Can We Really Exercise Free Will?

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Context. It’s talking about the Jews and their false beliefs of salvific nationalism and works alone salvationism without God’s grace or mercy. Read the end of Romans 9 and keep reading.


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Makes no difference! We do not have a God who changes. If He were to change, it would be impossible to determine His thoughts. God has always had a people that He calls His own [His Elect]. He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. And, He will have mercy on his people today, just as in the past.
 
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God has saved us and called us to a holy life - not because of anything we have done but because of His own purpose and grace. Jesus Christ is the author and perfecter of my faith, which was not by my will, effort or desire.
 
Makes no difference! We do not have a God who changes. If He were to change, it would be impossible to determine His thoughts. God has always had a people that He calls His own [His Elect]. He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. And, He will have mercy on his people today, just as in the past.
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From 1 Peter 1 verses 3-5 ~ The elect are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by His blood. By His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, reserved in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power for the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
 
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It is God who establishes you in Christ. God made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. We have not received the spirit of the world. God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts. If the Spirit of God lives in you, you are not controlled by the flesh, but by the Spirit. By this we know that we remain in Him, and He in us: He has given us of His Spirit.
 
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1 Corinthians 4 verse 7b; John 3 verse 27; Romans 9 verses 15-16 ~ What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did also receive it, why do you boast as not having received it? John replied, "A man can receive only that which is given him from heaven." "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." So then, it does not depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy.
:)
 
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Romans 8 verse 29-30; Ephesians 1 verse 5 ~ Those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers. And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified. He predestined us for adoption as His sons through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of His will.
 
I have had premonitions.
I have also been granted rare moments for insight.

Premonitions require simply discerning what one is shown.

Insight, by contrast, requires the prerequisite of first gaining knowledge, so that you will have what is needed to think with to be able to break down correctly something that has been previously hidden.

Note the following, what it says about knowledge....


And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight."
Philippians 1:9​


King Abimelech did not need to sit in Bible classes to first learn the needed doctrines to be able correlate in understanding what he was shown in the dream.

Biblical insight requires one first acquiring and possessing the needed knowledge to make the needed conclusion.

Do you think premonition and intuition are the same or at least a similar phenomenon?
 
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Romans 8 verse 29-30; Ephesians 1 verse 5 ~ Those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers. And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified. He predestined us for adoption as His sons through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of His will.
Surely you mean that we were predestined because God foreknew that we would turn to Him! You really didn't mean according to the good pleasure of HIS will.
 
Surely you mean that we were predestined because God foreknew that we would
turn to Him! You really didn't mean according to the good pleasure of HIS will.
I know! According to some, the good pleasure of God's will equates to no good reason! But then they
say a boatload of things that contradict what Scripture explicitly articulates, and they would rather
blaspheme Him than admit they were wrong, while they boast about defending His character.
They cannot even admit that Paul taught the inability of the natural man... Just as Jesus did.


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John 14 v 17a, Romans 8 v 6-9 ~ “Inability” in Bible. The world cannot receive the Spirit of truth. The mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind of the flesh is hostile to God: It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are controlled not by the flesh, but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. Praise be to God for calling me out of the world.
 
I know! According to some, the good pleasure of God's will equates to no good reason! But then they
say a boatload of things that contradict what Scripture explicitly articulates, and they would rather
blaspheme Him than admit they were wrong, while they boast about defending His character.
They cannot even admit that Paul taught the inability of the natural man... Just as Jesus did.

Wrong again. The problem lies in what choice was according to the good pleasure of God's will? You say His choice was who to save. We say His choice was the type of salvation He would give to those who believe. Salvation in the Ark, in Israel or in Christ are all quite different in terms of what is given by God, what it requires of the recipient and how it is to be worked out. Being predestined in Christ was God's good pleasure to do. He could have just as easily had chosen for your salvation to be in the Ark. It is where God is saving you He chooses according to the pleasure of His will, not who he is saving.

ps. It seems you would rather lie about us than try to understand what we mean. So sad. :cry:
 
Wrong again. The problem lies in what choice was according to the good pleasure of God's will? You say His choice was who to save. We say His choice was the type of salvation He would give to those who believe. Salvation in the Ark, in Israel or in Christ are all quite different in terms of what is given by God, what it requires of the recipient and how it is to be worked out. Being predestined in Christ was God's good pleasure to do. He could have just as easily had chosen for your salvation to be in the Ark. It is where God is saving you He chooses according to the pleasure of His will, not who he is saving.

ps. It seems you would rather lie about us than try to understand what we mean. So sad. :cry:
Isn't God willing and doing of His good pleasure in us according to Philippians 2:13?
 
Do you think premonition and intuition are the same or at least a similar phenomenon?

The premonitions I had were in dreams.

Other than some overt details shown, I did not know what they meant until they came to pass.
They brought with them a sense of mystery about them that I instinctively knew it was supernatural.

As for insight?

Insight took place while being awake.
Just sitting and resting, as thoughts entered my thinking process that would reason with me.
Reasoning according to some Bible doctrine I had accepted.
I was able to instantly understand what the thought process was getting at.
Eureka!

Insight is a humbling experience to have.
To me, it was God reassuring me.
It made me feel planted and secure in Christ.

.....
 
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The mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind of the flesh is hostile to God: It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the flesh cannot please God. Romans 8 v 6-8 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. 1 Corinthians 2 v 13-14
 
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Isn't God willing and doing of His good pleasure in us according to Philippians 2:13?

What has that got to do with what I said?

Phil.2:12-13
12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed – not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence – continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfil his good purpose.

This is about us working out the salvation we have been given. Nothing to do with the choice God made as to which salvation package you would be given.

Stay on track Cameron. You have a tendency to change topic.
 
Surely you mean that we were predestined because God foreknew that we would turn to Him! You really didn't mean according to the good pleasure of HIS will.

Because He knew we would turn to Him?
He predetermined when we should be born and live on earth.

Because, when it came time to choose those who would become the Bride of Christ?
He predestined for us to be born during the Church age.

That is why it says we have been predestined and chosen.
 
mindofflesh.png
The mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind of the flesh is hostile to God: It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the flesh cannot please God. Romans 8 v 6-8 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. 1 Corinthians 2 v 13-14

Applies to believers. Stop trying to apply to unbelievers what is not given them to understand. An unbeliever must first deal with the Gospel for it is the power of God unto salvation. The Gospel is designed for unbelievers to understand.

As long as a person rejects the Gospel any elementary, let alone meat of the word, spiritual teaching will be foolishness to an unbeliever.

When believers don't understand elementary, let alone meat of the word teaching, it is because they are following after their flesh instead of the Spirit.

The only exception to this is if they are given teaching that needs to build on a foundation that has yet to be learned. In that case they may not understand something deeper until they learn something more foundational.
 
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Which is exactly what 2Thes 2:13 and 1Pet 1:2-5 teach. Notice the LOGICAL order of the phrases in both passages.
There you go @Rufus buddy. All that you had to do is back up one itty bitty verse....
A statement made in direct contrast to the verse 13 group.

[2Th 2:12 KJV]
That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
 
"At all costs!
Disagree, and disagree with them some more!
No matter how they may have it reasoned out."
I call it...
The "Devil's resentment."
I call it the "dumb as a bag of hammers" soteriology fit only for the willfully ignorant.
 
Sure seems that way.
I know that some here on this message board have been convinced by them. :(
Only the "one verse wonders" who refuse to do their homework choose to drink the super-determinist snake oil.

[Pro 1:22 KJV] 22 How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?