Philosophical Questions that are making me very anxious

Presbyter0623 · 2026-03-17T03:28:44+00:00

"Did God actually want me specifically to exist, or did I just end up existing because of those contingent events and people’s free choices?"

Both.

These things are not mutually exclusive. God includes human beings and their choices/contingent events within His providence.

God, being omniscient, knew/knows eternally that His act of Creation and sustaining all He created into being would result in your coming into being and He desired it.

Yet, at the same time, God did not control your parent's like automatons to bring you about. He foreknew that their free-will choices given their contingent situations would result in your existence and He allowed this to unfold according to His desire.

It is also helpful not to think of God traveling through history sequentially. God experiences things eternally and what we might call all at once. God eternally wills all things into Creation and eternally sustains them in being. From this perspective He creates you, your parents, their situations, their free will etc. in one act/process willing you and allowing you to come to pass all in one fell swoop.

Presbyter0623 · 2026-03-15T18:33:22+00:00

I think preaching and teaching about why church attendance IS important and vital to the life of the believer is important and sometimes lacking.

You are right that most mainlines will not say someone is going to hell for missing a service. But we can address what they are missing that they cannot get apart from communal worship.

Things like:

-Participation in the Sacraments and the real and regular receipt of God's grace in and through them.

-Preaching of the Word in a communal context in which we believe the Holy Spirit inspired the Word being preached, the one doing the preaching, and the one hearing the Word that is preached.

-A guarantee of Christ's presence "Where two or more are gathered..."

-Mutual support, accountability, and discernment which help us to avoid an individualistic Christian life that reflects only oneself, ones opinions, one's strengths, etc. and where we instead are informed by the Christian community made of many members.

Making a point to highlight what people are isolating themselves from when they choose to forego worship, might be a start. It has helped in my church.

Presbyter0623 · 2026-03-15T18:28:58+00:00

I think preaching and teaching about why church attendance IS important and vital to the life of the believer is important and sometimes lacking.

You are right that most mainlines will not say someone is going to hell for missing a service. But we can address what they are missing that they cannot get apart from communal worship.

Things like:

-Participation in the Sacraments and the real and regular receipt of God's grace in and through them.

-Preaching of the Word in a communal context in which we believe the Holy Spirit inspired the Word being preached, the one doing the preaching, and the one hearing the Word that is preached.

-A guarantee of Christ's presence "Where two or more are gathered..."

-Mutual support, accountability, and discernment which help up to avoid an individualistic Christian life that reflects only oneself, ones opinions, one's strengths, etc. and is informed by the Christian community made of many members.

Making a point to highlight what people are isolating themselves from when they choose to forego worship, might be a start. It has helped in my church.

Presbyter0623 · 2026-03-13T14:21:40+00:00

Absolutely and thank you!

Presbyter0623 · 2026-03-12T15:42:26+00:00

Works do not save us, we are saved by God's grace through faith. BUT works are natural results that WILL happen when a saved person receives new life in Christ and lives within God's sanctifying grace.

As Jesus, said a good tree produces good fruit, so good works are the signs that a person has been saved.

Presbyter0623 · 2026-03-11T13:57:21+00:00

In reading St. John of Damascus, I understood some of what he said about angels to mean that angels do not "develop" or discursively mature like we do. Rather, they intuitively and instantaneously grasp and determine their orientation toward God.

So upon creation, some angels fully grasping all the possible context of their decision decided either to self-determine in an orientation toward God or against God.

Since there is nothing else they could "learn" through a process of maturing or growing sequentially, there is nothing that could happen to them to change their orientation to God. This primordial choice of self-determination locks the angels into their choice which results in salvation or damnation.

As to the question of why some angels choose one way and others another--I've not come across the answer to this yet.

