Marriage, Sproul on Mercy, and Bible Arguments
Welcome back to The Think Institute Newsletter. Every Friday I send an email to our 1,000+ subscribers with an idea from me, a quote from somebody else, and something for you to think about. I hope it makes you think.
AN IDEA FROM ME
In Scripture, the cornerstone of the family is the marriage—the relationship between husband and wife. The word husband comes from two old words, hus (house) and bondi (holder). To be a husband is to be a householder, a dweller in, and manager of a household. The husband is the one who takes ownership of the household and responsibility for its members. On the human level, the husband assumes the duty of holding the household together.
Source: from my forthcoming book, The Bible Based Family. The men of the Hammer & Anvil Society are studying this together for the next seven weeks. Membership is closed now and will reopen Monday, March 4th. Learn more at: https://thethink.institute/society.
A QUOTE FROM SOMEBODY ELSE
“A frequent objection we hear is that if God knew in advance that we were going to sin, why did he create us in the first place? One philosopher stated the problem this way: ‘If God knew we would sin but could not stop it, then he is neither omnipotent nor sovereign. If he could stop it but chose not to, then he is neither loving nor benevolent.’ By this approach God is made to look bad no matter how we answer the question…
“But we must ask the really tough question: Is there any reason that a righteous God ought to be loving toward a creature who hates him and rebels constantly against his divine authority and holiness? The objection raised by the philosopher implies that God owes his love to sinful creatures. That is, the unspoken assumption is that God is obligated to be gracious to sinners. What the philosopher overlooks is that if grace is obligated it is no longer grace. The very essence of grace is that it is undeserved. God always reserves the right to have mercy upon whom he will have mercy. God may owe people justice, but never mercy.”
Source: R. C. Sproul, Chosen By God, (Sanford, Florida: Ligonier, 2022), 190–191.
SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT
Let's say one day you decide to share the message of the Bible with your neighbor. He says he's not a Christian, but that he'll believe in Jesus if you can prove that God exists. Here's the catch: he says you can't use arguments from the Bible to do so, because he doesn't believe in it. What do you do?
If you write back to me with how you would respond, I will let you know what I think. Reply to this email or reach out at https://thethink.institute/contact.
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Lord willing, I’ll talk to you again next week.
In Christ,
Joel Settecase
Executive Director
The Think Institute
P. S. Please pray for me as I finish writing my apologetics book, which has been over three years in the making. In the meantime, you can listen to me being interviewed on The Particular Baptist Podcast about how to defend your faith the Bible’s way, here: https://thethink.institute/articles/how-to-defend-your-faith-the-bibiles-way. And visit The Particular Baptist’s site here: https://theparticularbaptist.net.