Supersillymanable
Puritan Board Freshman
I have recently come to a greater understanding and appreciation of why many on here love the confessions and appreciate them so much, which I see as a very good thing. Maybe even a step towards confessionalism... Anyway, I have been reading through Dr. Reymond's systematic in which he quotes part of the WCF, and I'm actually struggling with some of these concepts. I would really appreciate some of my reformed brethren on here to help me here... I do not know whether it is simply hardness of heart on my part, or simply I am not grasping some concepts that Reymond and the confession are putting forward. So here goes:
I. God from all eternity did by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will, freely and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass; yet so as thereby neither is God the author of sin; nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures, nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established.
II. Although God knows whatsoever may or can come to pass, upon all supposed conditions; yet hath he not decreed any thing because he foresaw it as future, as that which would come to pass, upon such conditions. (WCF, III/i-ii)
Now, for me, my head really cannot get around this. I have come across the issue of God's sovereignty and manage to marry it up to my understanding of God's goodness and mercy etc, but it has become a real struggle for me recently. My line of thought goes thus: God is not the author of sin. But God has decreed that whatsoever comes to pass will come to pass. Therefore, my sin has already been decreed by God, and there is now way of me not doing it. If this is so, how am I a) responsible, and b) needing of saving because I had no choice in the matter, and c) How can God hate the sin he decreed me doing and therefore require payment for it?
The confession says that the decree doesn't do violence to our wills, but that makes no sense to me. It doesn't work in my head... If God has decreed it and so there is no way we can go against it, how are we choosing to sin? Surely God is choosing for us to choose to sin, the choice really being God's, not our own.
I don't want to start an argument here at all. I really want to humbly place a struggle of mine before you guys and ask you please, can you help me with this one? It's been plaguing me for days and I'm finding it hard to worship, as my mind is continually coming back to the thought that every action I take is not really mine, but the decree of God and is therefore meaningless, and various other thoughts. I thoroughly believe the Bible teaches the sovereignty of God in all things, and His Goodness in all things, how do we put these two together?
I'd understand if we were unable to choose between sin and not sin when unregenerate, and so needed God to regenerate us which we could do nothing about, thereby giving us a choice between sin or not, but that doesn't seem to be the teaching of scripture to me. Or am I simply wrong in what scripture teaches?
Sorry if this is a little bit of a ramble...
I. God from all eternity did by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will, freely and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass; yet so as thereby neither is God the author of sin; nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures, nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established.
II. Although God knows whatsoever may or can come to pass, upon all supposed conditions; yet hath he not decreed any thing because he foresaw it as future, as that which would come to pass, upon such conditions. (WCF, III/i-ii)
Now, for me, my head really cannot get around this. I have come across the issue of God's sovereignty and manage to marry it up to my understanding of God's goodness and mercy etc, but it has become a real struggle for me recently. My line of thought goes thus: God is not the author of sin. But God has decreed that whatsoever comes to pass will come to pass. Therefore, my sin has already been decreed by God, and there is now way of me not doing it. If this is so, how am I a) responsible, and b) needing of saving because I had no choice in the matter, and c) How can God hate the sin he decreed me doing and therefore require payment for it?
The confession says that the decree doesn't do violence to our wills, but that makes no sense to me. It doesn't work in my head... If God has decreed it and so there is no way we can go against it, how are we choosing to sin? Surely God is choosing for us to choose to sin, the choice really being God's, not our own.
I don't want to start an argument here at all. I really want to humbly place a struggle of mine before you guys and ask you please, can you help me with this one? It's been plaguing me for days and I'm finding it hard to worship, as my mind is continually coming back to the thought that every action I take is not really mine, but the decree of God and is therefore meaningless, and various other thoughts. I thoroughly believe the Bible teaches the sovereignty of God in all things, and His Goodness in all things, how do we put these two together?
I'd understand if we were unable to choose between sin and not sin when unregenerate, and so needed God to regenerate us which we could do nothing about, thereby giving us a choice between sin or not, but that doesn't seem to be the teaching of scripture to me. Or am I simply wrong in what scripture teaches?
Sorry if this is a little bit of a ramble...