The Highway Forums General Discussion Theology Discussion Forum God's Sovereignty

Sorry, not sure about what you are trying to convey here? <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/scratch1.gif" alt="" /> That God created man "imago dei", aka: in His own image is a sure thing. That Adam was given a mandate to govern (care) for the creation as he knew it before the Fall is also true. How that fits in with the issue of comprehending the relationship between God's sovereignty and man's responsibility is where I seem to have a problem. Sorry, but in your last sentence I again find myself grasping at what you are trying to say. That God does not, indeed cannot force the will of a human being without transgressing the very nature of man is something I hold to be absolutely indisputable. However, the will (choices) of man are always determined by a predisposition to either good or evil. The "unknown" of this is in regard to that of Adam and Eve who doubtless were created with a predisposition to love God and do all that was good. How then they managed to do otherwise by transgressing the explicit prohibition of God is something no one can answer, at least this side of glory... and I believe perhaps never will. Fallen man, however, is totally predisposed to loving and doing evil, aka: corruption of nature, total depravity. Redeemed man is given a "new birth", i.e., regenerated whereby that holy disposition which was lost in the Fall is recreated in the soul yet the corrupt nature still exists albeit in part. And lastly, glorified man will not only have the original holy disposition brought to full fruition and the old nature totally eradicated, but that holy disposition will be unassailable; unlike the case with Adam and Eve.

And that is exactly the antinomy which we all wrestle with. <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/giggle.gif" alt="" />

The text(s) which you refer to and others of similar kind must be understood by the larger known truth, i.e., the chasm which exists between the Creator and the creature, aka: God's transcendence. Glorified man will be just that.. a man who has been brought to perfection but still as a finite created being. Man will know himself truly as God knows man truly, i.e., without deception, in part, etc. But man's knowledge, even of himself will never be exhaustive. God alone is Omniscient.

I have often wondered if those in glory will even have a desire to ask questions about those things which perplexed them while on earth. Such things may not even be of interest. Even what are now the essentials of life, e.g., the need to nourish our bodies with food, sleep to regain strength, etc., will be no more. Perhaps the saints will be in a perpetual state of "awe" and thus have no need or desire to question God about what might be nothing but trivial matters. <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

In His grace,