Could someone please explain the concept of 'free will' to me?

[theLastEndWatcher]

Is the dictionary wrong in that case?

The dictionary merely catalogues how humans use speech. It's a collection, not authority.
And often times it misses out in context. I would say it defines the feeling of love, but not the overall concept of love or loving.

Feelings are a result. They are also fleeting. They are an emotional reaction.
And a reaction is set in motion by something that is done or experienced (and experiences are caused by actions).

 

[oyster67]

Never stated otherwise.
This does not mean men are totally depraved, nor does it mean they cannot exercise free will.

When we hear the term "free will", not all of us envision the same thing. Our perceptions and angle of approach differ, but we have more in common than in difference I believe.

 

[oyster67]

God may have had feelings for us, but as Christ He ACTIVELY loved us by coming to die for our sins, not just by sitting in Heaven and "feeling."

If the action is not motivated by the feeling, then the action is empty and vain.

Mark 12:33 And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love [his] neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.

 

[Lisamn]

My thought is that only God knows.

I probably wouldn’t mention an age of accountability if I don’t know when it is. It must not be Biblical.

 

[Phoneman-777]

People here are denying that Scripture attests to such.

Can't see how they deny it..it's plain.

 

[Phoneman-777]

I don‘t believe that God is an unconditional lover. He doesn‘t unconditionally love anyone. He died while we still were sinners...but He doesn’t leave us the way He finds us...so He can’t be an unconditional lover.

I don’t think enduring to the end has a lot to do with agape love. I think its going to take loyalty to God...faith in God and abiding in God to make it to the end. And honestly...I don’t see a whole lot making it to the end when the antichrist is allowed to overcome the saints and most will be beheaded anyway.

His love is unconditional, but His salvation is very much conditional...on condition that we believe and repent.

 

[Lisamn]

Jesus is fully human and fully divine. At least it is my understanding that is the general consensus of whom Jesus is. It is also my understanding that God always is, was, and will be, thus God cannot die. The human body that God inhabited in the form 'Jesus of Nazareth' died. There is some debate on this. Some argued that the spirit of God LEFT Jesus during the crucifixion, hence him asking 'why have you forsaken me'. This makes sense, as why would God ask himself why God had left him? A is A. If 'A' is no longer A then 'A' is not A.

Yes Jesus was fully human and is fully God.

Jesus did die in the flesh for three days but rose on the third day and is sitting at the right hand of the Father as we speak. So He was and is and is to come.

The reason He had to be born human was to be the kinsman redeemer for us. We humans couldn’t be the sacrifice for sins because we couldn’t live a sinless life. But Jesus could being also fully God. Being human..our kinsman..He lived a sinless life therefore without sin He could be sin for all of us and taking on our sins and paying that price..a terrible death on a cross.

Jesus never left His body and took the full force of our punishment upon Himself.

Though one God there are three persons and they each have their different roles. It’s like an egg. An egg is one egg but with three different parts with different roles. Egg white, egg yolk and egg shell three different parts, one egg. That’s the closest we can get to understanding the the trinity.

 

[Magenta]

Can't see how they deny it..it's plain.

Well, they have.

Now since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity, so that by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death, that is, the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. Hebrews 2:14-15

Slaves are not free

 

[theLastEndWatcher]

If the action is not motivated by the feeling, then the action is empty and vain.

Mark 12:33 And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love [his] neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.

You're splitting hairs at this point.

 

[Lisamn]

His love is unconditional, but His salvation is very much conditional...on condition that we believe and repent.

Then His love isn’t unconditional either.

 

[Phoneman-777]

Is it possible to stop loving someone, even though loving them causes pain? Heartbreak for example

Sure. When there's no more point to continue loving unconditionally, we can withdraw our affections. Took me years to stop loving my ex unconditionally after she filed for divorce. During the year separation, I kept up a 1.6 million life insurance policy on me and gave her most of my paycheck and all my overtime - around $40,000 or so - and didn't feel the slightest bit bad cause I wanted her to be OK in case I fell out of the bucket truck or got shot in the NOLA murder capital or got hung up in high voltage cables. Now, I hear she needs a knee replacement and all I can say is, oh well, let her boyfriend pay for it LOL

 

[Phoneman-777]

'Love: an intense feeling of deep affection.'

Is the English dictionary wrong?

