The God of the Bible is sovereign over all things

Plato in the Timaeus taught that his god made order out of chaos and then he (like Zeus?) made divine children that created mortal man. In this, Plato taught that his god was not in control of all things. Bible declares however that God created the heavens and the earth. He was before all things. "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness wasupon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." - Genesis 1

Not only do we have God before all things but also shaping and forming all things in seven literal days.


Gordon H. Clark says, "It is at about this stage that Mackay begins to discuss the relation between the world and God. His view of creation is not clear. 'Chance in the sense of chaos is indeed recognized (Gen. 1:2), but only as something banished from the world by God's creative word' (p. 49). This seems to say that there was a physical world of chaos before God created the cosmos. This is similar to the work of Plato's demiurge. Yet two pages later he says, 'God has conceived and made our world out of nothing.' Then later he says, 'Creation . . . . is not just a single datable event which happened at a particular time; it is rather a continuing relationship of dependence between us and God' (p. 69). How does this fit in with 'Let there be light, and there was light'? How also does a continuing relationship between God and man fit in with 'And on the seventh day God ended his work . . . and rested . . . from all his work which he had made'? Has not Mackay again contradicted himself? That the world is now upheld by the power of God is undeniable; but creation out of nothing must be instantaneous." - Beahaviorism and Christianity, Pg. 93

Such thing as common grace?

I was thinking of Common Grace that a lot of Calvinist and Arminians like to espouse today. I know Wayne Grudem has a chapter on it but I couldn't find what I was looking for as to his view of Genesis 17:18-22 where God says he will bless Ishmael. Anyways, I will have to look for it and post it here. But, my question is does these set of verses display common grace? What was the reason for Ishmael receiving a gift from God? If God knew that He would destroy Ishmael in Hell then can we say that God gave him a gift out of love? Consider if you give someone a peanut who is allergic, I mean you might say that you did not know but over all you cannot say that the peanut was really good for him. God knows all things, he gave Ishmael a blessing and he also gave Pharaoh a blessing but over all he destroyed Pharaoh in the sea. Just thoughts to consider.

God is the one who is the determiner of all things

You see the problem with the Arminian interpretation of Genesis 45:4 and Genesis 50:20 is that their interpretation does not deal properly with the text of Scripture. It is one thing to say that these are the ONLY text in which we see that " ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good." But, it is not and the things leading up to this point present to us that God not only was working within this situation but was Himself the cause AND determiner of it all (including the acts of evil men).

What to teach? The Bible alone is the word of God

Just considering what Genesis 37 says truth is not what others think or how others perceive you but it is what God has revealed in his word. Though a mountain of people are against you the standard is the Bible alone; the word of God. In it God shows us what is truth.