The Highway Forums General Discussion Open Forum Predestination Question

That's an easy one to answer.

There is NOTHING..... absolutely NOTHING that God hasn't predestined and by His providence brings to pass. R.C. Sproul, Sr. makes a point of this in one of his lectures, which I think is from either "If There is a God, Why are there Atheists?", or in his 3-part series on Divine Sovereignty in "Divine Sovereignty and Human Freedom". And even if I'm incorrect in thinking it was one of those two lectures what he said was fabulous. He asked the group before whom he was speaking if they thought that God controlled EVERYTHING. Then he said that if you believe that is not true, then you are an Atheist. He then went on to explain in some detail that not even the smallest particle in an atom is outside of God's sovereignty and control. Because if there was even one minute thing that God didn't ordain providentially control, then the world would collapse into total chaos. He used an old proverb to illustrate his point that truth which goes like this (fyi, the word "want" is a synonym for "lack"):



Of course, the most succinct statement of this truth, I believe, is found in Scripture where Luke wrote:

God ordained the crucifixion of Christ in every single detail AND those who participated in that crucifixion did so most willingly and without any force contrary to their desire or will to do so.

NOTE: Notice that "determinate counsel" (decree, foreordination) precedes "foreknowledge", which depends and flows from God's eternal decree(s). Antagonists of biblical Calvinism invariably reverse the order and believe that God does what he foreknew, i.e., whatever God perceived as having already occurred. Which view, of course, logically denies the absolutely sovereignty of God and even more so, such a view denies deity itself.