Saturday, January 17, 2009

Plantinga Ch. 3

The first thing in this chapter that I felt Plantinga emphasized was that sin has become a habit in all men.  I think it is more than that. Plantinga also mentioned “near-compulsion”, I think, rather it should be just compulsion.  There is nothing near about it, we are drawn right in sin when we are conceived, as Plantinga pointed out, we are  “ ‘concieved and born in sin’ ”.

Plantinga says that sin interferes with “the way God wants things to be.”  I disagree with plantinga on this. I believe in predestination; I believe that everything is as God wants it to be.  Everything now is as it should be according to God’s plan, and there is nothing that can interfere with it, not sin, not even the devil.  All things now work to aid the church, and bring about the glorious return of Christ, which will signal the end of this world, and the creation of the new world.  We all know that the Anti-Christ is to come before our actual Savior.  This means that we will see an increasing wickedness and sin in this world until only a small remnant of God’s children remain.  Persecution will be at its worst, according to the God’s eternal plan, when our Savior will descend from heaven as a thief in the night, to save His children. 

Once again, Plantinga brings up common grace.  I still completely disagree with the doctrine of common grace because there are so many proofs in the Bible that speak against it.  Romans 8:6-8 says, "For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: For it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God." If this verse is not enough go to Psalm 4:3, “ They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: There is none that doeth good no not one.”  Another thing that must be remembered is that we ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and that that day all humanity became totally dead in sin.

1 comment:

  1. Dear Ross,

    Thanks so much for your sincere comments! It is much appreciated.
    In thinking on the isues, could I state that the problematic of Plantinga’s ‘common grace’ and ‘total depravity’ will only be solved when we are finally in front of God’s throne. I will quote Rev. Schalkwijk for this:
    "For although not each individual person will be saved, this does not mean that the blood of Christ would be partially lost, because the death of Lamb for the world affected indeed that whole world. Our world as a whole was rescued from the evil one and will be transformed into a New World, where justice and peace will reign (2Pet 3.13). The final restoration of creation may delay a little, and is waiting for the revelation of the sons of God (Rom 8.19-21); but its time will come, because God is faithful (1Cor 1.9). Meanwhile we are able to perceive that, praise God, that precious blood has also a broader meaning, as if it were a general application, as the basis for a “common grace”, by which He allows this world to continue and puts a control upon the outgrowths of evil (Col 1.20). ‘Common grace’ does not take away the guilt of sin, but contains and subdues its devastating results (Berkhof, Dogmatics, p435). Christ is the mediator of creation and of reconciliation, that is, of the universe and of the church (Rom 8.19; Col 1.16,20). The central ray of the “Light of the world” penetrates the blackness as a powerful beam (John 1.9), around which shines a diffuse light. If this were not so, how terrible would it be in this dark world!! It is still time for salvation."
    Furthermore, I (Adriana) believe that if a bandit was not able to feel love for anyone, and as such, would not be able to understand the concept, I could never be able to reach his heart. It also answers an age old question I always had on an Old Testament comment of Javeh "I will send my terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn their backs and run. I will send the hornet ahead of you to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way. But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you. Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land (Exodus 23:27-30).
    Common Grace as such is a protection to us from 'too many wild animals' I.e. too much violence and disruption of peace... It is a protection and an outreach... What wisdom! What Grace!
    May I also suggest that we, sometimes even theologians forget the ‘Eternity’ aspect of the ‘creation, fall and redemption’ triangle? Such as the comment ‘Evil is any deviation from the way God want things to be’ could have been “Evil is a deviation of what God wanted to be, but it was a choice that He made when He, our Creator, handed us the possibility of ‘Free Will’. He wanted us more than robots. However, God, in His Almighty, Omnipresent, and Omniscient Power already had an answer for the problem, much before He added that possibility: “Jesus death on the Cross for our sins for Eternal Redemption”… So, it is never ‘out of His control’. God sees things from Eternity; He is not bound to time and space… He is the Alpha and the Omega... Only from Eternity will we see fully!

    God Bless,
    Adriana & Paulo

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