Free Decision Making And The Will Of God: A Biblical Alternative To The Traditional View Ebooks Online
Does God Have a Perfect Will for Your Life? Does God have a perfect will for each Christian? Can you be absolutely certain of God’s specific will for your life? In this expanded twenty-fifth anniversary edition of his highly acclaimed work, Garry Friesen examines the prevalent view on God’s will today and provides a sound biblical alternative to the traditional teaching of how God guides us. This new edition includes these helpful resources: • Study guide for small groups • Responses to Frequently Asked Questions • Guide to painless Scripture memorization Friesen tackles the very practical issues of choosing a mate, picking a career, and giving in this fresh and liberating approach to decision making and the will of God. Story Behind the BookMost Christians have been taught how to find God’s will, yet many are still unsure whether they’ve found it. God does guide His people, but the question is, “How does He guide?” After “putting out a fleece” to decide which college to attend, Garry Friesen began pondering why it was so hard to find God’s will when he had so sincerely sought it. Was he the only one who did not have 100 percent clarity for every decision? Then a new possibility struck—perhaps his understanding of the nature of God’s will was biblically deficient. Maybe there was a better way to understand HOW God guides.From the Trade Paperback edition.
File Size: 4361 KB
Print Length: 530 pages
Publisher: Multnomah; Twenty-Fifth Anniversary, Revised and Updated ed. edition (October 5, 2009)
Publication Date: October 7, 2009
Sold by: Random House LLC
Language: English
ASIN: B002RLBKEA
Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray: Not Enabled
Word Wise: Enabled
Lending: Not Enabled
Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled
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You've heard it all before. You want to ask a girl out, but you don't know whether God wants you to ask that girl out. A friend wants to spend his summer on a mission trip, but after praying to know God's will in the situation he has received no clear response, so he lets the deadline for application pass. Another friend doesn't know whether God would have him go to university or Bible college. Conventional Christian wisdom says that God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life; the secret to the victorious Christian life, you think, is discovering what God's ideal is for you and following it.Think again.At least, that is the message of Garry Friesen's Decision Making and the Will of God. This wonderf ul book is a critique of what Friesen calls the "traditional" view of decision making: that God has an "individual will" for each life, a sort of agenda. To be within the will of God is to discover (through, prayer, inner peace, seeking mature counsel, laying out "fleeces," and so forth) what that agenda is, and stick to it. Missing out on God's agenda isn't necessarily living in sin, but it is settling for God's second best.Friesen points out many of the serious deficiencies in this model. First, it is not to be found in the Bible. The proof-texts given by traditional-view proponents to defend God's individual will are often better interpreted as referring to God's moral will - that is, right and wrong. While the traditional view is stressed for the "biggie" decisions, such as marriage or vocation, it is ignored for the regular decisions we make every day, such as what to eat or wear. When faced with otherwise equal choices, the traditional view insists only one of them is God's will, causing indecision.
This book is most relevant for all Christians who believe that the Bible truly is an accurate account of communication from the true and living God to all of humanity. The topic is quite important and very relevant in day-to-day living. It is difficult to give this book too high of a recommendation. I believe that it is the very best book, by far, written on the topic of "the will of God". The author, Garry Friesen, has written the entire book with an irenic spirit regarding those people who have a differing view. The book is lengthy, but that is a result of a detailed analysis of all of the relevant issues and passages of Scripture. I had read the original edition over 20 years ago. Although that book was excellent, this one is even better. As a young adult and a new Christian, I was taught the so-called "perfect or individual will of God" theory. Through the years, I have constantly read accounts and heard people use words and make decisions based on this (false) belief. All of the books and magazine articles which I've read, and sermons that I've heard, which advocate the "perfect or individual will of God" theory have all begun by assuming this view to be true, and then proceed to give directions about how to actually find God's will. None of them have ever begun with a detailed analysis of Scripture in an attempt to justify the original theory. In direct contrast, Friesen does begin with a careful analysis of the relevant passages of Scripture, and then bases his general principles upon them. He gives a detailed, clear and thorough refutation of the "perfect or individual will of God" theory and also briefly states that the theory is relatively new, not having been advocated or taught by anyone prior to around the year 1875.
I wish I would have know about this book a year before I read it for the first time. I used to believe God lead through inner impressions. I was always told prior to reading this book that the Bible taught we should NEVER make a decision on the basis of what our hearts desire, (even if on the surface the options were not unbiblical or unwise) but always "seek the leading [still small voice] of the Lord". God (under this system) was always testing our faith by asking us to give up our hearts desire. When searching for a mate in the early 80's I thought God was ordering me to give up one of the best christian girls I've ever known (she had everything I wanted a christian girl to have- godliness, brains, a sense of humor, the right personality and demeaner, same interests and ,yes, good looks too). I did give her up. At the same time I thought God was ordering me to marry (through "the leading of the still small voice") a girl I had no interest in. I was in absolute misery. By the time I read Friesen's book the girl I had desired to marry was already engaged to someone else. The one girl I didn't want to marry I thought God was ordering me to marry later confessed to being an unbeliever. She was even thinking of joining a cult. I'm still single today. The doctrine of "following inner impression" has cost me dearly. It shows that even "spiritual sounding" doctrines can have a devastating impact when not in conformity to true doctrine. Reading Friesen's book has saved me from further heartaches. The Word of God really teaches freedom. If God gives us liberty we should enjoy his blessing.
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