Pray for my Dad

My Father, who is a very active 82 year old, has been having some heart problems over the last few months. Yesterday he underwent a heart-cath at Southeastern Medical Center in Dothan Alabama. The Doctor discovered that he has two severely blocked and hardened arteries leading to his heart. The Doctor was able to fix one artery with stents, but he said he had a very difficult time getting the hardened artery to open up and had to use several stents which caused a tear in the lining of the artery wall. The Doctor almost sent him to surgery right then, but he got the tear to lay down in place and put another stent over it to hold it in place while it heals.

At this point the Doctor wanted to consult with a heart surgeon about what would be the best way to proceed with the care of my dad (more stents for the other artery, or open heart bypass surgery). After consulting with a heart surgeon it was decided that they would attempt to fix the other artery with stents next Tuesday (Nov. 24th), and if things do not go well they will do open heart bypass surgery.

I would really appreciate everyone remembering my father in your prayers… his name is William A. (Bill) Alford.

“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” (Rom.8:28)

Grace Always,
Greg

Prayer and the Doctrine of "Free Will".

(This post is taken from a conversation being held over on Wade Burleson's Blog)

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Prayer is simply incompatible with the doctrine of “free will”.

Someone (I cannot remember who) once said; “We are all Calvinist on our knees.” If I am praying for God to save my child, I am asking God to violate his “free will”. It cannot be otherwise.

If I truly believe in the doctrine of “free will” then what exactly am I asking God to do for my child? Anything God does that will influence my child in the slightest way will be a violation of his “free will”. Anything God does that will influence the will of my child that he does not do for all children (no matter how small the influence) is an act of “Election”.

However, if I start with the understanding that the will is not free, but that the will of my unregenerate child is in bondage (a slave to sin) then that changes everything. Then my prayer to God for my child is that God will “free” the will of my child; so that my child may indeed, of his now “freed” will, choose to embrace the grace of God.

The best treatment of this subject is not Luther in ‘The bondage of the will’ but instead John Calvin’s ‘The Bondage and Liberation of the Will’, subtitled “A Defense of the Orthodox Doctrine of Human Choice against Pighius” published by Baker Academic. Notice that subtitle! Calvin is defending the doctrine of “Human Choice”.

If you do not have this book and you are an honest seeker of truth then I highly recommend you purchase it and read it with Bible and pen in hand. You can pruchase it from monergismbooks.com at the following link.

http://www.monergismbooks.com/Bondage-and-Liberation-of-the-Will-p-16201.html

Grace Always,

Greg