There’s an old saying; “rise and shine!” One of the variants I’ve heard is “rise and shine, buttercup.” For a long time I just thought of this like any other colloquialism; which is to say, not much at all. In fact, I’ve considered it to be a trite bit of sarcasm at times. That is, until now:
The only reason I can think of as to why people have so much confusion over doctrine is that our enemy wants to keep us divided on the issues of the faith to institute class warfare. The power of Satan doesn’t lie in the flashy, or the obscene. The power of Satan lies in the subtle and the obscure. It is in the minutiae of doctrinal interpretation that we find the origins of that grand truism; the devil is in the details.
I think it’s no secret that I’m not a Calvinist. I don’t believe in pre-election, because I don’t believe that there is a “pre” with God. God is. He stands outside of time and looks in at all time, at once. To say that everything was planned before the dawn of time leaves no room for the very thing that Calvinist’s say is the most important thing concerning the rejection of free will; God’s sovereignty. How can you have a sovereign God who isn’t allowed to change his creation according to his own will?
Does the fact that Mitt Romney is a Mormon have any weight in the coming political election?
Origin, Meaning, Morality and Destiny. These are the questions any belief system must address. There are two extreme opposite positions; predeterminism and existential nihilism. From each of these two extremes there are varying degrees, stepping inward towards balance. For instance, on the side of nihilism there is a step back known as existentialism. On the other side there is a concept called predestination. As we work our way back towards the middle there are many offshoots, interweaving concepts and philosophical ideas.
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Every act of man’s inhumanity toward man; every instance of envy, jealousy, and hatred expressed in an action against another man, stems from the first chapter, the twenty-sixth and twenty-seventh verse of the book of beginnings:
Stone walls do not a prison make,
Nor iron bars a cage;
Minds innocent and quiet take
That for an hermitage;
If I have freedom in my love,
And in my soul am free,
Angels alone that soar above
Enjoy such liberty.
– Richard Lovelace 1618 – 1657
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