Have you ever stopped to think......
That if there isn't such a think as freewill......
Then God is just toying with His creation.
In other words..... The idea that God creates every thing instantly "flies in the face" or "stands at odds" with the very fact present all around us. God's plan involves a very methodical and patient construct that produces a product of His Divine will.... that interacts with the fickle nature of freewill in humanity.
If this is not true, then God's character is relegated to nothing more than a puppeteer dancing His puppets in an delirious jig for His own enjoyment.
i remember thinking that very same thing the first time i ever heard calvinism explained to me on an older version of the fff.... .. that it made God out to be some kind of puppet master pulling strings on lifeless marionettes..... ...but when i told them that was the way their belief was coming across i was quickly written off by them as one of the unenlightened who was either not elect or simply not intelligent enough to understand Gods sovereignty..... ... the discussion then went on without me joined in by other calvinists who began to muse over the idea that calvinism was the "thinking" christians doctrine or a brand of faith for those with a higher IQ .......
pretty short sighted and a quick brush off... if you ask me... to be coming from people who claim to be deep thinkers....
but such is the way of the zealot.... whether that zealot be of calvin.... freebirdism.... legalism.... or of any other stripe of the faith with it;s mind already made up...completely consumed with itself... and unable to consider an opposing train of thought.... . they all say they like to discuss things with people who disagree and have opposing ideas - but that;s only true if those "disagreements" are not really opposed to what they believe... but are in fact just variations of the same thing.... .... or if those "opposing" ideas can be twisted in a way that continues to support what they have already made up their mind about..... anything else gets the person presenting such an idea labelled as non-elect.... a scorner.... or just stupid.......
which i think is the reason my sister said long ago that fundamentalism was populated by people consumed with contrasting and even irreconcilable ideologies that were drawn together by a common personality defect..... ... or something along those lines..... ... although i thought i knew what she meant when i first heard it back then.... i wasn;t really sure .... but as time goes on it begins to make a lot more sense to me......