A Brief Look at Election and Foreknowledge

1 Peter 1:1-2  Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,  2 Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.

Peter addresses his first epistle to the “elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father”.  There is a long debate over the relationship with God’s sovereign election and mankind’s free will.  A related discussion is the aspect of “foreknowledge” as helping reconcile the two.  The argument goes like this: God looked into the future and saw who would believe on Jesus as savior.  He then elected those persons to salvation.  This is an valiant attempt to bring election and free will together, but it fails under closer scrutiny.  Here’s why. Continue reading

Does Free Will Exist?

I’m reading a book written by an agnostic critical of the Christian faIth and theism in general.  It’s titled “Divinity of Doubt” by Vincent Bugliosi.  It is sort of an apologetic for agnosticism, so he is also critical of atheism as well. There is no doubt that Mr. Bugliosi is an intelligent and well-educated man.  His reasoning and wit in the book is engaging.  He has made me thoroughly interested in the view of Christianity from an agnostic perspective.  However, I am not persuaded.  In this post, I would like to address just one of his criticisms which I found to be very odd. Continue reading