How does free will exist with predestination?

Let's learn a lesson from a fish.




















I have a beta fish (back in UCLA) in the care of one of my friends (thanks). I love that fish and his name is Ninja. The above picture is not Ninja, but close enough (Ninja is definitely more good looking). He has lots of fun hobbies and he loves practicing his free will. He chases after little bugs/gnats that happen to get into my room (its awesome to watch). He makes bubble nests with lots and lots of bubbles (sign of happiness... and wanting to mate). He takes rests at the bottom on the rocks and swims between whatever he wishes. He also watches me study and encourages me as I work late into the night. With all that said - Ninja has 100% free will, HOWEVER he is CONFINED to his TANK as a FISH. He does whatever he wishes, but whatever he wishes to do is restricted by the fact that he is a fish. This means he needs water to stay alive, and he needs to stay in his tank. He cannot free will himself to be human, or free will himself to be a dog, or free will himself to fly, but he has free will.

Thus it is with humans. We have free will but we are bounded by the fact that we are humans. We cannot free will ourselves to be God or to fly ourselves out to space (without spaceships). But you can drop a pencil right now if you want or write a blog entry (like me) if you want right now. However, you definitely cannot free will yourself to salvation. You cannot free will yourself to believe. Here's WHY.

Humans in our NATURAL state of free will would NEVER choose God. Psalm 14:2-3, Romans 3:10-12. God looks down from heaven to see if there are any who seek God, there is none - no not one. We know that in our free will bounded by the fact that we are human we would never ever choose God. John 6:44, John 6:65. As a Christian, I am so glad that this be true because I know I would have never chosen God - I would love to rebel as that is my nature. Then the beauty of God's grace is that He pierces through that boundary and gives us grace and draws us to Him that we may believe. YET, it is not that God FORCES us to believe. Far be it from that. He as God draws us and wills us to believe through His grace and majestic wonder.

Thomas Watson in All Things for Good puts it this way:
"It is a sweet call. God so calls as He allures; He does not force, but draw. The freedom of will is not taken away, but the stubbornness of it is conquered. 'Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power' (Psalm 110:3). After this call there are no more disputes, the soul readily obeys God's call: as when Christ called Zachaeus, he joyfully welcomed Him into his heart and house."

And this... is my attempt to explain how free will exists with predestination =] Thank you Ninja for the help.

Question

Hello fellow readers! K, I REALLY need your participation on this. I am just curious and I want questions to study SO... please leave a comment with an answer to this...

If you could ask one question to God about God, what would you ask?

(Thanks in advance)!

~Cho

Can you love God TOO Much?

I hate it when people say, "You love God too much. You love and read the Bible too much." If you've been told that, take heart! Do not listen to such foolishness. Here are some wise words from Thomas Watson (my favorite Puritan).

"You may over-love the creature. You may love wine too much, and silver too much; but you cannot love God too much. If it were possible to exceed, excess here were a virtue; but it is our sin that we cannot love God enough. 'How weak is thy heart!" (Ezek. 16:20).
-Thomas Watson in All Things for Good

Earthly Family/Heavenly Family

If knowing Christ can break the bond of family connected by human blood (Matthew 10:36)
Then it sure as heck better unite the family connected by Christ blood (1 John 4:20-21)

William Tyndale

William Tyndale's words after months in prison that would lead to his death.

"I beg your lordship, and that of the Lord Jesus, that if I am to remain here through the winter, you will request the commissary to have the kindness to send me, from the goods of mine which he has, a warmer cap; for I suffer greatly from cold in the head, and am afflicted by a perpetual catarrh (a respiratory infection), which is much increased in this cell; a warmer coat also, for this which I have is very thin; a piece of cloth too to patch my leggings. My overcoat is worn out; my shirts are also worn out. He has a woolen shirt, if he will be good enough to send it. I have also with him leggings of thicker cloth to put on above; he has also warmer night-caps. And I ask to be allowed to have a lamp in the evening; it is indeed wearisome sitting alone in the dark. But most of all I beg and beseech your clemency to be urgent with the commissary, that he will kindly permit me to have the Hebrew Bible, Hebrew grammar, and Hebrew dictionary, that I may pass the time in that study. In return may you obtain what you most desire, so only that it be for the salvation of your soul. But if any other decision has been taken concerning me, to be carried out before winter, I will be patient, abiding the will of God, to the glory of the grace of my Lord Jesus Christ: whose spirit (I pray) may ever direct your heart. Amen. W. Tindalus"

Wow.... "MOST of all" in that cold long suffering painful place, "I beg and beseech" a Hebrew Bible?! God's word is awesome. Thank you William Tyndale, for your example and passion for the Word of God.

