Here is the post from the other blog:
God's Sovereignty
This has been on my heart alot lately. I've been reading blogs that make statements over and over that they don't know why God allows this or that. This is a misunderstanding of God's sovereignty. Is God sovereign? Absolutely. Does mainstream Christianity misunderstand His sovereignty? Absolutely. It breaks my heart to hear God indirectly blamed for "allowing" things that happen to happen. He does not. It is not His will for a baby to die. It's not His will for bad things to happen. Tornadoes are not His will. Tsunamis are not His will. Things are not His will simply because they happen. It makes me so sad when people think that a person is put through horrible things so that they can learn something, or so that somebody else can learn something. Would you make something horrible happen to your child just so they could learn something? Absolutely not. God is no child abuser either.
Being sovereign means to have supreme rank or authority. Yes, God is sovereign. But being in supreme rank or authority does not mean that you are in control of everything. Does anything happen that God does not know happens? Absolutely not. He knows all. Just because He knows something happens does not mean He caused it by allowing it. Does it happen outside of His will? Lots of things do. The Bible clearly states that it is His will that none should perish, but all should be brought to repentance. We know this does not always happen, so in following this line of thinking - not all things that are God's will happen.
I used to struggle with this. And struggle. And stuggle. I was taught that because God is "sovereign", and nothing happens that He doesn't know, inadvertantly, His will is always played out. It is such a hard concept to grasp when most people are filled to overflowing with bad doctrine. I was there. I know how hard it is to renew your mind in mainstream churches.
We live in a fallen world. Some things just happen because of that. We also have an enemy who is here to steal, kill and destroy. Some things happen because of that. We live in ignorance. Some things happen because of that. We are responsible for so much more than we really know. We have authority over so much more than we understand.
When God placed man in the Garden, He gave man authority over the Earth. He never retracted that authority. God is sovereign, yes, but man has been given the authority to subdue the Earth. When man was deceived and sinned, he gave satan a right to some of that authority. When Jesus rose from the grave, He took back all authority in Heaven and Earth. When Jesus left the Earth, He gave that authority back to those who are in Him. By the power of the Holy Spirit, we are restored to our authority, but only in Christ.
Being sovereign means to have supreme rank or authority. Yes, God is sovereign. But being in supreme rank or authority does not mean that you are in control of everything. Does anything happen that God does not know happens? Absolutely not. He knows all. Just because He knows something happens does not mean He caused it by allowing it. Does it happen outside of His will? Lots of things do. The Bible clearly states that it is His will that none should perish, but all should be brought to repentance. We know this does not always happen, so in following this line of thinking - not all things that are God's will happen.
I used to struggle with this. And struggle. And stuggle. I was taught that because God is "sovereign", and nothing happens that He doesn't know, inadvertantly, His will is always played out. It is such a hard concept to grasp when most people are filled to overflowing with bad doctrine. I was there. I know how hard it is to renew your mind in mainstream churches.
We live in a fallen world. Some things just happen because of that. We also have an enemy who is here to steal, kill and destroy. Some things happen because of that. We live in ignorance. Some things happen because of that. We are responsible for so much more than we really know. We have authority over so much more than we understand.
When God placed man in the Garden, He gave man authority over the Earth. He never retracted that authority. God is sovereign, yes, but man has been given the authority to subdue the Earth. When man was deceived and sinned, he gave satan a right to some of that authority. When Jesus rose from the grave, He took back all authority in Heaven and Earth. When Jesus left the Earth, He gave that authority back to those who are in Him. By the power of the Holy Spirit, we are restored to our authority, but only in Christ.
Here is the email that was sent questioning:
Your blog
Katie, I just read your blog. You worded it well. I just have a few questiond for you? What verses in the Bible did you see that determined your thoughts?
Consider this verse, God has absolute rule over creation as King and total control and determination over all that happens.
“His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation; all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, ‘What have you done?’” (Dan. 4:34–35) Also look into these verses, 1 Kings 12:15; 1 Chron. 29:11–13; Ps. 22:28; 24:1; 47:7–9; 103:19; Prov. 16:19, 21, 33; Dan. 4:25; 7:1–28; 12:1–13; Matt. 6:13; 10:29; Acts 17:26; Eph. 1:11; 1 Tim. 6:15; James 1:13–15.
Keep digging into the Word Katie. Keep up the good work!
Kevin
Consider this verse, God has absolute rule over creation as King and total control and determination over all that happens.
“His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation; all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, ‘What have you done?’” (Dan. 4:34–35) Also look into these verses, 1 Kings 12:15; 1 Chron. 29:11–13; Ps. 22:28; 24:1; 47:7–9; 103:19; Prov. 16:19, 21, 33; Dan. 4:25; 7:1–28; 12:1–13; Matt. 6:13; 10:29; Acts 17:26; Eph. 1:11; 1 Tim. 6:15; James 1:13–15.
Keep digging into the Word Katie. Keep up the good work!
Kevin
Here is my response email:
Hey, Kevin!
How are you guys? I haven't gotten to talk to Mary in forever. I just see FB updates and such. Your girls are beautiful, as always.
