Campo Del Moro, Madrid (photo from trekearth.com)
My future theology school?
1. A few comparisons
Religious and military attitudes make for interesting cultural discussion.
Religious
These sort of recent statistics are not surprising.
World military spending
Notice how Canada is more peaceful than America. At least according to the cited site.
Sure I would like to live in a more ideal world without the military. In that regard I can relate to my Mennonite friends (I attended a Mennonite Bible School for my BA). But, I am thankful that the military spending of the United States and the United Kingdom, for now anyway, contributes to my personal freedom to state my mind relatively freely on Blogger and Facebook.
Religious
These sort of recent statistics are not surprising.
World military spending
Notice how Canada is more peaceful than America. At least according to the cited site.
Sure I would like to live in a more ideal world without the military. In that regard I can relate to my Mennonite friends (I attended a Mennonite Bible School for my BA). But, I am thankful that the military spending of the United States and the United Kingdom, for now anyway, contributes to my personal freedom to state my mind relatively freely on Blogger and Facebook.
2. Some philosophical theology from a guy that tries to do it.
Got Questions
Got questions.org summarizes their work using writings from incompatibilist Norman Geisler and compatibilist James White.
'Infralapsarianism puts God’s decrees in the following order: (1) God decreed the creation of mankind, (2) God decreed mankind would be allowed to fall into sin through its own self-determination, (3) God decreed to save some of the fallen, and (4) God decreed to provide Jesus Christ as the Redeemer. Infralapsarianism focuses on God allowing the fall and providing salvation.
Sublapsarianism is very similar to infralapsarianism, putting God’s decrees in the following order: (1) God decreed to create human beings, (2) God decreed to permit the fall, (3) God decreed to provide salvation sufficient to all, and (4) God decreed to choose some to receive this salvation. The only difference between infralapsarianism and sublapsarianism is whether God decreed to provide salvation through Jesus Christ and then decreed to choose some to be saved, or vice-versa.
Supralapsarianism puts God’s decrees in the following order: (1) God decreed the election of some and the eternal condemnation of others, (2) God decreed to create those elected and eternally condemned, (3) God decreed to permit the fall, and (4) God decreed to provide salvation for the elect through Jesus Christ. Supralapsarianism focuses on God ordaining the fall, creating certain people for the sole purpose of being condemned, and then providing salvation for only those whom He had elected.'
Unlike the website, I would theologically lean more toward the concepts of supralapsarianism, BUT, I have serious problems with putting God's eternal decrees within time.
I stated in the comments of the Thoughts and Theology blog of Jeff Jenkins in links:
Yes in a timeless state, and not in any type of linear time where there would be the problem of vicious regress as in if God always had an eternal relationship in time past God would never arrive at the present. There is a similar problem faced by those that postulate that the universe and time is eternal and by those that reason there is a eternal regression of gods, as in a god causes a god and there is no first god, or a choice causes a choice with there never being a first choice and nature as cause.
God simply is and is simply relational.
God did not have to reason out in time in eternity what to do but simply knew as a relational infinite being.
I do not pretend to completely comprehend it but too many evangelicals fall into the trap of putting God in a vicious regress.
As well, when I read of God's decrees in Calvinism, one must be careful not to state that in eternity God decreed one thing in time before another. No, God willed all things as God in eternity, as he is, they did not take place in the mind of God in time, although he can will that they take place in time in our reality.
_05.jpg)
Anyone willing to take a class from me here while sitting on the grass?
Got Questions
Got questions.org summarizes their work using writings from incompatibilist Norman Geisler and compatibilist James White.
'Infralapsarianism puts God’s decrees in the following order: (1) God decreed the creation of mankind, (2) God decreed mankind would be allowed to fall into sin through its own self-determination, (3) God decreed to save some of the fallen, and (4) God decreed to provide Jesus Christ as the Redeemer. Infralapsarianism focuses on God allowing the fall and providing salvation.
Sublapsarianism is very similar to infralapsarianism, putting God’s decrees in the following order: (1) God decreed to create human beings, (2) God decreed to permit the fall, (3) God decreed to provide salvation sufficient to all, and (4) God decreed to choose some to receive this salvation. The only difference between infralapsarianism and sublapsarianism is whether God decreed to provide salvation through Jesus Christ and then decreed to choose some to be saved, or vice-versa.
Supralapsarianism puts God’s decrees in the following order: (1) God decreed the election of some and the eternal condemnation of others, (2) God decreed to create those elected and eternally condemned, (3) God decreed to permit the fall, and (4) God decreed to provide salvation for the elect through Jesus Christ. Supralapsarianism focuses on God ordaining the fall, creating certain people for the sole purpose of being condemned, and then providing salvation for only those whom He had elected.'
Unlike the website, I would theologically lean more toward the concepts of supralapsarianism, BUT, I have serious problems with putting God's eternal decrees within time.
I stated in the comments of the Thoughts and Theology blog of Jeff Jenkins in links:
Yes in a timeless state, and not in any type of linear time where there would be the problem of vicious regress as in if God always had an eternal relationship in time past God would never arrive at the present. There is a similar problem faced by those that postulate that the universe and time is eternal and by those that reason there is a eternal regression of gods, as in a god causes a god and there is no first god, or a choice causes a choice with there never being a first choice and nature as cause.
God simply is and is simply relational.
God did not have to reason out in time in eternity what to do but simply knew as a relational infinite being.
I do not pretend to completely comprehend it but too many evangelicals fall into the trap of putting God in a vicious regress.
As well, when I read of God's decrees in Calvinism, one must be careful not to state that in eternity God decreed one thing in time before another. No, God willed all things as God in eternity, as he is, they did not take place in the mind of God in time, although he can will that they take place in time in our reality.
_05.jpg)
Anyone willing to take a class from me here while sitting on the grass?
I do support strong security measures in airports.
Now, my Mom can really relate to this one.
With our last trip to AZ (also via NV, UT) one pilot from Dallas in the cue just shook is head as the security people literally had to hold Mom up to perform the checks on her. He stated to me along the lines that it was ridiculous to put her through that procedure. Well stated.
