Can We Really Exercise Free Will?
- Thread starter LifelongLearner
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Eh, when those she disagrees with offer comparison verses, her opinion is always the same, she simply denies what is being explicitly articulated, says the verses are taken out of context, and pretends they do not say what they actually do, claims eisegesis and not exegesis etc etc ad nauseum, probably because she prefers to butcher verses and blaspheme God rather than admit error. It is what her and her ilk do, saying such things as the natural man must not be very important because he is only mentioned once in Scripture, as if every single person ever born was not first natural and then spiritual if born again, which is also at the heart of the gospel = the need to being born again to escape the second death. That is what salvation is but no, to them, not important if you say they confuse what the natural man can do with what the spiritual man can do. Their theology hangs on upholding that error at all costs and they are neither going to admit it nor give it up.
Back to sniper mode.
The funny thing is, the bizarre cult-like behavior is what you and your little buddies engage in but attempt to project on others. That's why Jesus cautioned to first remove the beam from one's own eye before correcting others.
Maybe think about Jesus instead, as he could be in the wind, it could be a gentle breeze coming to cool you down and calm you or it could be there's a might calling coming
But I would buy a cuckoo clock there always worth winding up.
You could do both then, is Texas a windy place m
Tell her about your unique special, direct, divine personal encounters with God. Let's she what she says.
Her pattern has been to heap scorn and derision on those whoa affirm that God keeps His promise to reveal Himself.
She has also made efforts to shame people who say anything that sounds like they have had personal experiences.
She says God would be unfair to reveal Himself in the ways He actually does, as evidenced from Gen to Rev in the Bible.
When the Christian teachers who lived during the first 3-4 centuries invented the term "free-will" they were did not mean that the will was entirely free from the influences of the world, the flesh, and the devil. They meant that we were not absolutely controlled by instinct or FATE which was the popular belief among religions of the times. As the Christian Apologist Justin Martyr wrote:
For not like other things, as trees and quadrupeds, which cannot act by choice, did God make man: for neither would he be worthy of reward or praise did he not of himself CHOOSE the good, but were created for this end; nor, if he were evil, would he be worthy of punishment, not being evil of himself, but being able to be nothing else than what he was made.
(Justin Martyr ~155AD – First Apology, Ch. 43 )
Justin also argued against fatalism, affirming that humans have genuine free will to choose good or evil. Moral responsibility and reward or punishment depend on this freedom, as people can change their behavior, which would be impossible if everything were predetermined.
(Justin Martyr ~155AD – First Apology, Ch. 43)
These teachers understood the difference between "having a choice" and "having free will" Being responsible for our choices (right or wrong) is dependent on having the ability to choose.
Works of any kind, including belief, cannot get a person saved, for salvation is conditioned on grace alone, on God alone—the One to Whom belongs all the glory for salvation—therefore, believing is merely an evidence that a person has been saved by grace, and never the cause.
** MDB **
Weigh all of that against Jesus saying man was incapable of doing good. And yes, we are very familiar with the idea that people conflate having a choice with having a will that is free, even against all the Biblical evidence to the contrary... Such as the devil has taken people captive to do his will, and nobody can come to the Father unless he is drawn, and yes, Jesus said He will draw all men to Him, but not all men do come, only those whom God gives to Jesus come, and Jesus says no one knows the Father except those Whom He chooses to reveal Him to. We even get people coming in here claiming that if man's will isn't free, then we're all puppets... but that's a logical fallacy which they never admit. We have people in here who have been posting for months and months, elevating their opinions above what Scripture actually says. They also ascribe to the natural man what only the spiritual man is capable of. Praise Jesus if He has set you free, and rescued you from the dominion of darkness.
Well the list is endless
Gods design more than suggests life was created with his will.
The grass will wither and flowers will bloom.
The trees will grow
Dog will be dogs cats will be cats
Bears will hibernate.
Certain squirrels will wake up from hibernation when there heart is on brink of slowing down all together
Sharks in the coldest water can live until 500 years old with a heart beat of 10 beats a minute
Swallows can sleep whilst flying
The list is endless of what creature all great and small do by design m
I could go on and on.
Adam and eve where created to obey God m. Amongst other reasons
Gods design more than suggests life was created with his will.
The grass will wither and flowers will bloom.
The trees will grow
Dog will be dogs cats will be cats
Bears will hibernate.
Certain squirrels will wake up from hibernation when there heart is on brink of slowing down all together
Sharks in the coldest water can live until 500 years old with a heart beat of 10 beats a minute
Swallows can sleep whilst flying
The list is endless of what creature all great and small do by design m
I could go on and on.
Adam and eve where created to obey God m. Amongst other reasons
well I don't expect anything else from a mind that is corrupt, to then ask the question what is truth after they've received it in 22 thousand posts m, whether it's been truth about truth or lies about truth
The truth or is it, I do believe I've sinned because Ive forgiven you 22 thousand times when it should be 77
You seem to be going through your own personal problem.
Whatever it may be, that you keep trying to make me a partaker of.
Without me even knowing what the issue is you are dealing with....
I wish you well.
Man without God's enabling power of grace, to control his flesh, is incapable of doing divine good.
Adam before the fall was capable of doing good.
God has sovereignly arranged for fallen men, when they are placed into God's saving grace.
Are made able to make a choice to believe in Jesus.
Not all believe.
For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that,
denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly
in the present age. Titus 2:11-12
What can I say?
That is what the Word of God says.
For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.
Stick with the Word!
I cannot remember the name you gave ... I see those initials and think molybdenum, Hey what a coincidence... it's atomic number 42 LOL... The answer to life, the universe, and everything!