I'd say so. Passion causes the same intense feelings...but is fleeting, especially when life gets in the way. True love is a principle that doesn't allow that to happen...financial probs, infidelity, addiction...all things that the Bible says we're to forgive and press on.

Just think how many marriages would survive and flourish if both people decided that love is a principle that doesn't allow for divorce as an option.

 

[Phoneman-777]

Then His love isn’t unconditional either.

I know, I know..."Jacob I loved, Easu I hated..."

As I've said in the past, when Jesus said we gotta "hate father and mother" in order to be His disciple, did He mean "hate" or did He mean "love them less than our love for Him"?

God was saying He "loved Esau less" because Esau was such a jerk...but He loved him nonetheless. Assuredly, He loves us all unconditionally.

 

[Benadam]

Paul teaches that for him 'nothing' is forbidden but not all does good.

Was this freedom his before he encountered Jesus on the Damascus Rd?

No. Paul's freedom was limited to doing what a body ruled by the curse of death would do.

Paul loved Truth more than his carnal desire for the survival of the old covenant.

Truth set him free.

 

[Lisamn]

I know, I know..."Jacob I loved, Easu I hated..."

As I've said in the past, when Jesus said we gotta "hate father and mother" in order to be His disciple, did He mean "hate" or did He mean "love them less than our love for Him"?

God was saying He "loved Esau less" because Esau was such a jerk...but He loved him nonetheless. Assuredly, He loves us all unconditionally.

I’m not sure the hate mother and father thing, especially when we are told to honor our mother and father.

Esau was a jerk..like more than Jacob? Esau gave away his birthright which I think is why God said He hated Him. Does God live us so unconditionally that no one will be thrown into the lake of fire where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth? If the answer is no then God doesn’t love us unconditionally.

 

[Magenta]

I know, I know..."Jacob I loved, Easu I hated..."

As I've said in the past, when Jesus said we gotta "hate father and mother" in order to be
His disciple, did He mean "hate" or did He mean "love them less than our love for Him"?

God was saying He "loved Esau less" because Esau was such a jerk...
but He loved him nonetheless. Assuredly, He loves us all unconditionally.

Jacob and Esau represent nations, more specifically, two types of people.

Believers who honor and worship God, and non-believers.

 

[oyster67]

Slaves are not free

I completely agree. Jesus broke those chains. We are freed at Salvation when the blood is applied, but He also freed all men in the sense that He made that choice possible in the first place. He first gave us freedom to surrender to Him, and then gave us freedom from the sinful life in the hog pen we came out of. Causes me to think of the Prodigal's Son.

 

[Benadam]

God may have had feelings for us, but as Christ He ACTIVELY loved us by coming to die for our sins, not just by sitting in Heaven and "feeling."

True. I don't think Jesus had warm fuzziest for His accusers but He was committed to His Father's will. His obedience to His Father saved us on the cross not His feeling of love for us. Otherwise He wouldn't have asked the Father for the cup to be removed. Right?

 

[theLastEndWatcher]

Then His love isn’t unconditional either.

True. I don't think Jesus had warm fuzziest for His accusers but He was committed to His Father's will. His obedience to His Father saved us on the cross not His feeling of love for us. Otherwise He wouldn't have asked the Father for the cup to be removed. Right?

Well, how many times have you had disdain for your spouse because of how badly you were treated once? It hurt and you felt that way BECAUSE you loved them. The pain Jesus probably felt towards his accusers and maybe "not warm fuzziest" feelings were the result of that love being not only spurned but for those He loved also treating Him badly.

A lot of people confuse feelings and emotions with the deeper current of what love is.
But yes He loved His father in heaven too, and was committed to the cause. But He did say "Father please forgive them, they know not what they do." So even in the physical emotional moment He still loved them even if He might have been upset for what was being done.

It's the difference between reactionary and surface level feelings versus actual deeper feelings.
It's why a woman can flutter in and out of love with someone but why she can be deeply devoted to someone as well.
A lot of people do not understand the difference between surface level emotional reaction and drown themselves in it while forgetting the bigger picture or logic too.

 

[theLastEndWatcher]

It's also the difference between someone who just screams "you're just a racist" or "racism is evil" at someone defending free speech because they are shallow and upset and don't understand the bigger picture, versus someone who goes "I don't like racism, but taking away our free speech isn't ok either."

Never mind the fact that the first is usually just someone who is self absorbed and narcissistic and drowning themselves in a reactionary crusade and flat out lacking in emotional self control.