It echoes my own struggle with it as well. There's a rest and a peace when I believe it, and yet the justice side, and the revulsion that others seem to show when they encounter it, make me pause.
So far, I think the most important aspect of the "debate" is in the last line of your poem:
"Yet our seeing or not seeing is also in the hands of God."
I think it is important for me to remember that God has already given me a lot to "see" with. But most of the time it seems that I am like the men on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24:25, where Jesus says to them:
"O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken..."
That's me. And if I'm slow of heart to believe what is already in front of me (I'm not talking about the lofty things of Calvinism here, I'm talking about practical things like the Sermon on the Mount), then don't I deserve to be blinded? If I won't even believe the light I have, why should I expect more?
So far, in my ponderings on this, it seems to me that whether I'm blind or not is more important than whether predestination is true or not. Because even if I have free will, God can still guide my paths by determining how much light I have. If I reject the light I have, He is under no obligation to give me more. And so, in either case, humbling myself seems the only logical action. I can at least pray for and work on that.
Thanks for your poem. It was an inspiring summary.
I hope you win your gamble. Sometimes it seems like a long shot when other people are involved in the outcome of your gamble, but sometimes that just means the stakes are really worth going for.
"WOW" DAD THAT IS AN AMAZING PRAYER I AM COPYING IT AND POSTTING IT ON MY FACEBOOK PAGE AN YOUR FACEBOOK PAGE AS WELL ALSO I AM GOING TO TAKE IT TO WORK WITH ME AND SHARE IT THERE AS WELL I WILL READ IT TO MY DAUGHTERS AND TO MY MOM ERIC READ IT AND LOVES IT SO DID HIS MOM I LUV YOU DADDY KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK.....
p.s. I am sending you a note also send me a list of stuff again so I can order you things you need and want now that I am working I can afford a little so let me know xoxox " * U {luv u}
It's me . . . Robert Earl Hazelett (Bob Hazelett) from the Philippines.
Today (October 25) I received your letter. Nice to hear from ya. Tonight I'll compose a reply and have it in the mail soon. I have tons of things to say. :^)
I can also be reached via email at roberthazelett@gmail.com. Considering that I live in the middle of nowhere, a place where snail mail is much like it was between the Bronze Age and the Iron Age, I'd prefer to communicate the electronic way. Whatever the case, I'll send a message to you VERY soon. :^)
RSS
It echoes my own struggle with it as well. There's a rest and a peace when I believe it, and yet the justice side, and the revulsion that others seem to show when they encounter it, make me pause.
So far, I think the most important aspect of the "debate" is in the last line of your poem:
"Yet our seeing or not seeing is also in the hands of God."
I think it is important for me to remember that God has already given me a lot to "see" with. But most of the time it seems that I am like the men on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24:25, where Jesus says to them:
"O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken..."
That's me. And if I'm slow of heart to believe what is already in front of me (I'm not talking about the lofty things of Calvinism here, I'm talking about practical things like the Sermon on the Mount), then don't I deserve to be blinded? If I won't even believe the light I have, why should I expect more?
So far, in my ponderings on this, it seems to me that whether I'm blind or not is more important than whether predestination is true or not. Because even if I have free will, God can still guide my paths by determining how much light I have. If I reject the light I have, He is under no obligation to give me more. And so, in either case, humbling myself seems the only logical action. I can at least pray for and work on that.
Thanks for your poem. It was an inspiring summary.
Wow.
That was beautiful.
I hope you win your gamble. Sometimes it seems like a long shot when other people are involved in the outcome of your gamble, but sometimes that just means the stakes are really worth going for.
^
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*
U SMILE JESUS LUV'S U AN SO DO I...
p.s. I am sending you a note also send me a list of stuff again so I can order you things you need and want now that I am working I can afford a little so let me know xoxox "
*
U
{luv u}
It's me . . . Robert Earl Hazelett (Bob Hazelett) from the Philippines.
Today (October 25) I received your letter. Nice to hear from ya. Tonight I'll compose a reply and have it in the mail soon. I have tons of things to say. :^)
I can also be reached via email at roberthazelett@gmail.com. Considering that I live in the middle of nowhere, a place where snail mail is much like it was between the Bronze Age and the Iron Age, I'd prefer to communicate the electronic way. Whatever the case, I'll send a message to you VERY soon. :^)
Bob Hazelett