How those folks got all the way from Jesus to Predestination is beyond me
Fairly simple line of reasoning, really. If God is omniscient, then of course he (since we speak of Presbyterians I adopt the masculine pronoun, though I am less convinced than they) knows what we will do before we do it, even before we are born. Thus he already knows, and has no need to observe our lives to decide. If that is the case, one wonders why he doesn't just scrap the whole project and put everyone where they belong. A degree of sadism might easily be suspected.
If one adopts the more interesting view that there is a degree of free will involved, then the whole argument of works vs. faith becomes quite irrelevant in my mind. Are not works the measure of faith? Who believes, the one who shouts "praise the lord" 5 times daily, or the one who obeys the commandments?
Faith cannot exist in the absence of works (except in extreme cases where the individual is utterly powerless: a paralytic, for example). Protestations of faith, without works, must be considered fakery. Works can, however, exist in the absence of faith, and often do. Where this fits in the Christian calculus I do not know, not being a Christian. Perhaps one who is will enlighten me. |
