Australian Professor Dies & Was Shown the Future - But It Wasn't Fixed | Near Death Experience

You know, near-death experiences like Colin, uh, Colin's and, and others give us this fascinating perspective on this longstanding debate, uh, about God's sovereignty and how that reconciles with this idea of free will.

And maybe you've wrestled with, with questions like this.

Like, g- does God have a plan for my life? A- and if so, you know, why am I going through all this difficulty? Or what if I miss His plan with my bad choices? Am I just gonna have to settle for, you know, off-roading for the rest of my life, or is it possible to get back on His, His path and His purpose? And then you think, "But wait, if God knows the future and has a plan already laid out for me for the beginning of time, what difference do my choices make? I mean, a- am I just a robot? Uh, does it really matter what I choose? Is everything predetermined?" But then again, if people can choose good or evil and God doesn't control them, how can God be in control? How can the future be sure? Okay, so that is the dizzying merry-go-round of questions regarding God's sovereignty, you know, God's all-powerful, all-knowing rule over all He created, and this concept of human free will, that God has actually given us the ability to decide, to choose freely, even against His will.

Now, in Christian theological circles, there's been this debate, and it's gotten heated and in fact very nasty, uh, you know, 500 or so years ago, um, about this.

It's often characterized as Calvinistic versus Arminian theology.

Calvinists emphasize God's sovereignty, uh, His sovereign knowledge, predestination.

Um, many, uh, denominations like Presbyterians or Reform churches hold to this view.

Now, in extreme views, it becomes almost deterministic.

You know, like our cho- our, our, our choices are not really free will choices.

It's God working to make sure we choose as He wills.

And I've even heard extreme views, you know, that say things like, you know, "Your father sexually abusing you as a child was God's will," because everything happens according to God's will, which I've said in other podcasts.

But as a pastor, oh, my gosh, I've...

You know, h- having tried to minister to people who have been abused by evil in all kinds of ways, that just makes God into a monster.

That pushes people away from God, and I don't think it reconciles with scripture.

It basically is calling evil good, and it doesn't reconcile with Jesus teaching us to pray, "Your will be done on Earth." You know, that would be a farce if God's will is always done on Earth.

But that's an extreme, and I would say that most Calvinists hold to a view of free will as well, but would emphasize sovereignty.

Now, on the other side of the theological debate, um, Arminians emphasize free will, and this is not the country of Armenia.

This is, uh...

Armenia.

This is, um, following a guy named Arminius, uh, hundreds of years ago.

Anyway, many Methodists, some Baptists, some Pentecostals, and others lean this way.

Now, the danger here comes in emphasizing free will over God's plan and God's sovereignty, and there can be this, this fear that gets in- instilled in losing your salvation and being cast out by God if you don't have perfect holiness or live a near-sinless life.

And the truth is, I've not met many sinless people.

Actually, I've met a few who claim that.

Um, I didn't wanna be around them.