I'm not avoiding your question, I just don't have time right now to dig everything out and go verse by verse. Something to think about, though...and I'm not the most articulate, but I'm trying.
Please see my heart, we are brethren. We agree on the most important doctrine, and that is Jesus - who He is, why He came and the circumstances around that. Everything else is up for discussion, but not Jesus. Because of Him, we can discuss, as family, things like this. :-)
When we read scripture, it is imperative to consider who wrote it, under what circumstances, and when. Many men in the Old Testament, when writing the books, did not have the amount of revelation that we can have now through the Holy Spirit. You can actually see, through time, that the amount of revelation grew progressively. Job did not have near the revelation that David did. Both spoke of God's nature, but neither could have the grasp that you or I can have through the Holy Spirit. The writers of the Old Testament's personalities came through in their writings, just like ours do. We, of course, have seen the full revelation of who God is in Jesus. He, Himself said that He only did what He saw the Father do. We can go straight to Him to see the TRUE nature of God.
Please, please, please don't think I'm downing or disrespecting the Old Testament. I'm certainly not! All scripture is given to us for learning and reproof. We are to learn from it all. Every bit of it is holy and God-breathed, but not every single bit of it describes God's nature.
I grew up thinking that when somebody became sick, say with cancer or something and God didn't heal them, that it must have been God's will for that person to have cancer. This is so very wrong. It's the same with natural disasters. I always thought that ultimately they were God's judgement or will for them to happen because if they weren't, why didn't he stop them? I thought everything that happened was His will simply by process of elmination. He must have wanted it or He would have stopped it and it wouldn't have happened. This is also wrong.
When we look to the example of Jesus - we can see that God does not allow sickness on anybody. Jesus healed all who He came into contact with, with the exception of those who had unbelief (as in the examples of people in His hometown where He could not - and that's a key - He could not - it was His will to heal, but He could not because of their unbelief). There is not one case recorded of Jesus ever putting any sickness or disease on anybody. So why would I ever think it's God's will for somebody to be sick in any instance? Just because it happens, doesn't mean it's God's will. Looking at Jesus and His life and what's recorded in the Gospels as to why He couldn't heal some people (their unbelief) - it would require us to ask why all can't be healed today if it's God's will for all to be. Unbelief. Which opens a new can of worm...
What about the people who we know have faith? Why aren't they healed if it's God's will to heal all and all aren't? When Jesus came down from the mount of transfiguration, He was brought the man with the boy who the disciples couldn't heal. He didn't deal directly with the boy immediately. He dealt with the boy's father. It was their unbelief that was cited as the problem. The man said that he believed, but he needed Jesus to help his unbelief. Jesus didn't correct him and tell him that he couldn't have belief and unbelief at the same time. Faith and unbelief are two separate things and they can exist in the same person at the same time.
It's like having a cart that you are trying to get somewhere. The cart is the healing in this case. You can have a horse (faith) tied to one side and if you get him to pull it, the cart will move. But if you hook another horse to the directly opposite side of the cart (unbelief) and have both pulling at the same time, your cart's going nowhere. Jesus told him that this kind came out by prayer and fasting. Jesus was talking about the unbelief coming out, not the demon. There is not a demon out there who is not subject to Jesus' name. His name is higher than all. He couldn't have been talking about the demon coming out by prayer and fasting. The only thing that's affected by prayer and fasting is our sensitivity to God. When Jesus was saying to fast and pray, He was saying to starve our unbelief. He was giving them a tool to tip the scales toward the side of belief.
I had a very hard time with this because it seems that it puts so much responsability on us. It does. Jesus never sugar-coated things to His disciples. He rebuked them for their unbelief so many times. He made a big deal about it. When He left, He left them with instructions to make disciples. He empowered them with the Holy Spirit. He said it would be better that He went to the Father. He gave us the tools to overcome the unbelief and do the works that He did, and greater. He gave us the authority to do everything He did - heal the sick, raise the dead, give sight to the blind, set the captives free. Everything. And it is our responsability.
I don't understand it all for sure. I am growing every day in revelation of the nature of God and my relationship with Him. I hope you can see my heart in typing all of this out. I know it's not all-inclusive and it doesn't even scratch the surface of all that I want to be able to say to explain.
As for the natural disasters. I mentioned before that I always thought of these as judgment and ultimately God's will. That's not true either. God poured out all His wrath on Jesus for ALL sins - past, present and future. He's not up there passing judgment anymore at all. God doesn't even get in a bad mood anymore. Hebrews says that Jesus was the propitiation for all sin for all time. He sat down at the right hand of the Father because it was ALL paid for. He paid for ALL the sins of the world - even the ones that the people don't repent over. The only sin at all that sends anybody to hell is not accepting Christ. Every other sin (even of the unbeliever) is paid for. So, He cannot send natural disasters as judgment without saying to Jesus that Jesus didn't do enough.
There are so many things that happen in this world just because it's a fallen place. It has degenerated since the fall of man, and at a steady pace. I believe we'll see an acceleration of these as we approach the end times as we are living in the last days.
I hope that gives you something to think about.
Love you guys,
Katie
How are you guys? I haven't gotten to talk to Mary in forever. I just see FB updates and such. Your girls are beautiful, as always.
