Discussion Jumpstarter
Study leader reference - not a definitive answer
Question 3
He uses the weather-forecast illustration to distinguish foreknowledge from causation; where do you see Christians today subtly collapse God’s foreknowledge into God’s causation, and what pastoral or spiritual consequences follow from that collapse (for obedience, blame, prayer, or despair)?
Another way to ask: Where do Christians today confuse God knowing what will happen with God making it happen? What happens to things like obedience, blame, prayer, or hopelessness when people mix those up?
Discussion Jumpstarter
Direct Answer
Based on the speaker’s teaching, Christians collapse foreknowledge into causation when they treat God’s knowing as God’s making—especially regarding sin, unbelief, or falling away. The spiritual consequence is that people blame God, lose urgency to obey, and can drift toward fatalism or despair.
- He states clearly: “His foreknowledge is not the cause of our believing… obeying or enduring.”
- His illustration: forecasters “hit… right on the mark… but they didn’t cause it.”
- He contrasts Luther’s view: “If we’re lost, he predestined us to be lost. Nothing we can do to change any of that.”
- He insists, “If I rebel, it’s not because He made me that way… it’s because I chose.”
- He warns that free will doesn’t remove God’s rule: “God is still ultimately in control… He can and he does intervene,” but he “doesn’t micromanage.”
- Practical fallout implied: if God “plays games” with impossible commands, obedience becomes pointless and punishment feels unjust.