Old memories, how vivid they can be. I recall quite well when my brother was born. At the time, I was three years old. My first day of kindergarten at Lakeside Elementary school still stands out in my mind. And although it’s been more than 30 years, I remember my last act as a high school senior as though it were yesterday. In my case, I finished a typing test then went to get lunch at the neighborhood McDonalds with a friend.
But there’s something else I remember from my youth. I remember being afraid of Romans 9. It was part of the Bible. That I didn’t question. But Paul’s great chapter on election and reprobation, his teaching about predestination, did not sit well with me. If I looked at the chapter at all, it was with the same sort of apprehension that a man behind in his payments looks and his credit card bill – out of the corner of his eye, hoping against hope that he won’t see what he knows is there.
By nature, I like to think that I’m in charge, the captain of my own ship. And Romans 9 just ran roughshod over all that. “Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?” asked Paul rhetorically, clearly demanding a “yes” from his readers. “This can’t be right,” I would think to myself and quickly move on to a more comfortable subject.
Lux Lucet 