Can We Really Exercise Free Will?

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However, I can testify that I sat in church for well over a year hearing message after message before actually placing my trust in God.
appears to me you were experiencing the planting and watering spoken of in 1 Cor 3 ... and our faithful God gave increase. So happy for you!!!




BillyBob said:
I believed that there was a God. However, I did not believe that He wanted anything to do with me. I thought that I was beyond hope! How could a righteous God accept me, the terrible sinner that I was?
right ... we all feel that way, BillyBob ... the amazing love of God which is so far beyond anything we could even think or imagine.






BillyBob said:
Just as I was thinking this, I heard the words “Is there anyone's whose sins are so bad that they cannot be forgiven - if the axe-head floats”?

That simple question shook me to the core! I cannot express the feeling of joy that came over me that day!
No one will ever be able to tell me that God did not regenerate me in an instant, [beginning my life as a Christian]!
praise God ... we'll be seeing each other in eternity BillyBob!!!
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Its tough for some alright.

Jas 2:26
For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

1Pe 4:6
For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.

Rev 2:11
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

Uuuhhmm hum.

Only for those who have not been given a heart to believe or have not been gifted with the Fear of the Lord to understand.
 
One of the other panels was the one presenting the core of the free will beliefs, which I have posted a few times
and with at least two amendments to the original text included. There is just so much error in what these Pelagian
heretics present it is impossible to address it all on one panel. Here is another one of my newest panels.


seekandsave.png

Jesus answered, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.” Luke 5:31 The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. Luke 19:10 For the Son of Man came to save the lost. Matthew 18:11 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners. Matthew 9:13b, Mark 2:17b I will seek the lost, bring back the strays, bind up the broken, and strengthen the weak; but the sleek and strong I will destroy.
Ezekiel 34:16
 
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They always stop their ears and suppress the truth.
do they?




Cameron143 said:
Now let's talk about those who respond positively. What changed. If the natural man always responds negatively, what happened that someone would respond positively?
You have yet to acknowledge the fact that God said all the way back in Genesis 3:22 that mankind can know both good and evil.

You acknowledge only the knowledge of evil ... never the knowledge of good.
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I could have phrased it better, but the point remains: the gospel is only the power of God to those who come to believe. No power is exercised towards those who do not come to believe.
you keep adding terminology which is not included in Scripture ... in the above example you add "come to". When the gospel is preached, people either believe or suppress the truth in unrighteousness. The "power ... exercised toward those who do not come to believe" is revealed in Scripture as well.

Romans 1:

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

19 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.

note that vs 16 does not state the gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation to every one who comes to believe ... you add the words for some reason ... and they are added in error.


As far as those who do not believe the gospel when preached, God's wrath is revealed from heaven ... there is a day coming when all the earth will see God's wrath ... He's holding back now in His mercy and grace.
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Really?

John 11:26
26 and whoever
lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"
NIV
read the verse before vs 26 ...

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die
.
 
I could have phrased it better, but the point remains: the gospel is only the power of God to
those who come to believe. No power is exercised towards those who do not come to believe.
Yeah, it is foolishness to them. But in the free will theology that person chooses to believe what they hear as foolishness.

They decide to believe what they are opposed to and can neither receive nor comprehend.

Oh, but the gospel message is not spiritual the FWer will say.

:oops:
 
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Well according to AI your are even outside of Calvinism now.... woah really drifting here.

No, Calvinists do not separate eternal life from regeneration; rather, they believe regeneration, or the new birth, is the cause and precursor to faith and is the point at which eternal life truly begins for the elect. Regeneration is understood as a direct work of God, a quickening of the spiritually dead person to spiritual life, making it possible for them to believe in Christ
/Google Gemini/

So, AI now is your authoritative source for believing scripture... Why am I not surprised? :rolleyes:
 
read the verse before vs 26 ...

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die
.

Take note of the tenses in both texts. The one above is talking about life in the eschatological sense, i.e. "will live"

V. 26 switches tenses: He who [now] lives and believes....will always live (implicitly understood by the phrase "will never [spiritually] die").
 
