Tough Questions Tough Choices Lesson 5 Is God

Tough Questions Tough Choices Lesson 5 Is God Omniscient Martyrs – Egyptian Coptic Christians 07/10/2011

The Question Is God all-knowing (omniscient)? Ultimately that question leads to this: If he is then doesn’t that mean that he is creating you to go to hell? 2: 29: 41 AM 2

Is God Omniscient? The answer that we would all say is yes! The Bible clearly supports this answer: 1 Samuel 2: 3; 2 Samuel 14: 20; Job 28: 24, 36: 4, 37: 16; Psalms 139: 2 -6, 147: 5; Isaiah 11: 2; Hebrews 4: 13; 1 John 3: 20 (These are a few verses that I picked out for this topic). 2: 29: 42 AM 3

Job 28: 24 “For He looks to the ends of the earth, And sees under the whole heavens, ” 2: 29: 42 AM 4

Hebrews 4: 13 “And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account. ” 2: 29: 43 AM 5

1 John 3: 20 “For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. ” 2: 29: 43 AM 6

What does that really mean? So, God is omniscient (knows all)… Does he know the future? Well, yeah I mean that is contained with in omniscient: Psalms 139: 16; Isaiah 44: 7; Isaiah 46: 9 2: 29: 43 AM 7

Psalms 139: 16 “Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them. ” 2: 29: 44 AM 8

Isaiah 44: 7 “And who can proclaim as I do? Then let him declare it and set it in order for Me, Since I appointed the ancient people. And the things that are coming and shall come, Let them show these to them. ” 2: 29: 44 AM 9

Isaiah 46: 10 “Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things that are not yet done, Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, And I will do all My pleasure, ’” 2: 29: 45 AM 10

Then am I “predestined” Here is how the leap goes then: “If God knows my future before I am even born then he knows whether or not I will go to heaven. If he knows that I am going to hell then in a way he is creating me simply to go to hell. ” So, this brings up the idea of predestination. 2: 29: 47 AM 11

Calvinism Wikipedia says this in defense of the doctrine of Predestination: “Calvinists deny that their scheme is a form of determinism and instead uphold the free agency and moral responsibility of the individual. They do, however, hold that the will is in bondage to sin and therefore unable to actualize its true freedom. Hence, an individual cannot choose to trust God because his or her will is enslaved to evil, which is antithetical to God who is good. Since Calvinists further hold that salvation is by grace apart from good works (sola gratia) and since they view making a choice to trust God as an action or work, they maintain that the act of choosing cannot be the difference between salvation and damnation, as in the Arminian scheme. Rather, God must first free the individual from his or her enslavement to sin to a greater degree than in Arminianism, and then the regenerated heart naturally chooses the good. The individual does not cooperate but is freed and irresistibly follows God. ” 2: 29: 51 AM 12

You can’t have it both ways… Calvinists want to say that they believe in free-will yet at the same time believe that we are predestined. So, what is the truth. Well, lets first separate some of these words. Foreknowledge – knowing what will happen Foreordain(Macro) – Forcing the outcome Foreordain(Micro) – Forcing the outcome through the individual 2: 29: 51 AM 13

What is said about Calvinism In his Declaration of Sentiments (1608) Arminius gave twenty arguments against supralapsarianism, which he said applied also to sublapsarianism. These included such arguments as that the view is void of good news; repugnant to God's wise, just, and good nature, and to man's free nature; “highly dishonorable to Jesus Christ”; “hurtful to the salvation of men”; and that it “inverts the order of the gospel of Jesus Christ” (which is that we are justified after we believe, not prior to our believing). He said the arguments all boil down to one, actually: that unconditional predestination makes God “the author of sin. ” From Wikipedia. 2: 29: 53 AM 14

Words Well, lets first separate some of these words. Foreknowledge – knowing what will happen Foreordain(Macro) – Forcing the outcome Foreordain(Micro) – Forcing the outcome through the individual 2: 29: 53 AM 15

Does God have Foreknowledge - Yes Isaiah 46: 10 “Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things that are not yet done, Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, And I will do all My pleasure, ’” 2: 29: 54 AM 16

Does God Foreordain (Macro) - Yes Isaiah 44: 7 “And who can proclaim as I do? Then let him declare it and set it in order for Me, Since I appointed the ancient people. And the things that are coming and shall come, Let them show these to them. ” 2: 29: 56 AM 17

Does God Foreordain (Micro) - No God does not in anyway force YOU the individual to do anything. You must choose for yourself. Esther 4: 13 -14 “And Mordecai told them to answer Esther: ‘Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king's palace any more than all the other Jews. 14 For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this? ’” 2: 29: 57 AM 18

Egyptian Coptic Christians Since January 1 st 2011: § 3 churches have been burned § countless Christian homes have been burned § more than 100 have been killed § probably more than 1000 have been wounded 2: 29: 57 AM 19

Video Clip Removed to save space The video can be viewed at http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=Lb. G QWvsx. YFY

Video Clip Removed to save space The video can be viewed at http: //www. youtube. com/user/thecopti cmartyrs#p/u/20/Me. JDOUn. Vz 84

Egyptian Coptic Christians Have been persecuted for years but the persecution is ramping up recently due to the political instability of Egypt. Did you know: It takes a Presidential order to build a Christian facility in Egypt. 2: 29: 57 AM 22