Greetings to all the saints! (And everybody else.)
Without an understanding of absolute vs. relative perspectives, the Scriptures seem to contradict themselves in many places. But since the Scriptures NEVER contradict themselves (because they are inspired by the holy spirit of God), then perhaps it would behoove us all to perfect our understanding of these perspectives.
The biggest difference between these two perspectives is this: anything viewed in a relative perspective always has a cause, whereas, anything viewed from the highest possible perspective—God's perspective—HAS no cause, because God is the ultimate (the absolute) cause of everything.
Only a few Scriptures show us the absolute perspective—Scriptures like Ephesians 1:11 ("God is operating all in accord with the counsel of His own will") and 2 Corinthians 5:18 ("All is of God"). The absolute perspective never ceases being true. But most of the time in Scripture, we are not considering the absolute perspective, i.e., the absolute cause of everything. Rather, we are
looking at relative causes. For instance, Jesus was crucified because the Jews were jealous of Him. True? Yes. But this is a relative perspective only. This perspective is TRUE, but it's limited. To look at this thing from the highest possible viewpoint, God willed (Ephesians 1:11) for His Son to be crucified. It was ultimately (absolutely) of God (2 Corinthians 5:18).
One of the biggest mistakes that anyone can make when interpreting Scripture is to consider relative causes and assume that they are absolute causes. This carelessness (it is SO common) leads to some of the most erroneous (and stupidest; and God-defaming) doctrines known to man.
Someone untrained in considering perspectives, for instance, will read in Revelation 3:20, "Lo! I stand at the door and am knocking. If ever anyone should be hearing My voice and opening the door, I will also be coming in to him and dining with him, and he with Me," and they will mistakenly assume that this is ABSOLUTE truth. In other words, they will assume that the reason some
people are opening the Jesus door and others aren't is because these "choosers" are the masters of their own destinies and choosings, and nothing whatsoever causes them to make decisions. This mistake leads to the false teaching of Human Free Will.
The teaching of Human Free Will is not only false, it is insufferably arrogant. Oh—and have I mentioned that it is also stupid? I see that I have. Very well. Let's focus for now on the stupidity.
Human Free Will is a stupid teaching because it is ignorant of the fact that there is a CAUSE behind whether or not a person opens or ignores the Jesus door. Remember? Unless we consider a thing from the GOD point of view, we are ALWAYS considering that thing from a relative perspective. What is the ABSOLUTE cause of someone opening or not opening the Jesus door? That's easy. Just
read absolute verses like Ephesians 1:11 and 2 Corinthians 5:18, and you will have your answer.
I made this audio in the fall of 1997, in Almont, Michigan. It became a part of something I called, "The Sovereignty Series," an 8-part series recorded on analog audio cassettes that I distributed back then in plastic cassette tape albums. I probably distributed over 500 copies of this series. But it is now the spring of 2021 (can you believe it?) and no one has cassette players
anymore. Woe is us!
Not so fast. A fellow believer by the name of Rodney Paris has taken this entire series, digitized it with some really cool video attached, and made it available on the most popular and widest-spread platform possible: YouTube. (Who, in 1997, could have predicted the existence of anything like YouTube?)
I commend this audio/video presentation to you. I am happy with it. What makes me happiest is that truth is timeless. This message shines as brightly today as it did twenty-four years ago. Rodney and I greet all the saints all around the world. Dig into this feast and pass it on.
—Martin Zender
Ft. Lauderdale, FL
