Shall I believe you or Christ. Umm, my choice, Christ or the scripture of truth.
Calvin did not invent the doctrines of grace
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I have. The Michael Servitus is the typical legend attributed to JC. However, he did not have anything to do with that execution.
He tried to stop it in fact.
Oh my, what a contradiction, you put doubt as eternal life is a gift which the bible says so. Sorry man, I don't get it what you really mean
Changing the word of God to fit a certain theology is not good. Why not take it as it says? To aid in human understanding? What does that even mean. God meant what he said, and said what he meant. Period.
Jonah 3:10 And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.
N
Niki7
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The Ninevites were spared ONLY because of the grace of God. But they would never have received this grace had they not believed the preaching of of the word and repented of their evil ways.
To say that God knew beforehand of their repentance is to make God a deliberate liar, for He said that in forty days Nineveh would be destroyed. To say that they had no choice to repent because God had determined beforehand that they would do so, is to say they did not repent at all, they did not change their minds; God changed their minds.
When someone puts it plain and simple, Calvinists cry foul and come up with some bogus explanation of the clear reading of scripture (the passage is in human terms to aid in human understanding).
Or that God knew that Nineveh would repent, he just needed to have Jonah lie to them first.
David, the man after God's own heart, knew God had the ability to change his mind on things he had declared. It's called grace. This is why David pleaded for his child to live.
2 Samuel 12
14 Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die.
15 And Nathan departed unto his house. And the Lord struck the child that Uriah's wife bare unto David, and it was very sick.
16 David therefore besought God for the child; and David fasted, and went in, and lay all night upon the earth.
17 And the elders of his house arose, and went to him, to raise him up from the earth: but he would not, neither did he eat bread with them.
18 And it came to pass on the seventh day, that the child died. And the servants of David feared to tell him that the child was dead: for they said, Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spake unto him, and he would not hearken unto our voice: how will he then vex himself, if we tell him that the child is dead?
19 But when David saw that his servants whispered, David perceived that the child was dead: therefore David said unto his servants, Is the child dead? And they said, He is dead.
20 Then David arose from the earth, and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his apparel, and came into the house of the Lord, and worshipped: then he came to his own house; and when he required, they set bread before him, and he did eat.
21 Then said his servants unto him, What thing is this that thou hast done? thou didst fast and weep for the child, while it was alive; but when the child was dead, thou didst rise and eat bread.
22 And he said, While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said, Who can tell whether God will be gracious to me, that the child may live?
23 But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.
I'm not going to devote a lot of time to this - there are other spiritual symbolisms also in this book which I haven't addressed here, but this will have to suffice.
Nineveh is an earthly representation/picture of spiritual Jerusalem and its inhabitants: the new Holy City. To understand this
book (as with all books of the Bible), you have to look for the Bible's spiritual message within, underlying, controlling, and as reason for, the earthly events that occurred - they were caused by God primarily to illuminate His gospel message.
The people of Nineveh symbolically represent those who become saved by God - by which they are able to truly comprehend God's warning and they thereby reacted and repented of the works of their hands, but only through the Holy Spirit.
We can know this because we are told "the people of Nineveh believed God" - only the Holy Spirit makes someone truly believe God.
That God chose to preach to Nineveh meant that He hadn't decided to destroy it or there would have been no preaching, as Sodom and Gomorra were destroyed without any warning or preaching to them. The warning given to Nineveh is the same warning of destruction the Bible gives to all mankind, yet only those of spiritual Jerusalem (Nineveh) understand and respond to it - they of Nineveh believed God - their action symbolic of how all of the saved (spiritual Jerusalem) react to God's warning.
[Jon 3:5 KJV] 5 So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.
[Gen 15:6 KJV] 6 And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.
[Gen 19:11, 13 KJV]
11 And they smote the men that [were] at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great: so that they wearied themselves to find the door. ...
13 For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the LORD; and the LORD hath sent us to destroy it.
[Gen 19:24 KJV] 24 Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven;
In your method, one can make the bible say anything they want. It's called private interpretation. We are to read, study and take the bible as literally as possible. Nineveh was a wicked city. God never destroys without sending warning first. God had every intention of destroying Nineveh in forty days. Why? BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT HE SAID.
What I mean is that everything pertaining to the obtaining of salvation is given to the Elect as gift of God, it is not of or by man. Faith comes from salvation.
We ARE NOT TO TAKE THE BIBLE AS LITTERALLY AS POSSIBLE. Doing so, MAKES interpretation private.
Instead, we are to compare the spiritual with the spiritual and that no prophecy of scripture being of any private interpretation.
God didn't destroy Nineveh. Was He confused? No! He chose to use Nineveh as a model to illuminate His gospel message.
As the verses I included show, God did not give warning to Sodom and Gomorrah before destroying them.
Only to destroy Nineveh later, by the Medes in 612 B.C., in fulfillment of Nahum's prophecy.
God does evil? I think not. You are a sheep. I think not. God uses many literary devices in the bible. He has done so purposefully.
Nineveh wasn't spiritual Jerusalem, it was used by God only as a symbol OF spiritual Jerusalem - that was my whole point.
I never suggested that it wasn't grace. Neither did I suggest they didn't repent. I am suggesting that God took the initiative and sent a preacher. And that He did that so they would repent.
There were many more nations that He did not do so for.
When God moves, it is always with a purpose.
What you believe is in Gods Hand, at this point you dont seem to believe the Truth since you condition salvation on mans doings.
Amen I believe Faith is one of the items that accompany salvation Heb 6:9
9 But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak.
That word accompany means:
connected with salvation, or which lead to it
John Gill writes:
and things that accompany salvation; which enter into salvation; are ingredients in it, and parts of it, and with which salvation is connected; such as faith, love, &c. or which mutually touch or follow one another in the chain of salvation; as to be predestinated, justified, called, adopted, sanctified, and, at last, glorified:
If the bible states that God did not do what he said he was going to do...I take that literally.