anna3b,

Basically, what you appear to be asking is for someone to help you understand the relationship between God's sovereignty and man's responsibility. Ya know.. I gotta tell you right up front . . . it ain't gonna happen. [Linked Image] That's one of those "antinomy" thingys, i.e., the finite trying to comprehend the Infinite. The bottom line is simply this: is it taught in God's inspired written Word, i.e., that which He has deemed good to reveal to us though holy men moved by the Holy Spirit, that God is absolutely sovereign in both power and authority over all things which He has determined from eternity? YES!. Is it also taught that man is wholly responsible for every thought, word and deed? YES! Is it possible for any man to fully comprehend how these two indisputable truths coincide? NO! But our inability to comprehend the God of the universe does not negate the truth of these matters.


Deut 29:29 (ASV) "The secret things belong unto Jehovah our God; but the things that are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law."

Rom 11:33-36 (ASV) "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past tracing out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and unto him, are all things. To him [be] the glory for ever. Amen."


We therefore humbly bow before the majesty and ineffable holiness of God and by faith entrust all our understanding to His Spirit Who was given to us that we may be led into all truth and forever rest in the confidence that we belong to Him in Christ Jesus our Lord.

In His grace,

[Linked Image]

simul iustus et peccator

[Linked Image]