Meditations on dreams and omens

[Ninurta]

Interesting direction and yes that makes sense. What about not manifesting your own will and what actions can be performed then?

To be honest, I don't know. Other folks' wills are not mine to manifest, so I can only exercise my own. If I exercise it, there is at least a chance of making something happen, and if I don't, that chance vanishes. Random or pseudo-random stuff just happens.

Predestination is the hot topic I feel and I have seen people do things not of their own accord. Weirds me out to be honest, what actions have I performed that was not my own will, has it happened to me? I wouldn't know, they didn't know. We do go through life asking 'why?' allot, I certainly do.

Yeah, I'm a Calvinist... of sorts. All 5 points, but I don't belong to any churches, and generally tell folks I'm not a christian, because I don't want to be associated with most modern christian types. I don't believe the way they do, and they seem to have pretty much taken the religion over for themselves.

Still, you're right, predestination does seem to be a pretty hot topic these days, and it's one of the five points of Calvinism. My wife frequents christian forums, and has been kicked out of a couple of them for arguing in favor of predestination.

Predestination is not someone else taking over your will, but it may sometimes involve overriding it, due to those limits or constraints I mentioned above. You do not become a puppet or an automaton, but youA RE guided and goaded in certain directions. Still, in the end, your own choices are yours to make... they just may be nudged in this direction or that as you go along.

.I'll put a short primer on the five points of Calvinism here, because some of the points have certain similarities to others that, while they are all entirely separate, the similarities cause some folks to get confused and just lump them all into predestination. A word of caution: these temd towards making most modern christians as mad as wet hens, so if you're easily triggered, just skip the rest of the post and no harm done.

There is a mnemonic to remember those 5 points. It is "TULIP"

1) - T - Total Depravity - this does not mean that men are completely evil, it means that none are completely good. The idea is that all humans fall short of the glory of God.

2)- U - Unconditional Election - if one is "elect", called by God, then God does not place conditions on it, because no person could meet those conditions - no one is completely good.

3) - L - Limited Atonement - This is the main one that really ticks off modern christians. It means that not all are called by God, and thereforeJesus did not die for everyone. There are just some folks who are hell bound, nothing to be done about it. The idea is that if Jesus died for everyone, then if just one person slips through the cracks and falls into hell, then the atonement was wasted, of no effect. "Those whom the Father has given into my right hand", that sort of thing. This is the main point that the doctrine of predestination developed from. The idea is that some people are Gof'd people, and some people are not... and that was determined by God before they were born, before the world was even founded.

4) - I - Irresistible Grace - If one is among the elect, then they will eventually come around to God's way of thinking. They may resist, even for years, but in the end they will always come around, sooner or later, because that grace is irresistible.

5) - P - Perseverance of the Saints - Those among the elect will persevere. They may stumble, they may fall, but they will not fall finally and entirely away from God. "Backsliding" is never permanent for those among the elect.

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