Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: jhpb@garage.att.com (Joseph H. Buehler) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Predestination and Judgement Message-ID: Date: 22 Jul 89 21:41:50 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: AT&T Bell Labs (Liberty Corner) Lines: 19 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu Theodore Ts'o wrote: In the end, it boils down to whether or not you think the (human, physical) authors of the books of the Bible and the Church Fathers who chose which books belonged in the canon are human or not. In order to believe that the Bible is inerrant, you either have to believe that they were infallible --- in which case you are doing the same thing which most non-catholics abhor: believing that human, finite persons could be infallible --- or, you have to believe that God raped those peoples' minds and forced them to write something which was spritually perfect and without error, in spite of the finitude and human failings. Unfortunately, I cannot believe either. You are assuming a relationship between grace and free will here that I don't find reasonable. Why can't God have someone infallibly do something without violating their free will? Why should He have to violate the nature of His creatures in order to guide them to their destination?