Redemption

Upon reading this fourth chapter of Plantiga's book, I found that I am beginning to like the style of Plantinga. He tells history and puts in theology, explanations, and instructions for living a Christian life along the way. As he went through the early creation and years of man, I thought most hard about the part when God chose Abraham to be his chosen people. There’s something amazing about a God who wants to redeem and will do it through us if we are faithful. Abraham was faithful to God, so God chose him, still a sinner, to be the line through which He would save the world. This wasn’t the first time God did something like this. Before the world had been very sinful, but God saw one good man and chose to save him and his family when he destroyed the rest of the world with a flood. It is beautiful to me to serve a God that would save even if only one person on the entire earth was worth saving. It shows that he really cares about us. Many people think the flood story is a scary story of an angry God, but I see it as a story of the Love God has for those who are faithful to him.

Sidepoint: In class we briefly talked about whether or not it is good for animals to eat eachother as the lion will lay down with the lamb in shalom, but I think that the fact that the animals made the ark proves that there is goodness in them.

Here is a quote that I found interesting from Plantinga; “Ten Commandments, a set of requirements that people have to fulfill not in order to get rescued by God from slavery, but because they have been rescued.” I think that’s the best way to look at law. We can’t earn our salvation; we keep in accordance with God’s law as a response to our salvation. We have been redeemed and can no longer live in our sinful ways. There is a better life following Christ that we are now bound to follow.