Fury ~ Your comment ~ Which I find to be very enlightning an true...� I just imagine God sitting back and saying "Why are you asking me for a husband? I put plenty of Christian men in you life, pick the one you want? I've put plenty of blessings before you, you just chose not to take them."
Unfortunately just picking one out of many is not as easy as it sounds. I have been waiting on the Lord for my mate for quite some time and yes, I am actively greeting, meeting and seeking also. But if a Man an Women are not on the same page of the Book. Convictions, Morals, Goals, Calling, Compatibilites...Then not even God can make it a happy union and no women should be wasten precious time with a go no-where union. The proof is in the pudding so to speak...
Arch ~ Your comment ~ Bingo !!! "When they say that they are waiting for the one God has provided for them, they are simply saying that they will know from what this person says or does or is. Only God knows what is in their Hearts and what they have prayed for and when they "see" that in a potential mate -- that would be an indicator that perhaps God is involved."
Yup ! Then it is up to us Women to actively investigate and nurture the potential of a lasting Union based on the foundation of God. The proof is in the pudding here to...
if you say that you will know the One God has planned for you by what they say and do, you have simply taken God's name and rubberstamped your decision.
In otherwords, you end up with, "well this is the One that i chose by what they do and what they say, therefore it must be God's will"
The implication is that your choice is automatically God approved. It also implies that you could not have possibly made a bad choice because its the One God wanted you to have. However, the problem lies in the fact that it wasn't God's choice, it was yours. Yes, God allowed it to happen, God allowed you to meet in the first place but you made the choice, good or bad, it is your responsiblity. God tells us it is our choice. It is a blessing we chose to have. He may give us the wisdom to make a better choice but that does not mean that God made the choice.
if i make and analogy...
I did not ask God or the Holy Spirit to tell me what to eat for lunch. I simply chose to what i wanted. God give us guidelines about eating too much and about taking care of his temple but he does not tell us specifically "Eat this, or Eat that" He leaves that choice to us because it is to be a blessing and we each have different desires. Maybe something gives me heartburn or something else makes me hyper or makes me a bit fatter or doesn't digest well or whatever. I may decide its worth it and eat it anyway. The choice may be wise or unwise but it doesn't mean you sinned against the will of God.
i don't get up in the morning and eat fruitloops and then say it was God's will for me to eat fruitloops. I could have easily decided to bacon and eggs.
while marriage is a choice with much bigger consequences and implications, it is not a different than what i decide to eat. There are biblical standards and guidelines but within those i have freedom to choose but i must also take responsibility for those choices.
sorry arch but there is a bit of arrogance in what you are saying. you don't have the wisdom to tell God what is the best choice for you. just because you pray and think about something doesn't mean God will choose for you. Again i refer you to 1 corith 7.
Question for other people who believe in free will. Does God know if you're going to get married or who you're going to get married to? Does God have to force things to happen, or does He just know everything and plans accordingly? I do believe in free will...but how do you think God fulfills prophecy? Did He make it happen, or did He know it would happen? Did God force the Jews to crucify Jesus, or did He know they would? I think there is a big difference. And the big difference is...one allows for free will within God's will/plan...and the other makes God a guy with a remote control. Believing in free will does not mean that God does not have a plan that was in effect before you knew you existed, or that God has no influence in our lives. I believe everything we do was planned for before we existed, but not because we were programmed. God knows the future...and I don't think we can change His plan by making choices, even though I believe we have free will. How do you surprise a super awesome genius that knows the future? Anyway...I do not believe in predestination...but I do believe God knows the future and has a plan, which is evident through His prophecies. And I do believe God has a plan for everyone's lives. Good or bad. He knows what you're going to choose through your free will, and I believe He will bring the person He wants you to marry into your life...whether you end up marrying them or not. That way...in the judgment, God can say..."I gave you every chance and you threw them all away. Depart from me."
I believe God gave us a free will yet he knows everything we will ever do before we do it. With that being said I don't believe God can be surprised cuz he already knows everything.
I love surprises lots and lots and I'm sad right now that I believe God can never be surprised cuz he knows everything. That's so sad. I wonder if when I'm in Heaven if I will still get to be surprised. The bible is clear about there is a predestined plan and that he knew before the foundations of the world who's names would be in the Lamb's book of life.
I figure if God knows every hair on our head then he surely knows all the days of our lives before we physically walk it.....go figure.
I don't understand everything bout this free will business. Personally I believe God knows past present and future all at once. Why wouldn't he ? He created all the world in 7 days.
Here's my take on it. Since, we are living in present time now so we are under free will right this second. Even though God knows right now if we're going to Heaven or Hell and how long our lifespan is and so forth we don't. We are under free will and must be obedient and follow Jesus if we want to have our names written in the Book of Life. Every choice we make right now can be a blessing or fatal since we have no clue what our future truly holds. Now we can be reassured that once we are saved that we can know like God knows that our name is printed in the Book of Life. God gave
Adam and Eve the free will to sin or not. They used their free will to sin
and they were punished for their sin. So this means that since God punished
them that he wasnt responsible for their sin and the serpent was responsible for Adam and Eve's sin. The serpent was responsible for the serpents sin, Adam responsible for his and Eve responsible for hers.