Summer Lists

Obviously, I have some MAJOR Writer's Block. Therefore... instead of writing, I've compiled a summer to do list while I'm back in Las Vegas this entire summer.

Summer To Do List (In no particular order)
1) Midnight Bowling @ the Orleans for $1 a game
2) After Midnight Steak & Eggs @ the Orleans for $4
3) Bellagio Water Show
4) Ice Skate
5) Mini-golf
6) Golf driving range
7) Basketball
8) Eat a Dinner Buffet at the Bellagio OR Wynn (for the price of lunch)
9) Mandalay Bay Shark Reef
10) Drive to Red Rock Canyon (I live close), Hike, and Star Gaze
11) Make a difference in someone's life
12) Find a summer job

Possibly To Do List
1) Watch The Lion King Live at the Mandalay Bay

Things Already Done
1) Eat a live shrimp
2) Eat a live lobster
3) Watch Dragonball -... don't do it... its pretty bad...

Summer Reading List
1) Finish the Bible
2) Finish All Things for Good - Thomas Watson
3) Finish Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life - Donald S. Whitney
4) Doctrine of Repentance - Thomas Watson
5) Soul Winner - Charles Spurgeon
6) Crazy Love - Francis Chan
7) The Sinfulness of Sin - Ralph Venning
8) Prayer - John Bunyun
9) The Bruised Reed - Richard Sibbes
10) Mere Christianity - C.S. Lewis

Shine like the Stars

Exactly a week ago on Wednesday, I was lucky enough to go to a planetarium here on the UCLA campus. I was excited out of mind! Ever since I was a boy, it was something that caught my eyes. There were only a few stars to be seen in the Sin-City lights of Las Vegas where I grew up, but still you could always see some and that's what you could always count on.
At the planetarium, as we sat down in the dome shaped room with the dome shaped ceiling, the lights darkened as "the sun went down." We were shown the star-view of the Los Angeles night sky. I sat there in awe thinking, Beautiful!
Then the observatory lights slowly got darker and darker and more and more stars started to be revealed - a massive amount of them! Stars that I have never ever seen in real life appeared abundantly. Stars that I had seen were brighter than ever and some were twinkling like diamonds in the dark sky. Majestic! This is way crazier than the Los Angeles star sky I saw just moments ago!
How could I not give glory to God in this planetarium?! After seeing the amazing stars, how could I not give praise? The stars resonated with God's glory and it could not be hidden. And you know what's crazier?! It got more and more majestic as it got darker and darker and darker. At its darkest, it was the most gloriest.
"At the darkest of nights the stars shine brightest."

Christian, are you going through a tough time? Finals? Midterms (for all y'all UCLA folks)? Financial issues? Family? Relationships? Is your schedule so packed that you lose much sleep? Are you being persecuted for your faith? Injured? Depressed? Struggling with sin?
I could go on and on, and so could you. Life is tough and that's no lie. But I just wanted to say - Keep On Fighting. Don't Give Up. There is purpose in all things, even sufferings. Suffering WILL come. But be strong - when you're going through the toughest darkest of times, your life will glorify God and shine His light all the more. Like the stars shine brighter and brighter as it gets darker and darker, so your life will shine Christ brighter as you stick firm in your faith trusting in Him completely through your darkest times.
Are you ready, Christian? Get back up - now is the time to lead, to rejoice, to glorify. Now is the time to be such as the stars that so clearly shine and twinkle when nothing but blackness surrounds it. Get up. Christ is your Lord and He gives strength to the weary.