Tag: Unchangeable Purposes of God

Advent Season and God’s Unchanging Purposes

I would like to invite readers to listen to Anna Madsen’s rendition of “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,” an 8th-century hymn traditionally associated with the Advent season. The first verse of this solemn hymn says: O come, O come, Emmanuel, And ransom captive Israel, That mourns in lonely exile here Until the Son of God appear. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel. Christian Advent, or Adventus, is the four-week period before Christmas in the Christian liturgical year. Each week encompasses one of the following themes: hope, peace, joy, and love. The Advent season serves as a remembrance …

Are the eternal purposes of God unchangeable?

Related to the doctrine of the immutability of God —that God, his character, his promises, his covenant are unchangeable— it is God’s eternal purposes. Both Christianity and Judaism affirm God’s character as unchangeable. However, when we look for God’s purposes, we find different understandings of them. In this respect, I will briefly present in this blog post the positions of well-known modern theologians —who belong to four different traditions— on how they approach God’s eternal purposes. First Approach: Evangelical Open Theism God at War: The Bible and Spiritual Conflict, written by Gregory Boyd, defends the position known as open theism. …

What does Gregory Boyd think of the Powers?

One of the current evangelical theologians who has explored the figure of the Devil/the Powers is Gregory Boyd with his 2014 book titled, God at War: The Bible and Spiritual Conflict. From Boyd’s understanding of the Powers, the personalization and the reality of these entities in the world is noteworthy. Although I disagree with Boyd’s interpretation of God’s providence and other topics, he makes a good point by calling the church not to ignore the reality of the evil forces in the world. Dr. Boogaart, about Boyd’s God at War book and his understanding of the Devil, states: [For Boyd, the …