We humans feel like we have the ability to make any choice, but the reality is that we can only make any choice we want to. In other words, humans are bound to their own wills - it’s not possible to choose to do something you ultimately do not want to do. Every choice to do something you don’t want to do is made because there is something you ultimately want more. We choose to go to the dentist–something we don’t want to do–because our desire to avoid the long-term pain of dental decay is greater than our desire to avoid the short-term pain of dental pain. A better way to talk about the way we make choices is to say we have freedom of agency: we can choose to do anything within the realm of our desires. For example, I am free to choose between wearing the green socks or the yellow socks, but I am not free to cut my feet off–it simply isn’t within the realm of my desires to do so.

The Bible insists that this is also true when it comes to one’s relationship with God. Our fallen human hearts do not desire God, or at least we do not desire God as he really is. And so we choose to reject him because it is our will to reject him, and we do not choose to accept him because our wills are opposed to him–and it is impossible to do something ultimately against your will. And so, if we are going to accept God, he must change our will so that we desire him. This work of the Holy Spirit, called prevenient grace, happens when God mercifully and lovingly draws us to himself, and changes our heart from the inside out so that we believe in him and long for a relationship with him.

Hosts: Aaron Mueller and Chuck Rathert

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Different branches of the American church have different ideas about miracles - the more rationalistic branches of Christianity don’t place a high value on miracles, while more charismatic churches consider miracles to be a vital part of their Christian life. But all Christians believe that miracles are a part of scripture, and scripturally speaking, miracles happen all the time, as long as we understand that the line between “natural” and “supernatural” is a modern invention. Every part of creation is God’s, and he is intimately and sovereignly involved in every one of those parts. In other words, what we often think of as “natural” events are really miraculous, just so ordinary that we don’t notice their supernatural character.

In the Bible, miracles are a demonstration of God’s power. Jesus’ miracles are a demonstration that God’s power is upon him, and they lend credence to his prophetic claims. They do not prove he is God, anymore than Elijah’s miracles prove that he is God, but they are signs that God is at work in Jesus’ ministry, and his personal claims to be the one through whom the creator God is rescuing his world.

Hosts: Aaron Mueller and Chuck Rathert

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The great redemptive event of the Bible is the exodus from Israel out of Egypt. God’s plan and actions to rescue his people from slavery form the foundational backdrop for how we understand his heart. But then why do so many texts in scripture seem to accept slavery as a permissible fact? We can find the main answer to this question in the difference between how contemporary people try to solve problems and how God actually solves problems.

Unlike modern politicians or social media users, the Bible hardly ever tries to solve problems through statements or public posturing. Instead, the biblical writers believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ–the good news that in the Messiah God has acted to rescue his creatures and creation from slavery to sin, death, and the Enemy–actually changes broken hearts to redeemed hearts, from the inside out. So the Bible radically opposes slavery, but in a way that actually historically ended slavery: by calling people to the love of Jesus, a love which worked in their hearts to begin treating others–even slaves–as valuable people made in God’s image.

Hosts: Aaron Mueller and Chuck Rathert

Subscribe to the show at https://cacg.saintjamesglencarbon.org.

To comment on this episode, visit https://saintjamesglencarbon.org/cacg-ep121.