Can We Really Exercise Free Will?

  • Christian Chat is a moderated online Christian community allowing Christians around the world to fellowship with each other in real time chat via webcam, voice, and text, with the Christian Chat app. You can also start or participate in a Bible-based discussion here in the Christian Chat Forums, where members can also share with each other their own videos, pictures, or favorite Christian music.

    If you are a Christian and need encouragement and fellowship, we're here for you! If you are not a Christian but interested in knowing more about Jesus our Lord, you're also welcome! Want to know what the Bible says, and how you can apply it to your life? Join us!

    To make new Christian friends now around the world, click here to join Christian Chat.
sawdust said:
Right those pesky Israelites who shunned His rescue from Egypt never experienced His power and will by means of His grace. :rolleyes:

Do good to those who hate you and bless those who curse you except if you're the god of Rufus. You can only be gracious to those who love you, sorry, to those who you choose to love you.
Click to expand...

You're right, most of them didn't! But some did! Now, read and weep:

Ps 18:27
27 You save the humble
but bring low those whose eyes are haughty.
NIV

Ps 25:9
9 He guides the humble in what is right
and teaches them his way.
NIV

Ps 76:9
9 When God arose to judgment,
To save all the humble of the earth.
NASB

Ps 101:5b
5b ...Whoever has a haughty look and an arrogant heart
I will not endure.
ESV

Ps 147:6
6 The LORD sustains the humble
but casts the wicked to the ground.
NIV

Ps 149:4
4 For the LORD takes delight in his people;
he crowns the humble with salvation.
NIV

Prov 3:34
34 He mocks proud mockers
but gives grace to the humble .
NIV

Prov 6:16-17
16 There are six things the LORD hates,
seven that are detestable to him:
17 haughty eyes,
a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood,
NIV

Prov 16:5
5 The LORD detests all the proud of heart.
Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished.
NIV

Luke 1:52
52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
NIV

1 Cor 13:4
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
NIV

1 Peter 5:5-7
5 Submit to God, Resist the Devil


Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for

"God resists the proud ,
But gives grace to the humble."

6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, 7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.
NKJV

James 4:7
6 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says:

"God resists the proud ,
But gives grace to the humble."
NKJV
 
Cameron143 said:
Spiritual life isn't the same as eternal life. Adam was spiritually alive and did not possess eternal life before the fall.
Click to expand...

I know that. So he was in a saved state when spiritually alive right? So we don't need to have eternal life to be saved from death. Being given eternal life is icing on the cake.
 
sawdust said:
No I don't. Eternal life is knowing God. Jn.17:3 Spiritual life is the opposite of being dead in our sin. Jn.3:6

You can be spiritually alive yet sin. So how well do you think we know God when we sin?
Click to expand...
You cannot be spiritually dead and believe. You can be spiritually alive without possessing eternal life...Adam before the fall.
 
  • Like
Reactions: rogerg
Cameron143 said:
You haven't stated it in those words, but if a man hasn't been converted from natural and carnal to spiritual, he remains carnal. And the carnal man is not subject to the law of God and can't be. It's only as God's grace not only withholds the flesh, but changes a man altogether that he is no longer carnal.
Click to expand...
And your point is? Pre-birth lottery lol?
 
  • Like
Reactions: HeIsHere
BillyBob said:
Sorry, but salaries/benefits/etc are determined at the local church level, not by the denomination. Rather than the denomination supporting churches, it is the churches that support the denomination. If a problem does occur it is settled at the local level 1st, if not it rises to the Presbytery for decision, if still not solved it gets elevated to the General Assembly.

You really should not discuss something that you know nothing about!
Click to expand...
Hmm, I doubt I have been lied to by my SBC pastoral friends.
 
sawdust said:
I know that. So he was in a saved state when spiritually alive right? So we don't need to have eternal life to be saved from death. Being given eternal life is icing on the cake.
Click to expand...
No. Adam didn't need saving before the fall. He possessed spiritual life, but not eternal life.
 
  • Like
Reactions: rogerg
Rufus said:
No, it is not! Plus the letter was written primarily to Gentile believers. :rolleyes: Check out Rom 1 someday.
Click to expand...
God didn't know the Gentiles in the Old Testament and the Hebrew People needed the fulfillment spoken of in Romans 8:29-30.

You clearly are a doctrine clone.
 
BillyBob said:
I cannot speak for the SBC. But I can speak for most reformed churches which operate under a Presbyterian form of government.
Click to expand...
I can accept that and I only speak what I have been told to my face. I would hate to ever even allow the idea that my dear Baptist Brothers would fib to me.
 
Rufus said:
Another paragon of wisdom! :rolleyes: When Christians speak of "eternity past", the phrase is used strictly in a comparative sense relative to temporal reality! The eternal always existed -- THEN God created temporal reality. This is why the term "foreknowledge" is used in scripture, i.e. God [fore] knew in eternity "past" BEFORE time began.
Click to expand...

Yes it is well known amongst traditional orthodox evangelical circles that the "reformed" doctrine churches have their own distinct

thought patterns and language (double-speak) to fit the faulty selection doctrine, I avoid it at all costs so as not to be contaminated

with speaking that way.
 
sawdust said:
How many times is a man born of the Spirit and how many times does that man die spiritually? Once and never? Yes?
Click to expand...

Born of the Spirit once. They were dead spiritually but after rebirth will/can never die in any sense. Before that, dead spiritually - that spiritual death being the first death.

sawdust said:
How many times is a man born of the flesh and dies physically? Once and once? Yes?
Click to expand...

Yes.

sawdust said:
Now, if that man is raised up from the grave and is an unbeliever, physically alive but still spiritually dead and is thrown into the flames, will he not die a second physical death?
Click to expand...

No.

sawdust said:
The second death is physical not spiritual for those who enter were never spiritually alive at any time.
Click to expand...

They have a spirit, but it is the spirit of this world - a spirit, but one never spiritually alive - its focus and life are on the things of this world, oblivious to the eternal, spiritual realm.
They will be cast into the lake of fire in their entirely: body, soul and spirit - nothing escapes.

[1Co 2:12 KJV] 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Cameron143
Cameron143 said:
You cannot be spiritually dead and believe. You can be spiritually alive without possessing eternal life...Adam before the fall.
Click to expand...

That's funny Jesus told lots and lots of spiritually dead people to believe.

Must have been a case of offering false hope, that happens sometimes. NOT!
 
HeIsHere said:
Yes it is well known amongst traditional orthodox evangelical circles that the "reformed" doctrine churches have their own distinct

thought patterns and language (double-speak) to fit the faulty selection doctrine, I avoid it at all costs so as not to be contaminated

with speaking that way.
Click to expand...
Agree. It's toxic to rational thought processes, and the immature and weak fall prey to it.

It's all pretty much flaming nuttery if you ask me ......:sneaky:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back