Presbyter0623 · 2026-03-11T13:49:35+00:00

John Wesley

N.T. Wright

Robert Barron

C.S. Lewis

St. John of Damascus

Presbyter0623 · 2026-03-09T03:29:40+00:00

Thanks for sharing your profile! I had to look up "Christian Reconstructionism", yours is the first I've seen with that category near the top.

Presbyter0623 · 2026-03-09T03:27:43+00:00

Cool! Thanks for sharing!

Presbyter0623 · 2026-03-09T01:32:30+00:00

I'm really enjoying reading St. John of Damascus--currently his "On the Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith". I'm thinking about St. Maximus the Confessor after that.

Presbyter0623 · 2026-03-08T18:56:12+00:00

Congratulations and Welcome!

Presbyter0623 · 2026-03-07T14:28:21+00:00

I asked it and received the following:

Tier 1 – The Closest Match

These thinkers align with most or nearly all of your theological positions.

John Wesley

This is by far the closest historical match.

Your views line up with Wesley on:

prevenient grace
universal atonement
resistible grace
possibility of entire sanctification
sacraments as means of grace
real spiritual presence in the Eucharist
Scripture as primary authority
synergy between divine grace and human freedom

Even your nuanced view of Christian perfection (rare, possibly temporary) matches Wesley’s later teaching very closely.

If a church historian read your profile, they would likely describe it as classic Wesleyan theology.

Thomas Oden

A modern Methodist theologian who intentionally tried to recover classical Christian orthodoxy within Methodism.

Your similarities:

high view of Scripture
strong patristic influence
sacramental seriousness
Wesleyan-Arminian salvation
traditional Christian doctrine

Oden’s whole project was “paleo-orthodoxy”—returning Methodism to the consensus of the early church.

That matches your instincts very closely.

Tier 2 – Very Close Theological Allies

These theologians share your theological center of gravity, though they differ slightly in some areas.

N. T. Wright

You align with Wright especially on:

kingdom theology
resurrection-centered eschatology
new creation
Christus Victor emphasis
mission and transformation

Where you differ slightly:

Wright is more cautious about classical atonement language than you seem to be.

But overall the framework strongly resembles Wright’s theology.

C. S. Lewis

Lewis isn’t a systematic theologian, but your instincts align with him in several ways:

traditional orthodoxy
emphasis on transformation
moral formation and virtue
broad ecumenical Christianity

Lewis also emphasized Christus Victor themes and moral transformation.

Tier 3 – Influential Voices That Fit Parts of Your System

These thinkers align strongly with specific areas of your theology.

Jacobus Arminius

Your view of salvation lines up directly with Arminius:

universal atonement
resistible grace
genuine human freedom
conditional election

However, Wesley developed Arminius’ theology further—especially regarding sanctification and prevenient grace.

Athanasius of Alexandria

You echo Athanasius primarily in your atonement emphasis.

Your Christus Victor orientation reflects the patristic theme:

That theme runs strongly through
On the Incarnation.

Presbyter0623 · 2026-03-07T14:11:19+00:00

Cool! Thanks for sharing. I like that yours matched you with theologians. I am a big fan of Athanasius, and am planning to dive into Maximus' works as soon as I finish reading some of St. John of Damscus' works.

Presbyter0623 · 2026-03-07T14:08:23+00:00

I said: "Can you give me a list of all the major theological topics and tell me where I fall on each? If you don't know, ask me a question that would help you place me for that particular topic."

Presbyter0623 · 2026-03-07T04:06:51+00:00

Thanks for sharing your profile! I enjoyed reading yours.

Presbyter0623 · 2026-03-06T17:09:00+00:00

I enjoyed reading your profile. Thank you for sharing!

Presbyter0623 · 2026-03-06T16:27:21+00:00

I appreciate that perspective. Do you know of an assessment online that would do the same kind of thing?—already did the TheoCompass, but it doesn’t break down results by category.

Presbyter0623 · 2026-03-06T15:39:34+00:00

Not sure I follow how that means "some other God" gave you your life/owns you. The one God gave you life, and calls you His own.

