straight from my heart. I realize that God enjoys my singing and that he enjoys it because he knows I mean every word that I am singing.
Although singing is one of my favorite types of worship, I do realize that there are many other forms of worship. By recognizing this fact, I also need to be aware that I should worship God in other ways then just singing. I shouldn't hold back and only worship when I am singing to music at church or when I am with a group of people sitting around a campfire with a guitar. The Lord deserves more praise then I could ever imagine, and I should be looking forward to worshiping him everyday.

Word Count 423

Testimony

As a young boy growing up I always followed my parents around, doing what they asked of me. Every Sunday my parents would bring me to a place where they met with other people with the same religious background. My parents believe that there is one God who created this earth and everything on it. They believe that this God is perfect and that because of the mistakes that we have made on this earth, we as humans are imperfect beings. My parents believe that because we have made mistakes, when we die, there is no hope for us. There is a book that was written many years ago and in it, it talks about how to get hope even as people who are imperfect. In the book it talks about believing in this perfect God who created this earth and how this God sent his only Son down to this earth in the form of a human to save us. In order to save us, this God's son had to die and take the punishment for all the mistakes that every human being has ever made and ever will make. If we, as human beings, decide to believe that this happened and that we truly understand that we are people who make mistakes and that we can be given hope through the death of this God's son, then when we die we will go up and be with this God in a perfect world.
When I was just a young boy, I decided that I wanted to be just like my parents and I wanted to believe that there was a God who was willing to save us from death. As I grew older, I realized that I could not live without this God who created the world because I, myself, am nothing. This God is all that I need and without Him I would be lost with no hope.

Word Count: 321