Monday, January 16, 2012

What Is Debatable?

What is debatable? Some people seem to think that pretty much anything is debatable. Recently, a literary agent invited me and all of her other acquaintances to get involved in a debate on a client’s blog about whether God is omnipotent. How is that debatable? Jesus declared in Matthew 19:26, “with God all things are possible.” That sounds pretty omnipotent to me. So people who would debate this subject have rejected the Bible and the words of Jesus as the foundation of truth. That is a problem because it is the Bible that tells us what God is like. If all we have to go on is what we see around us, then we would conclude that he is very powerful, but we would have no way of knowing if he is all powerful because we can’t see far enough to know. Our telescopes can’t even see the end of what he has created, so how could we possibly know whether there is something out there that he doesn’t have power over. Simply put, it is not debatable.

Paul seemed to think that even less was debatable. Romans 8:28 states that we know that all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose. But the basis of his argument is that those he foreknew he predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son. Paul doesn’t see it as debatable, but a known fact that God predestined those he knew would accept Christ.

The thing is, some arguments are not worth getting into. When people start arguing about things that the Bible states as fact, it is very much like arguing with a sign post. If they aren’t willing to accept that a stop sign says, “stop” then no amount of arguing will convince them. If they are unwilling to accept that the Bible says what it says is fact, then no amount of arguing will change that. There are better uses of my time.