Romans 1 states otherwise which @reneweddaybyday has gone over and over maybe go back and catch up.
“But to all who receive him, who believe in His name, He gave the right to become children of God…” (Jn. 1:12, ESV)
Do the Reformed crew CHOOSE to defy this precedent? If so I would like an explanation.
Actually no, I really do not want an explanation from them, as God would get the blame (for creating men evil) and none of the glory (for providing an objectively valid offer of salvation).

Isa 1:4
Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.

Jhn 5:43
I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.

Jhn 3:11
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness.

Luk 9:5
And whosoever ***will not*** receive you, when ye go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet for a testimony against them.

Luk 10:10
But into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you not, go your ways out into the streets of the same, and say,

Zec 7:11
But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear.
 
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It strikes me as odd that she likes to not only so frequently butcher that verse
rolleyes ... it doesn't "strike you as odd" that Cameron143 "butchered" that verse by adding words that are not contained in the verse? ... here, I'll bold the words added by Cameron143

I could have phrased it better, but the point remains: the gospel is only the power of God to those who come to believe. No power is exercised towards those who do not come to believe.


not a peep from you about that ... a little lot of one-sidedness from you ... but not surprising.



.
 
David was a winner and very little in the way of pride problems.
So yea, God loves a winner. He specializes in making winners from losers BTW.

But unlike you, David was a humble man. That's why God gave him grace!
 
Do the Reformed crew CHOOSE to defy this precedent? If so I would like an explanation.
Actually no, I really do not want an explanation from them, as God would get the blame (for creating men evil) and none of the glory (for providing an objectively valid offer of salvation).

Isa 1:4
Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.


That's because...

Deut 29:4
4 But to this day the LORD has not given you a mind that understands or eyes that see or ears that hear.
NIV
 
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I think it is a very very very very very very very tough concept for them to wrap their minds around.

In fact their whole self-exalting theology is wrapped around their inability to grasp that concept.

FWers don't do metaphors. Those pesky figures of speech were never meant for readers to draw parallels from... :rolleyes:
 
rolleyes ... it doesn't "strike you as odd" that Cameron143 "butchered" that verse by adding words that are not contained in the verse? ... here, I'll bold the words added by Cameron143
not a peep from you about that ... a little lot of one-sidedness from you ... but not surprising.
"power of God to those who come to believe"
Whatever it takes to prop up doctrinally dead Bernie the Reformer.
Including conjuring up verses that don't exist.

This has happened on several occasions as you know.
 
So, AI now is your authoritative source for believing scripture... Why am I not surprised? :rolleyes:

LOL, you work so hard to find ways to make sure the true Good News of "whosoever" believes" is not proclaimed.

Why is that?

Why is so important to limit the Good News?

What does it feel like to go day in and day out, knowing a person in your family or a friend (maybe someone you even care about) did not make the list based on this arbitrary selection by god who so insecure he has to create fallen man completely devoid of any moral ability to respond to the Good News. But then maybe you do not care. One has to wonder.

What does it feel like to know God (yes the real God) states love your enemy, but he (not the real god) hates people.

Such cognitive / biblical dissonance.
 
That's because...

Deut 29:4
4 But to this day the LORD has not given you a mind that understands or eyes that see or ears that hear.
NIV
Isaiah6-9-10.png

Isaiah 6 verses 9-10, Luke 8 verse 10, (Matthew 13 verses 14-15, Mark 4 verse 12, Romans 11 verse 8, John 12 verses 39-40, Acts 28 verses 26-27, Ezekiel 12 verse 2, Jeremiah 5 verse 21, Deuteronomy 29 verse 4, Psalm 115 verses 4-8, Psalm 135 verses 15-18) ~ The voice of the Lord said: “Go and tell this people, ‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’ Make the hearts of this people calloused; deafen their ears and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.” The knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that, ‘though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand.’
 
John12-38b-40s.png

John 12 v 38b-40 “Lord, who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the Lord
been revealed?” For this reason they were unable to believe. For again, Isaiah says: “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so that they cannot see with their eyes, and understand with their hearts, and turn, and I would heal them.”
 
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do they?





You have yet to acknowledge the fact that God said all the way back in Genesis 3:22 that mankind can know both good and evil.

You acknowledge only the knowledge of evil ... never the knowledge of good.
.

Knowing good and evil is not the same thing as knowing and understanding or even desiring to embrace the Gospel. All mankind intuitively knows it is sinful. This is why every man is without excuse!
 
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