A Topic without a Title?

Hey y'all,

For the Whinklings meeting this week we'll be at Karsten's new place at 7:30.
(See my email for address, details.)

I would like to talk about discernment of God's will, decision-making and the role of the Holy Spirit. I figured this topic applies to both us and probably many future clients we'll have who are seeking God's will for their life.

I read a book a while back called "Decision-making and the Will of God" by Garry Friesen that has really gotten me thinking. The book essentially argues that the "traditional view" of God's will (that there is a destiny, a "center of God's will" for each individual Christian's life, planned by God, that we each must seek out and discern) is not biblical. He suggests, instead, that Christians need only to seek out God's moral will and wisdom, revealed in His Word, to remain inside God's will. As for the "center of God's will," Friesen believes that this concept has been invented by well-meaning Evangelicals, and that it robs the Christian of God-given freedoms that we have to decide things for ourselves using God's wisdom and our own desires.

The off-putting "reductio ad absurdums" (to quote Hovis...haha) of Friesen's theory are that the concepts of destiny/fate, vocational calling, soulmates, etc. have no basis in Scripture. The idea that God has no specific plan for our lives goes against what I've been told all my life, so I'm a little disturbed by it, but then, some very good points are made in the book. I'm excited to discuss it with y'all and see what you think!

Lauren