Maximum Possible Life

There is currently a theological point of view  known as “open theism” or “openness theology” going around certain parts of the Christian church. This has caused a lot of debate in the Body of Christ, and I must confess that I come down on the side of finding open theism incompatible with my own theological perspective. So, what is open theism? According to the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, it is the following: Open Theism is the thesis that, because God loves us and desires that we freely choose to reciprocate His love, He has made His knowledge of, and plans for, the future conditional upon our actions. Though omniscient, God does not know what we will freely do in the future. Though omnipotent, He has chosen to invite us to freely collaborate with Him in governing and developing His creation, thereby also allowing us the freedom to thwart His hopes for us. God desires that each of us freely enter into a loving and dynamic personal relationship with Him, and He has ...

1 Thessalonians 5:11 says, Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. We all have been beaten down by life to one degree or another. Here, Paul here suggests that part of true biblical brotherhood, what the New Testament calls koinonia, is helping each other get better. And one way we can get better—get built up—is through encouraging or affirming one another. How is it that encouragement can build us up? Well, primarily, affirmation helps us grow, both personally and spiritually, because when someone affirms us and believes in us, it helps free us to more fully manifest the person God created us to be. It can empower us to more fully live out our Ephesians 2:10 calling. One of the most amazing illustrations that I have ever seen of the power of affirmation to build someone up is my wife. My wife is an amazing, loving, vivacious, funny, gifted, servant-hearted woman of God. But she was not always like that. I mean, she always had that within her, b...