Welcome to Thru the Bible. I'm your host, Steve Shwetz, and I'm so glad that you're here as our study in the Old Testament Book of Amos continues. Before we begin though, Dr. McGee has recorded a quick introduction based on a simple homespun quotation that seeks to explain the very profound truth of election. Let's listen now. And it's one of the best that I think I've seen on this particular subject. And it's a quotation that goes back to Aunt Jane of Kentucky by Eliza Calvert Hall, written in 1898. And there's always been and is today a great discussion about predestination and free will. And there's quite a group that have centered on the doctrine of election. And they make a great deal of that today and the sovereignty of God. And that's fine if they wouldn't hold it out of proportion to other scripture. And that's the reason I want to share this with you. And it's very homely and very down to earth. Here we go. It says, > How much piecing a quilt is like living a life? Many a time, I've sat and listened to Parson Page preaching about predestination and free will. And I've said to myself, If I could just get up there in the pulpit with one of my quilts, I could make life a heap planer than Parson's making it with his big words. > > You see, to make a quilt, you start out with just so much calico. You don't go to the store and pick it out and buy it, but the neighbors give you a piece here and a piece there, and you will find you have a piece left over every time you cut out a dress and you just take whatever happens to come. That's predestination. > > But when it comes to cutting the quilt, why, you are free to choose your own pattern. You give the same kind of pieces to two persons, and one will make a nine-patch quilt, and the other one will make a wild goose chase. There will be two quilts made of the same kind of pieces, but just as different as can be. > > That's the way of living. The Lord sends us the pieces. We can cut them out and put them together pretty much to suit ourselves. There's a heap more in the cutting out and the serving than there is in the calico. And may I say to you, that's about as nice way of explaining it as I have found recently. Well, I'm certainly excited to get started in our study. It's a wonderful section of scripture. One that Dr. McGee tells us contains one of the most majestic and awe-inspiring statements about God that we'll find in the Bible.” --- From Thru the Bible on Oneplace.com: Amos 4:10—5:5, Apr 18, 2025 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/amos-4-10-5-5/id580874786?i=1000703953742&r=169 This material may be protected by copyright.