Dear readers, this is a letter to my children. However I thought that making it public may benefit some that perhaps have faced the same questions at some point. Here it is.
My dear child,
Since day one, when we first open our lives to treasure God above everything else and start our pilgrimage towards that special heavenly home, questions will be knocking on our doors. Some questions will be perplexing; others discouraging, yet others may even feel hurtful. Whichever the nature of questions or doubts you have, I want you to remember that we can always ask God. He wants us to ask him. Otherwise He would not have left the Holy Spirit to teach us all things. (See John 14:26)*. When we humbly approach God for answers, He actually uses them to strengthen our faith and make our experience with Him the more enjoyable and our lives for His sake even the more fruitful. Picture a father that sits down with his son to teach him with undivided attention and zealous devotion. This is how God likes to teach us. And everything, including the stuff that makes both the questions and the answers has its origins in Him. (Colossians 2:2-3)*. So rest assured that you will get more than you ask for, in God, you will always get not the answer that you’re looking for, but the answer that you really need.
So with this in mind, let me share with you, one of my current quests on documenting some of my personal understanding regarding the age old debate on whether God chooses us to be his children, or we choose Him. Many call this debate the debate between “Predestination” vs “Free Will” or “The Calvinistic Debate".
Some questions like: “Why should I bother preaching the gospel if people are going to come to God if He wills anyway?” or, “Why should we make people accountable for their sin, if God doesn’t predestine everyone to go to heaven?”, or "why does God choose to withhold His truth from some people?", or “Why did God allow evil anyway?” steam from this debate. And that’s why I think that every Christian should tackle these questions at some point of their pilgrimage.
I want you to know that being on either side of this debate doesn’t affect your salvation, you can be confident on your faith if you are standing on either side. However, a clearer understanding on this issue will definitely embolden your faith, especially when facing life trails.
Finally, I want you to remember that I am
not theologian, but just a honest believer wanting to know and experience God.
I will never get to all there is out there to read by doctors and theologians
on the subject. I just need to get
enough answers trusting that God in His grace will provide them. After all he said that if we lack wisdom, we can confidently ask Him. (James 1:5). However, I hope that some of my
findings, or even more, some of my questions, encourage you to dig deeper,
bring your own questions, and even your own doubts to a God who is eager to teach you. He
really is.
To be continued..
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