The Highway Forums General Discussion Theology Discussion Forum New here...God's Sovereignty

Zoe,

I must confess that I was more than a little dismayed when I read your reply. There was and is no doubt that you have embraced serious error, but truly it must be seen as heresy; against which the entire Christian church stands opposed. To state that God "needed" something is unimaginable. The Sovereign LORD lacked something and thus He created life so in order to fulfill some lack in Himself? Where do you get these things? For if God is in need of ANYTHING, then surely, He would not meet the definition of deity as set forth in the Scriptures.

The problem here is that you have wrested the text out of its own context!! The passage taken as a whole teaches something totally contrary to what you have twisted it to mean:

James 4:11-17 (ASV) "Speak not one against another, brethren. He that speaketh against a brother, or judgeth his brother, speaketh against the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judgest the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. One [only] is the lawgiver and judge, [even] he who is able to save and to destroy: but who art thou that judgest thy neighbor? Come now, ye that say, To-day or to-morrow we will go into this city, and spend a year there, and trade, and get gain: whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. What is your life? For ye are a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall both live, and do this or that. But now ye glory in your vauntings: all such glorying is evil. To him therefore that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin."

First of all, James is affirming the responsibility of man in that his primary purpose is to chide those professing Christians who take upon themselves to be the judge of the eternal destiny of their brethren; presuming to know God's immutable will. Thus he rebukes them by saying that they are not to be judges of their brethren, but rather they are to BE RESPONSIBLE in their doing of the law. They are to obey the law and not be judges of it.

Yes, "if the Lord willeth. . ." then what they will to do will be done. But the fact that they will necessitates de facto that they planned and desired, for the will is the servant of the mind and appetite. Just because God prevents men from doing what they will does not relieve them of any culpability.

If you are demanding that the "word" responsible be used, then you are certainly right to a point. However, what the word responsible means is indisputably taught in regard to every thought, word and deed that every single human being owns. The very fact that God commanded Adam and Eve to not eat of the fruit of the tree and threatened them with death for disobedience necessitates that Adam was being held responsible for his actions. It is sheer lunacy to suggest that God forces a person to do that which is contrary to His will and the person's will then holds him [color:"red"]responsible[/color] for doing that which he would not have done had he not been forced. The sheer suggestion should make one cringe. For it mitigates against the ineffable holiness and justice of God. I thus leave you with a few relevant passages of God's inspired and infallible Word which clearly show that men are responsible for what they do and are held accountable for that which they do:

Proverbs 16:9 (KJV) "A man's heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps." (In fact the entire book of Proverbs)

Matthew 25:41-46 (ASV) "Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was hungry, and ye did not give me to eat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me not in; naked, and ye clothed me not; sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer, saying, Lord, when saw we thee hungry, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not unto one of these least, ye did it not unto me. And these shall go away into eternal punishment: but the righteous into eternal life."

Galatians 6:7 (KJV) "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."