1st Chronicles 28:9
1st Chronicles 28:9
As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a whole heart and a willing mind; for the LORD searches all hearts, and understands every intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever.
One member of The Society of Evangelical Arminians explains: “If God had pre-determined everything, then this statement is deeply superfluous and even false. Calvinists might play their metaphor card at this point, but that’s nonsense. A cry for ‘metaphor’ would undermine the clarity (perspicuity) of Scripture here. Second, there is a powerful statement from God Himself concerning Solomon’s conditional covenantal fellowship with God: ‘...but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever.’ There’s room for healthy debate over whether this rejection is about salvation and/or Solomon’s royal vocation. Either way, though, this is an explicit endorsement of conditional election. Calvinists would have to claim that God foreordained Solomon’s fellowship with God and Solomon’s idolatrous turn from God--all for the sake of His glory! Imagine that! God ordains idolatry for the sake of His own glory, even though He commands the opposite in the Scriptures. Isn’t it wonderful, ‘God-centered’ theology, to sacrifice God’s character and testimonies on an altar to His sovereignty?” (SEA)
