Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that yaer, spoke up, "You know nothing at all! You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish."
He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus wo0uld die for the Jewish nation, an not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together an dmake them one. So from that day on they plotted to take his life.
John 11:49-53. I find it very interesting that even the Pharisees were, in effect, doing God's will. We benefit from knowing the end of the story here. As John recites his story, it becomes clear that God is working through the actions of those who didn't believe that Jesus was Christ. In fact, those actions condemning Jesus to death truly made Jesus our savior, since without the sacrifice we would not be forgiven for our sins. I find this a very interesting example of how God works in the world, bringing to fruition plans that would give birth to the Christian Church by utilizing the actions of the Pharisees.
The part of this that really bakes my noodle, though, is whether our sin can be part of God's plan, and whether these actions should rightly be called sin if they carry out the will of God. That distinction is no doubt for another, far longer, and more confusing post.
3 comments:
Yes...that logic is awkward. Some have said that God is so powerful that he works through our sin but the question of determinism is prevalent - is God deterministically sovereign? Do we have free will? Can the two coexist consistently? If we don't have free will, our actions have been predetermined by God thus making any sin of ours, His doing. It's a noodle baker! This 'problem' has taught me about the inadequacy of logic as it relates to defining God. This is not to say that He doesn't operate logically, but it is to say that we will have difficulty putting Him into a neat little logic box.
I understand what you are saying, I keep saying if my faith is no-existent that means someone higher than may not have faith in me. But I have realized this isn't true. God, will always believe in you even when you are in darkest places not understanding?
But my faith is in things positive, trusted one i.e. family, lost loved ones and knowing they believe or believed in me. So faith works both ways, you don't have to believe in it because faith already believes in you.
But I am still lost!
Joe, you raise an interesting issue. I think the predeterminism debate comes down to a matter of perspective which relates to our temporal existence. More on this in a future post.
Chris, I want to make an attempt to parse what you are saying. From your comment, it seems that you suggest that spiritual faith is continuous, specifically that God believes in you whether or not you believe in God? Am I close? If this is the case, does religion matter? Wouldn't this render the need for spirituality unimportant? Finally, doesn't it presuppose an order of things that would conform to a greater design in the universe?
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