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From: brengle@hplabsc.UUCP (Tim Brengle)
Newsgroups: net.religion.christian
Subject: Presumptions
Message-ID: <2802@hplabsc.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 1-Nov-85 17:45:13 EST
Article-I.D.: hplabsc.2802
Posted: Fri Nov  1 17:45:13 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 5-Nov-85 05:01:19 EST
Organization: Hewlett Packard Labs, Palo Alto CA
Lines: 22

What shall we say, then?  That God is unjust?  Not at all.  For he said to
Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I wish, I will take pity on whom I wish."
So then, it does not does not depend on what man wants or does, but only on
God's mercy.  For the scripture says to Pharaoh, "I made you king for this
very purpose, to use you to show my power, and to make my name known in all
the world."  So then, God has mercy on whom he wishes, and he makes stubborn
whom he wishes.

One of you, then, will say to me, "If this is so, how can God find fault with
a man?  Who can resist God's will?"  But who are you, my friend, to talk back
to God?  A clay pot does not ask the man who made it, "Why did you make me like
this?"  After all, the man who makes the pots has the right to use the clay as
he wishes, and to make two pots from the same lump of clay, one for special
occasions, and the other for ordinary use.

And the same is true of what God has done. He wanted to show his wrath and to
make his power known.  So he was very patient in enduring those who were the
objects of his wrath, who were ready to be destroyed.  And he wanted also to
reveal his rich glory, which was poured out on us who were the objects of his
mercy, those of us whom he has prepared to receive his glory.

Romans 9:14-23, Good News for Modern Man