Can We Really Exercise Free Will?
- Thread starter LifelongLearner
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It is not regeneration that is for sure.
Along with the fact you assume they cannot respond positively (not stated in scripture).
I notice how you phrase your questions, does that involve some type of specific training?
Only by the holy spirit can the heart be purified. ( Or circumcised).
At which point they have been saved, accepting Jesus will take place, because the lord knows who will accept him..
Am I right in believing that there is a belief within your faith that this could also have happend before the day of Pentecost. ?
And even long before that day
You notice that I didn't ask what it wasn't?
But since you're here, please answer the question I did ask. Or have you also sworn a vow of silence?
There is no scripture which states a person cannot respond positively to the Good News and must be regenerated first.
Context does not matter to you. Oh, wait, Jesus was talking to corpses in your theology. I get it.
He was in your understanding telling corpses to do something so they could come to life.
And when did you start believing what Scripture says?
When are you going to tell us your being swallowed by a whale story?
Or was it a road to Damascus affair? A burning bush, perhaps?
Actually the fact that those three examples exist proves your assertion wrong.
And there are many other examples as well, all proving your opinion wrong.
You should be able to acknowledge that but I doubt you will.
Highly "religious" people are many times the hardest to reach. Massive denial barriers in place.
There are no Scriptures articulating your pet free will philosophy. It simply tickles your error loving ears.
It would be nice to get back to the basics.
1 John 2:2
He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
Romans 6:10
For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God.
Hebrews 10:10
And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
John 1:29
The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
Hebrews 9:12
He entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.
Hebrews 2:9
But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
2 Corinthians 5:15
And he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.
The basics. The reformed/calvie/tulip theorists will say," Adam was for all, but Christ couldn't quite pull it off. He couldn't do it for all."
It's the epitome of irony watching them degrade Adam to a peon. But ultimately they have Adam as the victor. Christ could only affect a few.
John 11:25-26:
“Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.
Do you believe this?’”
“Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.
Do you believe this?’”
Yes, we have absolute free will.
Proverbs 16:9 A man's heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps.
Meaning? You decide what you want to do, the path you want to take, or what you want to believe, but God controls the circumstances and the consequences.
For the Calvinists: That means you are responsible for whatever you decide, just like Adam was.
If you reject Christ, it's because YOU rejected him; not because God failed to "enable you" or "limited" His atonement and left you out, or failed to make grace "irresistible" for you.
Proverbs 16:9 A man's heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps.
Meaning? You decide what you want to do, the path you want to take, or what you want to believe, but God controls the circumstances and the consequences.
For the Calvinists: That means you are responsible for whatever you decide, just like Adam was.
If you reject Christ, it's because YOU rejected him; not because God failed to "enable you" or "limited" His atonement and left you out, or failed to make grace "irresistible" for you.
I completely agree. Reformed theology is taught. I don't believe ONE person here that says, " I got this from reading the Bible on my own." I don't believe a single one.
A third grader is going to read John 3:16 and Acts 16:31 and conclude......I must believe.
Sorry, I don't think I follow you, my fault. Truly accepting Jesus only comes as a result of salvation - it does not bring salvation. Until saved, we are dead in sin, unable to contribute in any way to it - we are helpless. Should someone become saved, from that, they come to faith in Jesus and accept Him as Savior. I believe everyone saved, became/becomes saved for the same reason -simply because God had chosen them unto salvation from before the foundation of the world.