What sayest thou?

Theological question

Does the bible teach negative causation?

Let me explain, a few years ago a missionary came to my church and said that we are responsible for the souls of men, that people are going to hell, because we are not evangelism them. Now this dear missionary man is a Pentecostal, at least I gathered that, from many other things he was propagating. My pastor, the following Sunday, abrogated some of the issues and cleared up some of the false teaching this missionary had promoted. Including the belief that we are the reason that some go to hell. Of course people don't go to hell because of us, rather because of their own sin, they are headed there already; therefore that is why they, and all of us, need the gospel; namely Jesus Christ Himself, for Christ alone too reconcile us to God.

However this missionary got me to thinking. We Calvinist have no problem believing that we can be the means (positive causation) to save some. How come we do not believe that we might be the means (negative causation) to keep others from salvation, or that the neglect of caring out the great commission, might fulfill God's negative decrees?

I have many more thoughts on the subject, and many scriptures I could of cited, but I want to hear your thoughts on the matter. Please remain biblical, and please don't use humanistic thinking. But let me hear from you. I will be out of town for a few days, some times my lap top does not work at the motel I stay at. So I will answer back from your comments as soon as I can. Again the question is " Does the bible teach negative causation?"

Do I Hate God?

Sometimes; actually many times things in life just don't seem to make sense. In the area of prayers being heard and answered I do not often understand God, and His ways. His ways, sometimes, feels cruel to me, that He is against me. That He has not heard my cries, that He has abandon me. The natural man would hate God.

Back in May 2000, I was to be married to a gal named Rebecca. Rebecca and I courted for two an a half years. We had met each other while in Mexico at what was called "The Mission", a handicap orphanage. Five months away from our wedding date, several interesting events occurred. I heard on the radio station on KLOVE, one of the band members of "Big Tent Revival" say, how he was to be almost married when he prayed that if it weren't God's will for them to be married, to make it known and cancel the marriage. I thought to myself "what a heavy payer? Can I pray something like that? Am I willing to pray something like that? Do I love God more than Rebecca?" So I pulled over my car, and prayed that "if it is your will Lord, that Rebecca and I should not be together, that it is best not to be married to her, then give me strength to call off the marriage or take her from me."

Mean while Rebecca and I did lots of group activities together. I had meant her in a group setting in Mexico. We both worked together at the "Solid Rock coffee shop " at the church we both attended. While in a group setting there was a guy name Chase, who hung out with us. One time a group of us male guys were together and Chase wanted prayer. Chase wanted prayer, for God to grant him a wife. He was lonely. I prayed for Chase that God would grant him a wife. Within a short few weeks I notice Chase was checking out my fiancee. And Rebecca notice too, and she told me she did not like it. I confronted the situation, and Chase said "that I should not be so insecure." I had much more to say to him. Within a couple more weeks Rebecca called off the marriage, she dumped me for Chase. My heart was ripped out of me, and stomped on. I could not believe it.
At this same time, my father died. And the church decided to cut all our hours way back, from my 40 hours a week to 10 hours a week, with only a three day notice. I found myself disagreeing with 80% of my pastors theology. I knew of many who were living immoral lives. Many people were sleeping with each other. I had just read the book "When Boy Meets Girl", and my thought was 'I want to go to a church like that, where there is accountability, and I want to meet my future wife like that'. So I went searching for another church. Plus I did not want to see my ex-fiancee with another man.

So God had answered both of my prayers. God had taken Rebecca from me, and had given Chase a wife. Chase and Rebecca got married shortly after my leaving. My fighter verse became Psalm 84:11b "No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly." So I figured Rebecca must of not been a good thing for me.

Fast forward to now, here I am still single. I must trust God, that in Christ he withholds no good thing from me. I just don't understand why it seems that God answers some of my prayers, and other He sometimes seems to tease me. To pray and pray, and it seems that God is working, bringing specific desires to be, or it seems to be before me, only to come to nothing. Does He not put desires in our hearts, will He not fulfill them. If I ask for bread, will He give me a stone? How am I suppose to reconcile these verses? Perhaps I am not to understand, but to trust Him. Psalm 84:12 says "O Lord of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you! I know through all the pain, Christ has always been good to me, and most of all He has given Himself to me. To live is Christ.