Don't fall into the trap of occults who believe that we don't have choices that our life is predestined and we can't to anything to change from being a bad person to a good person cuz that's a lie! You indeed have the free will to choose right over wrong.
Now when we are using free will we aren't suppose to have attitudes like I'm God and so forth either. Having free will is the complete opposite of this attitude. We should role model how Jesus exercised his free will when
he offered to give up his life on the cross. He never used his free will for selfish gain.
Typing on my cell phone drives me bananas. I found some bloopers in my last post. God rested on Sabbath day so everything was created in 6 days.
Another mistake is the serpent wasn't responsible for Adam and Eve's sin. Each one of us are responsible for our own sins is point trying to make.
God gave us a free will cuz he didn't want a bunch of robots. He wants our love he craves a personal relationship with every single one of us.
Although we are suppose to use our free will to be obedient and choose righteousness over sin, we can never save ourself. Just like Apostle Paul said (now there's a man why can't I find a man like him) the Cross of Christ and nothing else saves us.
predestined simply means that God knew before he created the universe.
but that doesn't mean he tells us or makes the choice for us. It simply means he knows what our choice will be before we ever make it.
in that sense, everything is predestined from salvation to marriage. but since God doesn't tell us everything, being predestined means nothing to us other than knowing that our lives our in God's sovereign hands. Not that he takes free will out of our hands or tells US every step of our future.
You've misunderstood what I was saying...just as you misunderstood what people mean when they say "the one God has sent for me". I never used the word Hyprocrisy, I used the word "Hypercritical" -- as in Overly Critiquing something.
God does not "possess" your body...your mind and controls your every move or thought. What God does is He gives you Graces...for instance -- let's take your breakfast analogy:
What if God were to give you the Grace of discernment that morning when you rose that made you think that you needed to start eating a little healthier and instead of eating bacon and eggs or FruitLoops, you make some Oatmeal instead. Was your free choice taken away from you? No...of course not! Did God Nudge you towards that deciscion? YES! Could it be said that the Oatmeal was what God wanted you to eat? YES again!
So when I or anyone else says that they are waiting for the one God has in store for them...it means that they are making themselves open and available to Recieve God's Graces to help them be AWARE when this person crosses their path. And if God wants to Nudge that person into their path...God can because God CAN!
I hope you will not misunderstand what I am trying to say here.
Also I could be accused of being arrogant many times in my past, but I assure you that this time it is not arrogance, but rather a intrinsic perspicuity that percipatates from elevations most high as a most profound unsolicitated gift which is recieved quite humbly.
Let�s remember that God is omnipresent, if we speak according to the three dimensions where our body is living we can say He is �always� above us, but at our side too and�. �below� too� remember that �we cannot even escape from Him in the Seol [if we understand momentarily Seol as the place under grown�] But we know that 3 dimensions are no enough� God in inside them and outside them too� now our imagination starts to be �not enough to understand �where� God is�.
He is the creator� He is in no dimensions because He has created all, including spirits, material world, space, time which is only a part of eternity� The point is, God has everything �in front of Him� [see? I am trapped in 3 dimensions� I can only use the words I can use�] God is the beginning and the end, which could mean [Arch� help me here] that He is watching the eternity in from of Him� Then, to the point again� He knows and he gives us the opportunity to make one decision based on different possibilities and He sees what is going to happen to us in each of those possibilities� AT THE SAME TIME� that is the way I can understand predestination, so far� I know that I am still �raw� I need to mature�
But, I see God �more Sovereign than unable to make you do this or that�� He can make you select the decision He wants, but we have seen that He gives us choices. What I am sure is that He is watching our lives in every one of the decisions made� and YES, He knows which decision we will use� that part� I can not explain�
We could think �He leaves us alone to decide�� not quite a truth� because He has put inside us the law which allows us to distinguish right from wrong�
If you were to diagram...mapout...write down, every possible step or outcome of your walk from your livingroom to your kitchen -- you would have an inifinte number of possiblities or "probabilities"; just as you would if you calculated the many probabilities of where billiard balls would go after being "broken up" on a pool table. Add to these outcome the outcomes of everything in the Universe and you have what God Knows. God "knows" ever possible outcome or "future". That is "predestination" -- not that our outcome is "sealed" or "fated", but that God is aware of it.
So if God wants us to be or do a certain thing...He is most certainly Powerful enough to "push" us in that direction by either nudging us or just plain "kicking" us in our behinds. We still have free will...just not "free range".
And.... the requested help arrived... Thanks, Arch., that is my point expressed in such a better way... a manhood way...
You see? it is been fulfilled right now... there are so many ways to say what we think, what we have felt relating to a topic [marriage, predestination, etc.] and each of us do it in different ways... and yet, God knew, knows and will know absolutely all those ways...
I love this theme... I would like to understand so many things...
Even when we have come to this life with that law which allows us to distinguish right from wrong, inserted in our spirits� we take bad decisions sometimes... well, a lot, A LOT of times... and getting this together with Arch just have said about "nudging us" or ""kicking" us in our behinds" we understand a little better the purpose of the prayer...
"Lord, I can not identify the correct decision right now, so... please, have mercy... and push me, nudge me, kick on my back if needed... toward the right decision" :prayingf:
