Norman L. Geisler's "Chosen But Free"

An interesting part that I read in Norman L. Geisler's book "Chosen But Free" is how he mentions that God has evil angels under His control. I know that everything is under God’s control, even Satan, but this actually shocked me when I read the scripture that was provided. Geisler uses I Kings 22:19-20 to prove his point. Although everything is under God’s control, I guess the part that I was more surprised about was how God allowed the evil spirits to entice Ahab and to lie to him in order to entice him (28).
Another thing that I found interesting about Geisler’s book was his discussion on God’s love. 1 John 4:8 says “...God is love.” It does not say that God only loves those who are saved, He is love. In John 3:16, it says “For God so loved the world,” it does not say that God only loves those who are saved. Christ’s desire is for all to be saved. He has created every single person on this earth, and He does not only love those who choose to follow Him. If He did not love those who were not saved, He would not use His sovereignty to put people in unsaved individuals lives to share truth with them. If He did not love the unsaved, He would not care if the Great Commission was fulfilled, because He would not care if unsaved people groups knew Jesus or not. Something that Geisler says that I completely agree with is “if God loves only the elect, then He is not Omnibenevolent. God cannot be all-loving if He does not love all” (89). This is so true. Omnibelevolent means that someone is “all good”. God cannot be considered all good if He chooses not to love those who do not follow Him.
Geisler also addresses the topic of salvation in his book. He gives an illustration about three drowning boys, and how a farmer is debating on whether or not he should rescue the boys. He mentions that there were distinct warning signs, and yet, they still disobeyed (141). This shows a great similarity between God and all sinners. The world is full of sinners. If god chose to do absolutely nothing about those who sin, (which is every single human being) then He would not be looked at as a loving God. Since He so chose to send His son to save the whole world, then He is showing His love for all sinners. Since all sinners have warning signs telling them to stay away from sin, and temptation, God has every right to make the decision of not saving His broken children. But since He is a loving God, His desires are different. He wants the unsaved to be saved, and He loves those who are not. Geisler also mentions that His desire is not that anyone would perish (202.) his heart breaks for those who are in Hell, and He does not want them to be there, but because of their actions, sins, and unrepentant hearts, they are sent to Hell.

Worship in the Church

I believe that there are many different forms of worship, and I also believe that we can worship God in and through everything that we say and do. By worshiping God, I mean that we recognize that God is in control, and that He is our all-knowing, beautiful Creator, and He deserves all of our praise. In 1 Corinthians 10:13, it says "so whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it for the glory of God." We can bring glory to God by doing anything that is in His moral will for our lives. When we are following biblical morals, and following what Jesus commands us to do, we are bringing Him glory. I know so many people who call themselves Christians, but they think that all they have to do to be a "good Christian" is go to church and pray. This is an all too common misunderstanding. If we are to be Christians, all of our decisions have to based off of our faith. This includes what clothes we wear and what movies we watch or what music we listen to. By bringing God the glory, you are, in turn, worshiping Him, and thanking Him for all that He has done. Every Christian can constantly be worshiping God by making sure that we are always obeying what He asks of us. Personally, when I am in church and worship starts, I often feel the tug on my heart to lift my Hands to the Lord who has blessed me immensely every single day of my life. It is just as Dr. Caner said, if you feel like you are not "in the mood" to worship, then there is probably a whole lot of ungratefulness in your heart. When we learn to recognize the huge blessings that the Lord has given each and every one of us, and what He did when He sent His Son to die on the cross as a sacrifice to cover our sins, we cannot help but be so incredibly grateful, and to worship Him as often as we think about it.

My Testimony

Growing up, my church was very unstable. The pastor was married to a woman who was a Buddhist and a feminist, which are two things that do not mix in a marriage with a Christian pastor. While attending this church, I thought I knew what it took to be a Christian. I thought I had to pray, and go to church, that was it.  It wasn't until after my parents (who were new Christians themselves at the time) decided to change churches, due to the unstableness  of our church, that I learned that I was very wrong about how to live my life. I didn't care what movies I watched or what music I listened to, because I figured that if I didn't do the things that were talked about in the media, that I was still a good Christian. I was wrong. It wasn't until I came to Liberty University that I started seeing what God really wants of me. God started showing me that even though I don't act out the things that I hear in music, or do the things that I see in movies, that all of the content in those things go into my subconscious for Satan to use against me later. Since then, I have seen such a huge change in my heart. Every decision I make is based off of what it says in the Bible. God has changed my heart, and I have been enjoying this reformation in my life.