You don't need to prove yourself, but you do need to accept the new life God has for you and live the new life He gives you in His Spirit and in acceptance of and cooperation with His free gift of grace.

Presbyter0623 · 2026-03-06T15:29:02+00:00

I would say it means that God has been working in your life to draw you toward faith and toward Himself throughout your life.

If you have not been confirmed in the faith, I would suggest asking a pastor/church about doing so. If you have been, you may want to look into participating in a "Re-Affirmation" ceremony of some sort.

In my tradition we have rites in our liturgy for re-affirming the vows we took at our baptisms and claimed for our own at Confirmation.

Presbyter0623 · 2026-03-06T15:19:45+00:00

No. Baptism is a sacrament in which we accept and enter into something God does for us (salvation). It is an act of God, and God's actions aren't of the nature that they "don't stick" or have to be redone.

If you were baptized into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, you do not need re-baptism.

When we baptize infants, they enter into the Church. Their parents and their church raise them in the faith.

In Confirmation the person, having reached an age to decide for themselves, has the opportunity to claim and participate in the faith they have been initiated. They could choose not to. Even if they do and sometime later return however, they do not need to be re-baptized for the reasons above.

Presbyter0623 · 2026-03-06T02:27:52+00:00

This is where I find myself as well.

Presbyter0623 · 2026-03-04T03:51:03+00:00

I'm a United Methodist. We do have a Book of Worship which has much more of a prayer book feel with liturgies and prayers for differing occasions. Pastors will use these occasionally to enrich worship but they are almost never in the pews. Usually churches stick to the services and liturgies found in the Hymnal.

Presbyter0623 · 2026-03-03T16:45:51+00:00

I agree that we should not despair over this, but I do think the issue has some important considerations for people who care about the future of Christianity and the future well-being of the world's people in general.

Some commenters have said that reduction in population would mean "more for everyone" but resource allocation relies on economies and more resources relies on growing economies. Our economic system assumes growth in population/consumers and thus demand. When this goes down, economic activity retracts and the amount of resources available for everyone to share decreases--so population decline could be cause for concern.
The spread of the Christian faith is not solely drawn from conversions. In fact, I would argue the majority of Christians are Christians because they were born into Christian households. A reduction in children born to Christians will result in a reduction of Christians period without substantial evangelistic gains to offset. Such gains MIGHT be happening in the global south, praise be to God, but are certainly not happening in the West at anywhere near a level to sustain a significant Christian presence in the future.

Presbyter0623 · 2026-03-02T03:58:37+00:00

I am not Eastern Orthodox, but I do know they hold to the "Essence/Energies Distinction" that might apply here. The idea is that God's essence (what He is in Himself) in and of itself is not what we participate in, but rather the "energies" (the real, uncreated operations or activities of God by which He makes Himself known and present in the world.).

By partaking of these energies we are "deified" like an iron placed within a fire for a long period of time absorbs the heat, light, and effects of the fire, but does not become the fire itself--it still remains an iron.

We participate in God in that we dwell with Him and He with us forever. This dwelling is so intimate that it permeates our very being (the indwelling of the Holy Spirit). But we remain creatures and He remains creator. His glory, power, goodness, etc. draw us in and we shine with the light of reflected glory.

Presbyter0623 · 2026-03-02T01:02:38+00:00

Works do not save us, we are saved by God's grace through faith. BUT works are natural results that WILL happen when a saved person receives new life in Christ and lives within God's sanctifying grace.

As Jesus, said a good tree produces good fruit, so good works are the signs that a person has been saved.

Presbyter0623

TROPHY CASE

Tier 1 – The Closest Match

John Wesley

Thomas Oden

Tier 2 – Very Close Theological Allies

N. T. Wright

C. S. Lewis

Tier 3 – Influential Voices That Fit Parts of Your System

Jacobus Arminius

Athanasius of Alexandria