I'm not avoiding your question, I just don't have time right now to dig everything out and go verse by verse. Something to think about, though...and I'm not the most articulate, but I'm trying.
Please see my heart, we are brethren. We agree on the most important doctrine, and that is Jesus - who He is, why He came and the circumstances around that. Everything else is up for discussion, but not Jesus. Because of Him, we can discuss, as family, things like this. :-)
When we read scripture, it is imperative to consider who wrote it, under what circumstances, and when. Many men in the Old Testament, when writing the books, did not have the amount of revelation that we can have now through the Holy Spirit. You can actually see, through time, that the amount of revelation grew progressively. Job did not have near the revelation that David did. Both spoke of God's nature, but neither could have the grasp that you or I can have through the Holy Spirit. The writers of the Old Testament's personalities came through in their writings, just like ours do. We, of course, have seen the full revelation of who God is in Jesus. He, Himself said that He only did what He saw the Father do. We can go straight to Him to see the TRUE nature of God.
Please, please, please don't think I'm downing or disrespecting the Old Testament. I'm certainly not! All scripture is given to us for learning and reproof. We are to learn from it all. Every bit of it is holy and God-breathed, but not every single bit of it describes God's nature.
I grew up thinking that when somebody became sick, say with cancer or something and God didn't heal them, that it must have been God's will for that person to have cancer. This is so very wrong. It's the same with natural disasters. I always thought that ultimately they were God's judgement or will for them to happen because if they weren't, why didn't he stop them? I thought everything that happened was His will simply by process of elmination. He must have wanted it or He would have stopped it and it wouldn't have happened. This is also wrong.
When we look to the example of Jesus - we can see that God does not allow sickness on anybody. Jesus healed all who He came into contact with, with the exception of those who had unbelief (as in the examples of people in His hometown where He could not - and that's a key - He could not - it was His will to heal, but He could not because of their unbelief). There is not one case recorded of Jesus ever putting any sickness or disease on anybody. So why would I ever think it's God's will for somebody to be sick in any instance? Just because it happens, doesn't mean it's God's will. Looking at Jesus and His life and what's recorded in the Gospels as to why He couldn't heal some people (their unbelief) - it would require us to ask why all can't be healed today if it's God's will for all to be. Unbelief. Which opens a new can of worm...
What about the people who we know have faith? Why aren't they healed if it's God's will to heal all and all aren't? When Jesus came down from the mount of transfiguration, He was brought the man with the boy who the disciples couldn't heal. He didn't deal directly with the boy immediately. He dealt with the boy's father. It was their unbelief that was cited as the problem. The man said that he believed, but he needed Jesus to help his unbelief. Jesus didn't correct him and tell him that he couldn't have belief and unbelief at the same time. Faith and unbelief are two separate things and they can exist in the same person at the same time.
It's like having a cart that you are trying to get somewhere. The cart is the healing in this case. You can have a horse (faith) tied to one side and if you get him to pull it, the cart will move. But if you hook another horse to the directly opposite side of the cart (unbelief) and have both pulling at the same time, your cart's going nowhere. Jesus told him that this kind came out by prayer and fasting. Jesus was talking about the unbelief coming out, not the demon. There is not a demon out there who is not subject to Jesus' name. His name is higher than all. He couldn't have been talking about the demon coming out by prayer and fasting. The only thing that's affected by prayer and fasting is our sensitivity to God. When Jesus was saying to fast and pray, He was saying to starve our unbelief. He was giving them a tool to tip the scales toward the side of belief.
I had a very hard time with this because it seems that it puts so much responsability on us. It does. Jesus never sugar-coated things to His disciples. He rebuked them for their unbelief so many times. He made a big deal about it. When He left, He left them with instructions to make disciples. He empowered them with the Holy Spirit. He said it would be better that He went to the Father. He gave us the tools to overcome the unbelief and do the works that He did, and greater. He gave us the authority to do everything He did - heal the sick, raise the dead, give sight to the blind, set the captives free. Everything. And it is our responsability.
I don't understand it all for sure. I am growing every day in revelation of the nature of God and my relationship with Him. I hope you can see my heart in typing all of this out. I know it's not all-inclusive and it doesn't even scratch the surface of all that I want to be able to say to explain.
As for the natural disasters. I mentioned before that I always thought of these as judgment and ultimately God's will. That's not true either. God poured out all His wrath on Jesus for ALL sins - past, present and future. He's not up there passing judgment anymore at all. God doesn't even get in a bad mood anymore. Hebrews says that Jesus was the propitiation for all sin for all time. He sat down at the right hand of the Father because it was ALL paid for. He paid for ALL the sins of the world - even the ones that the people don't repent over. The only sin at all that sends anybody to hell is not accepting Christ. Every other sin (even of the unbeliever) is paid for. So, He cannot send natural disasters as judgment without saying to Jesus that Jesus didn't do enough.
There are so many things that happen in this world just because it's a fallen place. It has degenerated since the fall of man, and at a steady pace. I believe we'll see an acceleration of these as we approach the end times as we are living in the last days.
I hope that gives you something to think about.
Love you guys,
Katie
