Monday 19 April 2010

Decisions

Peter Masters makes a distinction between decisions and decisions. He criticises 'the new view' for repeatedly insisting that God has not given any instruction in the New Testament for beleivers to seek his will about any of the great issues in life, 'not where to live, whom to marry, not even whether to seek to enter the ministry of the Word' (page 13).

The first thing to say in response to this is that the 'new view' does encourage us to seek God's 'moral will' in such issues. In the example of marriage, Jenson and Payne point to the commands of Scritpure for the Christian chosing a spouse (an unmarried, beleiver, of the opposite sex); and the characteristics that Scripture teaches we should look for in a spouse. Friesen also speaks of the value of wise counsel, and the use of common sense.

The second thing to point out is that Master's discinction between routine matters, 'and matters directly relating to the journey of life' (page 16) is unconvincicing. Decisions that may seem routine can be life-shaping. For example, I may decide to drive to the shops, rather than walk, and end up knocking down a child. Also we see an example of the immense freedom given to the Christian on life-shaping issues as Paul advises the Corinthians:

A woman is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, but he must belong to the Lord (1 Cor. 7:39).
Having taken on board the command of Scripture to marry only someone that 'belongs to the Lord', and presumably being wise enough to ask for the counsel of others; the widow has the freedom to marry 'anyone she wishes.' She doesn't have to wait for an impression or 'sign' telling her whether God wants her to marry Tony or Tim, she could marry whichever one she wanted.

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