11,158
edits
William Branham and the Providence of God: Difference between revisions
William Branham and the Providence of God (view source)
Revision as of 18:32, 4 November 2020
, 4 years agono edit summary
(Created page with "{{Top of Page}} Did William Branham understand the biblical concept of the providence of God? =Full Quotes of William Branham= ''Knowing that in this dark hour of the c...") |
No edit summary |
||
| Line 2: | Line 2: | ||
Did William Branham understand the biblical concept of the providence of God? | Did William Branham understand the biblical concept of the providence of God? | ||
=What do we mean by the "Providence of God"?= | |||
Though the term '''providence''' is not found in Scripture, it has been traditionally used to summarize God’s ongoing relationship to his creation. When we accept the biblical doctrine of providence, we avoid four common errors in thinking about God’s relationship to creation: | |||
#The biblical doctrine is not deism (which teaches that God created the world and then essentially abandoned it), | |||
#nor pantheism (which teaches that the creation does not have a real, distinct existence in itself, but is only part of God), | |||
#but providence which teaches that though God is actively related to and involved in the creation at each moment, creation is distinct from him. | |||
#Moreover, the biblical doctrine does not teach that events in creation are determined by chance (or randomness), nor are they determined by impersonal fate (or determinism), but by God, who is the personal yet infinitely powerful Creator and Lord. | |||
We may define God’s providence as follows: | |||
:''God is continually involved with all created things in such a way that he | |||
::''(1) keeps them existing and maintaining the properties with which he created them; | |||
::''(2) cooperates with created things in every action, directing their distinctive properties to cause them to act as they do; and | |||
::''(3) directs them to fulfill his purposes.<ref>Wayne A. Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; Zondervan Pub. House, 2004), 315.</ref> | |||