by jimwalton » Fri Nov 18, 2022 7:49 pm
Free will that isn't free can't be free will. If one can't just as freely choose outright rudeness or polite agreement, then free will is a delusion. As Francis Schaeffer writes, "God, being non-determined, created man as a non-determined person. ... To ask that man should have been made so that he was not able to revolt is to ask that God's creation should have ceased after He created plants and animals. It is to ask that man should be reduced to machine programming. It is to ask that man should not exist."
> since the Bible has shown God to be someone who isn't really tolerate of a lot of things
Actually, the Bible shows quite the opposite. I'll just name a few
- When Cain sins, God doesn't kill him but actually protects him (Gn. 4.10-16)
- When Lamech is over-the-top violent, God reserves his judgment for the afterlife. He does nothing to stop him (Gn. 4.23-24).
- When Noah sins, God doesn't reject or spurn him (Gn. 9)
- God scatters the Tower of Babel offenders; He doesn't destroy them (Gn. 11.7-9)
- God tolerates all kinds of misbehavior from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and yet remains faithful to them and the covenant He initiated (Gn. 12-36), insisting instead on teaching them rather than judging them.
This is just some of what's in Genesis. If we keep going through the Bible, the list of God's tolerance gets REALLLLLLLLY long.
> yet he doesn't mind those slandering his name?
He DOES mind those slandering His name (Ex. 20.7). Blasphemy is one of the worst offenses in the Bible. Judgment is reserved for the afterlife, however; God often does not bring it to bear in this life. The Bible is clear that's not how life works.
Free will that isn't free can't be free will. If one can't just as freely choose outright rudeness or polite agreement, then free will is a delusion. As Francis Schaeffer writes, "God, being non-determined, created man as a non-determined person. ... To ask that man should have been made so that he was not able to revolt is to ask that God's creation should have ceased after He created plants and animals. It is to ask that man should be reduced to machine programming. It is to ask that man should not exist."
> since the Bible has shown God to be someone who isn't really tolerate of a lot of things
Actually, the Bible shows quite the opposite. I'll just name a few
[list][*] When Cain sins, God doesn't kill him but actually protects him (Gn. 4.10-16)
[*] When Lamech is over-the-top violent, God reserves his judgment for the afterlife. He does nothing to stop him (Gn. 4.23-24).
[*] When Noah sins, God doesn't reject or spurn him (Gn. 9)
[*] God scatters the Tower of Babel offenders; He doesn't destroy them (Gn. 11.7-9)
[*] God tolerates all kinds of misbehavior from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and yet remains faithful to them and the covenant He initiated (Gn. 12-36), insisting instead on teaching them rather than judging them.[/list]
This is just some of what's in Genesis. If we keep going through the Bible, the list of God's tolerance gets REALLLLLLLLY long.
> yet he doesn't mind those slandering his name?
He DOES mind those slandering His name (Ex. 20.7). Blasphemy is one of the worst offenses in the Bible. Judgment is reserved for the afterlife, however; God often does not bring it to bear in this life. The Bible is clear that's not how life works.