A topic for Sven

One result of our recent Sunday school teacher has been renewed interest in discussing Calvinism. OK, not by very many people in the class who were burned out of that discussion a couple years ago, but by a few people. I realized last week that the whole discussion about God's will hinges on how a person defines "will." The two ways to look at it are: 1) what God wants or desires; or 2) what God allows. Which of those definitions you use will have a serious affect on how you view Calvinism. I tend to use the first definition, but I realized that our class' resident Calvinist tends to use the second. That's why I've never been totally bitten by the Calvinist bug. To say that cancer is God's will sounds pretty pathetic if you are using the first definition. It's a slight bit more palatable if you use the second. Perhaps it's mostly semantics, but it makes a huge difference in people's ears. Maybe Calvinists need to find a new word instead of "will." Most people unfamiliar with their thinking recoil at how "will" gets used, and for good reason.