| | Covering three bases.
In a recent discussion about political alignment, I found myself towing the proverbial party line, especially with regards to education. The irony of this situation is that, generally, when you resort to "towing the party line" you're probably in the wrong party because chances are you don't actually believe in most of the stances that your party takes on issues. Unless of course you're me...or a logical conclusions libertarian. I've come to terms with the fact that true libertarianism most likely never be anything but an ideology as we move into the future, but I can't help but deeply admire its roots and theories. I'm huge fan of the "personal responsibility" implication that runs throughout every libertarian think tank like a lifeline. I absolutely despise big government despite the fact that so many aspects of American life have become inextractably embedded in reliance on big government programs. And most of all, I firmly believe that so many of the things that people take for granted like education, a stable economy, health insurance, and the opportunity for employment are at their fundamental levels issues of responsibility not privilege.
In a recent discussion with several of my brothers and sisters about theology we had a lively and passionate debate about the issue of election and predestination. Generally speaking I'm not one that takes too deep an interest in complex theological discussions involving what I consider "secondary doctrine". I'm more of a "primary doctrine" type of guy and my preferred "cup of tea" revolves mostly around the confessing Christian's need for reconciliation with God because the world and forces against Christ saddle so many Christians with tertiary issues and deceive them into turning their eyes away from the kingdom, rendering them ineffective for God's work. Anyways, back to the issue of election, our main debate centered the idea of whether or not predestination was real. Our Calvinists argued that being chosen before the foundations of the earth is irrefutable evidence of such and offered the passage from 1 Kings 19:18 where the lord said, "Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel - whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths mouths have not kissed him." This clearly is the remnant of Israel that Paul talks about in Romans and through sanctification by faith we know that Christians are the new Israel by which righteousness was credited to us through the faith of Abraham. At the same time however, it was argued that if election were a complete part of God's sovereign will, then there is really no such thing as "free will" for people who choose to accept or reject Christ because God already knows whether or not they're going to become Christians. According to the zero-sum game theory if God has already elected an individual and that person is predestined to become a Christian then they have no free will in the matter because if God's sovereign will has decreed that a particular individual will be saved, then mathematically is means God's Will - 100%, Individual's Will - 0%. And taking this to the logical conclusion means that evangelism as a whole is a meaningless activity because it will not ultimately affect the sovereign will of God's election. Kind of like a "Those people will become Christians whether they like it or not" mindset. Personally I'm still struggling with this concept. I believe that God did choose me, so in that sense I am elect, but at the same time I feel that I exercised free will in choosing the walk with Christ. I begin to wonder then if zero-sum can actually be applied to the issue of election. Maybe free will and sovereign will are two sides of the same coin. From a pragmatic standpoint however I think it's a moot point. At the end of the day who is might be elect and who might not be elect is not for humans to know and honestly we're completely incapable of ever finding out while we're alive. Predestination or no, I'm not going to use election as an excuse to ignore the great commission given to all of Jesus' followers before he ascended into heaven.
As I've been studying to get my provisional license upgraded to a full California Real Estate Agent's license recently I was struck with an ironic sense how easy it is to become a real estate agent. You're only required to pass one measly state exam (which was in some ways easier than the CBEST) as well as pass 3 freshman level college courses all of which can be done at home with an open book final taken online for each one. Then suddenly you're a full realtor, licensed, legal, and fully empowered to represent individuals in making the single biggest financial decision in their entire life, and not only that, you're authorized to find loans for them, and you didn't even spend 50 hours of combined training, studying, and test-taking to get to that point! Juxtapose that next to the ridiculous number of fiery hoops you have to jump through just to get credentialled to teach a single-subject in high school. Now if you ask me I'd say teaching is an incredibly noble cause and its important that teachers are well qualified (I wouldn't be getting my credential if I didn't think so) but I would also say that representing someone when they make the single biggest financial decision of their entire lives (bar none) is probably just as important as teaching. Plus, if you represent 4-5 people in California either helping them buy or sell their house, you already make more than a teacher does in a entire year and all that work would probably only cost you 5-6 months time. The discrepancy in how much you can earn versus how much training you have to go through to work in those two respective fields is mind-boggling and I say that with absolute confidence because I do both!
Finally, as I slide into home, I finish with an anticlimatic schedule of my upcoming summer.
On June 18th I go on a church retreat for 4 days. June 21st I come back. June 28th I go to Long Beach for Anime Expo. July 2nd I leave for missions/training in Canada for a whole month (God doesn't call the equipped, he equips the called). August 4th I come back. Sometime in the end of the August, I move.
Understanding the specific gist and sweating the general details.
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| | Posted 6/11/2007 2:35 PM - 21 views - 1 comments
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