In the last post we examined three characteristics of Predestination and the logical conclusions that one can draw from them.
In this post I will examine these three characteristics from the perspective of God possessing foreknowledge of contingent future actions.
in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting people’s trespasses against them (2 Cor 5:19 NET)
Christianity rests on the essential truth that Jesus came, suffered, died, was buried, and rose on the third day. But why did Jesus have to die on the cross? Richard Watson (1781-1833) tackles that question in chapter 20 of the 2nd Volume of his Theological Institutes.
The first thing which strikes every attentive, and, indeed, every cursory reader of the New Testament, must be, that the pardon of our sin, and our entire salvation, is ascribed to the death of Christ. … our salvation is expressly and emphatically connected with that event. … Continue reading
Richard Watson (1781-1833) was an Arminian theologican. In chapter 27 of his Theological Institutes he examines several passages in Scripture that are commonly used to support unconditional election.
Unconditional election asserts that God, before the foundation of the world, made an unchangeable decree in which He chose ‘a set number of people’ out of the entire human race to receive eternal life. These elect, and only these, are given the necessary and irresistible grace that enables the person to believe.
Watson disagreed with this, asserting that the election of individuals to salvation was based on foreseen faith and the unchangeable decree that God would save, through the blood of Christ, whosoever should believe. Continue reading
Dead Heroes Don't Save 