The Evangelical Universalist Forum

How To Live Under An Unqualified President by John Piper

I definitely don’t agree with EU. It’s wishful thinking along with Pantelism. God’s holy hatred destroys the sinner in hell. But after judgment comes resurrection. Like Christ on the cross. God’s wrath is terrible and painful. It’s all through the Bible. And since creation tells us something about it’s artist, nature tells us that God is capable of severe wrath and pain. The Bible and nature agree. It’s the same God revealed in both. So, I’m a Christian Universalist who believes in free will. When those in hell are resurrected from the fire they will have a new nature. No desire for sin remains. They will freely come to God because they want to. They will be like God in that it will be impossible for them to sin. With no desire at all for sin they will choose what they most want - love for God and each other.

You are correct on one answer, incorrect on one, and the remaining one is kinda up in the air.
Overall, not tooooo bad, Don!! :laughing:
All things bright and beautiful,

So Pantelism is true after all!!

Well, I have a definite answer to all three, though you are right—not everyone agrees.

Is Trump good or bad - for the US and the world? BAD

Is Pantelism true or not? NOT

Is there free will or no free will - in universalism? THERE IS FREE WILL

Trump is certainly good for the US economy, certainly good for the military, good for border security, getting Kim to negotiate & not because Kim wants to, but Trump is crass & crude and often offensive , so as a President i give him an A and as a human being a D but i didn’t vote for a friend i voted for a President

Pantelism, Nyet

Free Will - I think we have Limited free will

Steve, “free will” is just a term for the ability to choose. I realize that there are some things we cannot do, such as flap our arms and fly. But our ability to choose is not limited thereby. We just don’t have a choice in the matter of flying in that way. But isn’t our ability to choose unlimited concerning those things which are possible for us?

Pantelism seems to be getting a bunch of traction in the threads

Steve, “free will” is just a term for the ability to choose. I realize that there are some things we cannot do, such as flap our arms and fly. But our ability to choose is not limited thereby. We just don’t have a choice in the matter of flying in that way. But isn’t our ability to choose unlimited concerning those things which are possible for us?

Happy Resurrection Day Paidion! Yes we can freely choose to do what is possible for us but our capacity to choose is limited by many factors like, our knowledge about a matter, opinions shared to us by people in our life, our experiences in life which may be limited and random.

For example years ago many people came to the USA because they heard the streets were paved with gold so they freely chose to come here but upon arriving they may have worked in coal mines or dirty factories to make enough money to exist. So they freely came here and chose to come here but had they had accurate information many would have chosen not to, so IMO that’s limited free will. To me “influence” from outside forces may cloud our ability to make a real free will choice.

Person A was brought up in a Christian home and given accurate info about Jesus and chose to follow him. Person B was brought up in a secular home and told Jesus was for weak minded people who need a crutch and so he chose not to follow Jesus.

Both A & B made choices but they were influenced by their circumstances so i don’t think their choices were truly free.

And NOT only that. But persons CHOSEN to be zombies, during the tribulation and the Zombie Apocalypse …probably don’t have many FREE choices - after they become zombies. :wink:

That is quite the Easter .gif :open_mouth:

Certainly we are all influenced. But we can choose in spite of influences.

But the fact is that thousands who were brought up in Christian homes have chosen to reject Christianity, and thousands who were brought up in secular homes have chosen to follow Jesus. So if their free wills were limited by their home environment, HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?

If a criminal thrusts a gun against your head and says, “Give me your money or you’re dead!” that’s a pretty strong influence. But does it negate your free will. Is it possible for you to choose not to give him your money? If so your free will is not limited.

In the early church, Christians were told to deny Christ or be killed. Though a few chose to deny Him, the vast majority chose to stay true to Him, and be killed. This sounds like absolute free will to me.

It fits. Christ has risen from the dead. :smiley:

Although Christ appears much more gloried, then the zombie does. :wink:

From http://www.sunilbali.com/2018/04/dont-be-a-professional-pretzel/:

If a criminal thrusts a gun against your head and says, “Give me your money or you’re dead!” that’s a pretty strong influence. But does it negate your free will. Is it possible for you to choose not to give him your money? If so your free will is not limited.

