Garry

Perhaps my understanding of the nature of God’s will was biblically deficient. Maybe there was a better way to understand how God guides.

Decision Making, like many books before and after it, seeks to clarify God’s teaching on personal guidance.

It appears that what has become the traditional view was developed by British and American Bible teachers connected with the Keswick Movement.

Rather our concern must focus on which understanding best expresses the teaching of Scripture. This book will seek to fairly critique what has become the traditional view, and then offer a biblical alternative.

God’s guidance according to the way of wisdom can be summarized in four simple statements:

1. Where God commands, we must obey.

2. Where there is no command, God gives us freedom (and responsibility) to choose.

3. Where there is no command, God gives us wisdom to choose.

4. When we have chosen what is moral and wise, we must trust the sovereign God to work all the details together for good.

In the Bible, the term “God’s will” most often refers to all the commands, principles, and promises that God has revealed in the Scriptures.

God’s moral will. It is fully conveyed in the Bible and so does not have to be “found”—just read, learned, and obeyed.

The principle actually is not as radical as it may sound. It does not say that God does not care what we decide. It does not mean that there is no further guidance from God (there are two more principles). It does not say that our decision does not matter or that we can do our own selfish thing. It does say that we are morally free to decide. This freedom is God-given. But alongside that freedom is a God-given responsibility to decide.

Grasping the reality of freedom and responsibility has resulted in a very common response to the first edition of the book: “This book is both liberating and sobering. With freedom comes relief that I am not missing God’s will. At the same time, being responsible for my decisions means that I cannot blame bad decisions on God.”

The second principle is the point where I part company with the traditional view. (It has been called “heretical” by opponents, “revolutionary” and “liberating” by those who have been transformed by it.) This principle must be denied by proponents of the traditional view or their position cannot stand. It starts to answer the question, “What do you do when there is no specific command in the Bible to determine your decision?”

Where there is no command, God gives us freedom (and responsibility) to choose.

I think there are problems with Bill Thompson’s outline! Ted Bradford is not spiritually defective; the traditional view is biblically deficient.