If I am ever to be married it will be a blood bought gift, purchased by Christ. It will not be my eloquence of speech nor my good looks (that's a joke), nothing but sheer grace. My mom says that I will never be married, cause I am the most assertive of my brothers. Their wives seem to be the leaders, it won't be that way with me. They have followed after my dad. It's not biblical. I seek to please God, and to trust Him fully, though much I do not understand . Must I understand? No, But I must trust Him. As a child I loved the old hymn "Trust and obey". It is as if God is asking me "do you love that old hymn, have you Daniel found it to be true, then I must inflict you, to make it true, to you". Trust and obey, for there is no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

On March 2006 i met a virgin Christian girl named Cheriluz in a Christian conference, she was 18 years old, i told her i love her...

A Hunger for God

"If we don't feel strong desires for the manifestations of the glory of God, it is not because we have drunk deeply and are satisfied. It is because we have nibbled so long at the table of the world. Our soul is stuffed with small things, and there is no room for the great". -John Piper

" If we are full of what the world offers, then perhaps a fast might express, or increase, our soul's appetite for God."

Back in last May, I was visiting a friend's church "The Open Bible Church" in the bay area. They had a John Piper book, that I had not seen before. "A Hunger for God" is the name of the book. A book on 'desiring God through fasting and prayer'. I purchased the book, and I decided to both read the book and try going on a fast. Now, on one hand you could count how many times I have fasted in my life. It is not a spiritual discipline that I have a handle on. I have found it very profitable though in the past. Usually the reasons why I have fasted, were because I needed direction in my life and/or there were big decisions to be made in my life. I have a humble, humiliating, funny story to go with my fasting in last May. On May 15, my pastor delivered a sermon in titled "Dying Well". Pastor Dale mentioned in his sermon, that whenever the pastor preaches on the subject of "death" or on "dying", we think perhaps we have jinx ourselves, and that someone close to us so now going to die. So we all ask ourselves, alright who is going to die now?

After church, a friend and I went to a local restaurant. I had just fasted for 14 days. Mistake one, don't try eating meat, when coming off a long fast. It is strange after two or three days you loose your hunger. I was not hungry, just wanted to celebrate coming off the fast. Mistake two. Don't eat fast. Eat very slow when coming off a fast. Normally I am a pretty slow eater. This day however I was eating quite fast. Again not because I was hungry, rather I had forgotten how good food tastes, so there I was enjoying all the deferent kinds of food flavors and textures. Mistake three. When fasting for a while the saliva juices slow way down, so drink plenty of fluids and again eat very slow. I was eating some meat when, all of a sudden, I swallowed some meat prematurely, and it got lodge in my throat. I started to choke, I reached for some water. Time slowed way, way, way down. My thought was, should I drink some water to make it down further, then I began to choke more. Now every eye in the restaurant was upon me, my friend was standing over me at this time wondering and asking me if he should do the heimlich maneuver. I am trying to tell him no. I could still breath, but not very well. I was wondering at the same time if this would be the day that I would die. Then finally I was able to cough up the chunk of meat. Talk about embarrassment, and humiliation. We did laugh, and we talked more about the sermon on, "Dying well". The day I almost died on some well done meat.

Back to the subject of fasting. Why fast? There are many good reason for this practice. Primarily though for creating an appetite for God. Piper in his book ..."Invites us to turn from the dulling effects of food and the dangers of idolatry, and to say with some simple fast: "THIS MUCH, O GOD, I WANT YOU."

Fasting feeds your faith...Your confidence begins to deepen. Your hope begins to rise, for you know you are doing what pleases the Lord. Your willingness to deny self and voluntarily to take up this added cross kindles an inner joy. Your faith begins to lay hold of God's promise more simply and more firmly.-Mighty Prevailing Prayer,P. 189.

Is fasting ever a bribe to get God to pay more attention to the petitions? No, a thousand times no. It is simply a way to make clear that we sufficiently reverence the amazing opportunity to ask help from the everlasting God, the Creator of the universe, to choose to put everything else aside and concentrate on worshiping, asking for forgiveness, and making our requests know-considering His help more important than anything we could do ourselves in our own strength and with our own ideas. -Edith Schaeffer