We have a different definition of free will. In this example the victim is being coerced so to me it’s not free will but to you because the victim is capable of saying “no” to the criminal it is free will.

Well, I think it is the way of dictators. Hitler got rid of the people who didn’t agree with him. So did Stalin, and many other dictators.

And so did Obama! 8 press secretaries in 8 years, but you didn’t see wall to wall 24/7 coverage everytime Obama blinked because he walked on water.

Jordan Peterson says there’s something better than self-esteem:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aa8nJk00REs[/youtube]

How to tell you’re depressed and the fallacy of self-esteem

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDYNCEWxMSI[/youtube]

Jordan Peterson continues the onslaught of the concept of self-esteem in “Special Treatment, Self-Esteem, and Narcissism”

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fo8VY8o6R44[/youtube]

Sam Harris thinks Universal Basic income is a good idea but could have it’s flaws. It’s the principles of Calvinism in the country that keeps universal basic income from happening.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_ZSeHiix50[/youtube]

Is Trump good or bad - for the US and the world? Define good & bad. Would Hilary be better or worse? Didn’t God choose/elect/appoint him. Pray & intercede for him that he may be all that God would have him to be.

Is Pantelism true or not? Probably not, i guess.

Is there free will or no free will - in universalism? One should probaby live like there is free will, in univeralism, in life, in everyone.

Our “friend” Russia again? From the BBC News (which I’ve shared on Twitter today):

Mystery Stingray devices discovered in Washington http://ow.ly/f9hD30jjaHI

Morally unfit? I can only laugh. Does John Piper thing Obama was morally fit? Or the Bushes? Or Clinton? We are all humans and by definition morally unfit. Trump just highlights our problems. I did not vote for him (ditto for Hillary). HE IS OUR PRESIDENT!

We had all better pay VERY close attention to our Constitution, as it was originally written. It is under attack … Barack Obama did more to weaken our system of government than any other before him. Hillary would have destroyed our Constitutional Government. Trump won’t be in office forever, we can get through this if we remain united in support of our form of government.

As Benjamin Franklin reportedly stated: “We have a Republic, if we can we can keep it.”

Good quote. I had to look it up…

Benjamin Franklin (1706–90). QUOTATION: “Well, Doctor, what have we got—a Republic or a Monarchy?” “A Republic, if you can keep it.” ATTRIBUTION: The response is attributed to BENJAMIN FRANKLIN—at the close of the Constitutional Convention of 1787.

Scary stuff. I’m not sure we CAN keep it.

Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. John Adams to Mass. Militia 11 October, 1798.

The recent outbreak of nihilism is a sore trial. People who have bought into the anti-God culture are beginning to act out the logical response to believing that lie: to whit: that nothing–NOTHING–matters. Donald Trump is not as good a man as I would like him to be–clearly. That said, Cirrus wasn’t that moral a man either, but he was the man for the time and God used him. I think we are in a situation like that. I would rather have had Dr. Carson–he was my choice–but he didn’t have the resources to fight the onslaught of fascistic socialism that DJT has had to fight, nor probably the necessary contentious personality. Sadly, he is too good a man to successfully pilot the nation we seem to have become. :frowning:

BHO successfully fomented and grew and cultured a BIG MESS. I think he did it on purpose. Somebody has to clean this tangled web out. Until that is successfully accomplished, kind, decent, cultured people aren’t going to be up to the job of being president. Maybe Pence could have done it, but he probably couldn’t have won the election. Honestly, he’s too good a man to be subjected to that pile of excrement.

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By the way, @Jim_Paxton… welcome to the forum. I just assumed (until I checked) when I saw your post that you were a longtime member who hasn’t posted a lot. :rofl: We have quite a few “lurkers,” as most forums do. It’s great to have you here! Please feel welcome to post an introduction in our “introductions” category. We’d all like to get to know more about you. Again, welcome! :slight_smile: