ABOUT GOD’S FOREKNOWLEDGE-GOODMORNING
A Valid Question – About God’s Foreknowledge
One valid question that many people will ask in regard to the subject covered in “Does the Bible say, God knows every future event in human history?”, “If God does not have absolute foreknowledge, seeing the whole future before it happens, how then can He so accurately predict things like a Persian king named ‘Cyrus’”? Another is, “What about the incredibly specific prophecies about the events of Jesus’ life, like none of his bones being broken, etc., etc.?”
May we suggest that there is an alternative answer to the question, other than that God already sees every future event from the distant past. It is the answer set forth in the above article, and is that God is so powerful, so knowledgeable, so faithful, so resourceful and so loving that He is able to do whatever He unconditionally promises. Since there is no verse that says that God saw in the past every event in the future, we think that this alternative is also much more biblical. Some will cite Isaiah 46:10, which says that God sees “the end from the beginning,” but this statement is made in relationship to His purposes, not His knowledge. The verse closes with the statement “I will do all that I please.” The emphasis is on His ability to keep His promises and perform His Word.
It is apparent that “on either side of the coin” our mind boggles. On the one side, we cannot possibly understand how God could know our choices before we make them, and yet we still have genuine free will. On the other side of the coin, we cannot fathom God’s ability to bring to pass prophecies as specifically as He does. But as stated in the above article, for us the “open” view is far more biblically sound and far more appealing than the “closed” view of God. It also makes God much more personal, powerful and present.
One major problem with the idea that God has absolute foreknowledge is that it renders His many dialogues with people like Abraham, Moses, Jonah, etc., meaningless, if not disingenuous. If God already saw in His foreknowledge that the Ninevites would repent, then He could not honestly convey to Jonah the possibility of them not repenting. If on the other hand, they were genuine free moral agents whose free will decisions could not be known absolutely until they were made, then God’s dialogue to Jonah is both honest and understandable.
Our experience over the years has shown that this is a potentially volatile subject that generates strong emotional responses from those who feel that it threatens their conception of God. Much love, wisdom and patience needs to be shown toward those who may be in this category. We present teachings of this subject in the hope that all who hear it will prayerfully take it to the Word of God and be like the Bereans, who “searched the Scriptures daily whether those things were so” (Acts 17:11). Many who do so will find this perspective more scriptural and rational, and energizing greater commitment to prayer, worship, obedience and evangelism. Could that be a bad thing?
PUT ON THE PRESSURE PAN DEM
LAPD to reopen probe into fugitive ex-cop’s firing
PLAY CBS NEWS VIDEO
210 Comments
/524 Shares/173 Tweets/Stumble/EmailMore +
Updated at 9:23 p.m. ET
BIG BEAR LAKE, CALIF. Los Angeles police say they will reopen the disciplinary proceedings that led to the firing of a former officer who’s wanted in three killings over the past several days.
Cmdr. Andrew Smith said Saturday that the department will reopen the investigation that apparently has led Christopher Dorner to seek revenge against former LAPD colleagues who he believed cost him his law enforcement career.
Dorner alleged in an online manifesto that he was wrongly fired for reporting that his training officer used excessive force.
Police Chief Charlie Beck tells KCBS-TV the department will thoroughly re-examine Dorner’s allegation to ensure the public that the LAPD is fair and transparent. He says if Dorner wants to surrender, the LAPD will “be happy to hear what he has to say.”
Meanwhile, a scaled-back search party took advantage of a break from stormy weather Saturday to hunt for Dorner, using heat-sensing helicopters and fanning out in fresh snow as vacationing families and weekend skiers frolicked nearby.
The stark blue skies that emerged after a Friday snowstorm allowed San Bernardino County sheriff’s choppers to fly low over the forest and SWAT teams to look for tracks and other clues that might lead to Dorner, 33, whose burned-out pickup truck was discovered in town Thursday.
Authorities suspect Dorner in a series of attacks in Southern California over the past several days that left three people dead, including a police officer. Authorities say he has vowed revenge against several former LAPD colleagues who he believed cost him his law enforcement career.
Play VIDEO
Where and when will Dorner appear next?
On “CBS This Morning: Saturday,” CBS News senior correspondent John Miller reported that Dorner’s abandonment of his truck because of a broken axle has prompted authorities to believe that he has shifted “from being the hunter to the hunted.”
Inside the truck, CBS News correspondent Carter Evans reports from Los Angeles that, according to police sources, investigators recovered weapons, including two long-range rifles with silencers, cold-weather survival gear, along with night-vision goggles and a gas mask.
It’s unknown what supplies Dorner was able to carry into the remote mountains east of Los Angeles, Evans reports.
Despite the manhunt’s shift to the mountains, Miller reports that authorities are making sure police will maintain a presence at Sunday night’s Grammy Awards in Los Angeles by calling in officers initially scheduled to have the day off and having others work overtime.
Pictures: Ex-LAPD cop accused of going on killing spree
The manhunt didn’t appear to bother the majority of tourists intent on enjoying Saturday’s perfect winter weather, which made for strikingly odd contrasts: the sound of barking bloodhounds mixed with rap music blaring off the ski slopes; a family with kids strolling by a deputy, who was clad in full tactical gear and practicing his aim on a small snowdrift.
San Bernardino County sheriff’s Detective Chad Johnson said he and others were intent on finding Dorner but also looking for other telltale signs of his whereabouts.
“There’s a million clues in the mountain. You’ve just got to be patient to find them,” Johnson said.
Johnson said the search includes mountainous areas that are very steep and high climbs that often end in cliffs.
“It’s a challenging day of work,” he said.
Saturday was the third full day of the massive multi-agency effort now centered on this resort town about 80 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles. Investigators continue to analyze the burned-out truck discovered Thursday, trying to determine whether Dorner torched it or if it caught fire for other reasons.
The search once included 125 officers but that number was reduced to 50 on Saturday, according to the sheriff’s office.
Officers have been going door to door examining hundreds of vacant cabins, aware that they could be walking into a trap set by the well-trained former Navy reservist who knows their tactics and strategies.
“Christopher Dorner is probably one of the most dangerous fugitives that law enforcement has gone after in recent times,” said Clint Van Zandt, former supervisor of FBI’s profiling unit. “The challenge is, with his law enforcement and military background, he’s very competent with weapons.”
Sheriff’s Detective Jeremiah MacKay, who began his patrol at 5 a.m. Saturday, said the operation was both massive and tactically complex.
“This one you just never know if the guy’s going to pop out, or where he’s going to pop out. We’re hoping this comes to a close without more casualties. The best thing would be for him to give up,” MacKay said.
On Friday night, authorities served a search warrant and collected evidence from a Buena Park storage unit as part of their investigation. Irvine police Lt. Julia Engen wouldn’t elaborate on the nature of the evidence or say who had rented the unit.
Earlier Friday, another warrant was served at a La Palma house belonging to Dorner’s mother. Officers collected 10 bags of evidence, including five electronic items.
Police said officers still were guarding more than 40 people mentioned as targets in a rant that authorities said Dorner posted on Facebook. He vowed to use “every bit of small arms training, demolition, ordnance and survival training I’ve been given” to bring “warfare” to the LAPD and its families.
Dorner served in the Navy, earning a rifle marksman ribbon and pistol expert medal. He was assigned to a naval undersea warfare unit and various aviation training units, according to military records. He took leave from the LAPD for a six-month deployment to Bahrain in 2006 and 2007.
Last Friday was his last day with the Navy and also the day CNN’s Anderson Cooper received a package that contained a note on it that read, in part, “I never lied.” A coin riddled with bullet holes that former Chief William Bratton gave out as a souvenir was also in the package.
Police said it was a sign of planning by Dorner before the killing began.
Play VIDEO
Ex-LAPD Chief: Police “on edge” in hunt for cop killer
On “CBS This Morning” Friday, Bratton described Dorner as “an incredibly dangerous individual” and reacted to the damaged coin.
“When you see that that coin that was given in friendship and respect has three bullet holes, it’s certainly very chilling,” Bratton said.
On Sunday, police say Dorner shot and killed a couple in a parking garage at their condominium in Irvine. The woman was the daughter of a retired police captain who had represented Dorner in the disciplinary proceedings that led to his firing.
Dorner wrote in his manifesto that he believed the retired captain had represented the interests of the department over his.
Hours after authorities identified Dorner as a suspect in the double murder, police believe Dorner shot and grazed an LAPD officer in Corona and then used a rifle to ambush two Riverside police officers early Thursday, killing one and seriously wounding the other.
© 2013 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
RUMOURS………..SNOOP IS FINE PEOPLE
MI A GET EMAIL AND LINK YESSIDEH………..PLEASE DO NOT FOLLOW OR BELIEVE…NO RASTA CUDDEN BEAT SNOOP
MAVADO SEH HE FLYIN…………………..
The Jamaican entertainer at the centre of a bribery case involving a former security official at the United States (US) Embassy in Kingston will automatically lose his American visa and could face criminal prosecution, a US-based attorney has revealed.
Dahlia Walker-Huntington, who practises immigration law in the state of Florida, told The Gleaner yesterday that the revelations made in a Virginia court by David Rainsberger, the former assistant regional security officer at the US Embassy, could also bar the entertainer from obtaining citizenship in the US. “This person who is alleged to have bribed a US official did so to obtain a benefit and that is where the immigration fraud comes in,” Walker-Huntington explained. “Any visa that you obtain by fraud is not valid and any benefits you get from that fraud will be taken away,” she emphasised. Yesterday, the US Embassy declined to comment on the visa status of the entertainer, whose identity has still not been released. The embassy referred queries to the US Attorney’s Office in Virginia. Rainsberger pleaded guilty on Wednesday to accepting two luxury watches valued at US$2,500 in exchange for helping the entertainer gain a visa to enter the US. He said he also received backstage passes to concerts, free admission and a birthday party hosted by the entertainer. Walker-Huntington said because Rainsberger was employed in a very senior and sensitive position that will automatically trigger a wide-ranging probe by US authorities. “He was put in a position of extreme trust … . To have violated that trust, you can rest assured that further investigation will take place to make sure it is a deterrent to US employees all over the world,” she reasoned. In a statement released yesterday, Yolonda Kerney, head of the Public Affairs Section at the embassy, seemed to echo Walker-Huntington’s assertion. “The government of the United States of America takes its own anti-corruption mandates seriously. No one is above the law, even embassy employees,” Kerney said. Walker-Huntington said if the entertainer is already in the US and marries an American citizen to obtain permanent residency, the fraud could become a major obstacle. “To change your status, you must be in the US pursuant to lawful entry to be able to change your status, through marriage, from a visitor to an immigrant,” she explained.
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20130209/lead/lead2.html
****RULES**** 1. Debates and rebuttals are allowed but disrespectful curse-outs will prompt immediate BAN 2. Children are never to be discussed in a negative way 3. Personal information eg. workplace, status, home address are never to be posted in comments. 4. All are welcome but please exercise discretion when posting your comments , do not say anything about someone you wouldnt like to be said about you. 5. Do not deliberately LIE on someone here or send in any information based on your own personal vendetta. 6. If your picture was taken from a prio site eg. fimiyaad etc and posted on JMG, you cannot request its removal. 7. If you dont like this forum, please do not whine and wear us out, do yourself the favor of closing the screen- Thanks! . To send in a story send your email to :- [email protected]
Recent Comments