Can We Really Exercise Free Will?

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I prayed for yours.

Why would you pray for mine or anyone else's, for that matter, since you do not believe in the efficacy of God's saving grace? Such prayers are truly misdirected, for you should be praying to the one who has all the efficacious "freewill" power within him/her to believe the gospel!
 
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!
And What we have going on right now in this thread is the problem of EVIL. Many Believers cannot discern good from evil OR sin from evil.

The Lord Jesus Christ paid for sin. ALL of it.

What is left? EVIL. Mankind's "good" or "works" or "deeds." He did not pay for ,"I am good enough." " I did it on my own."
 
Could be. FWers aren't exactly the straightest thinkers in this world. :rolleyes:
So I've learned and I must tell you, I was quite concerned when he started casting doubt on God's integrity right from the beginning chapters of Genesis, partly because he thinks of himself as such a great teacher ... he creates videos and does online debates and other things, writing papers for disseminating etc et cetera... Also it is a well known teaching tool to ask questions to elicit answers when one already knows the answers. As someone who puts himself forward as such a high-profile teacher he should know this. Some of his answers were so long-winded it's obvious he took them from things he had written however long ago and just threw them up here as if people want to read paragraphs and paragraphs and paragraphs at a time as regularly as he threw them up.
 
For all the people who don’t believe we have free will, then whenever you choose not to pass gas in public or around others, are you freely choosing your will not to do that?
 
https://www.godsonlygospel.com/
Moreno Dal Bello
This site expresses many of his thoughts and often repeats them. In other words, not edited very well.
I wonder how short the Bible would be if things were not repeated... And look at the fact that, as much as things are repeated, some people who claim to be Bible believers still don't get what it actually explicitly articulates, and continue to reject, contradict, and outright deny what the Bible says...
 
For all the people who don’t believe we have free will, then whenever you choose not to pass gas in public or around others, are you freely choosing your will not to do that?
LOLI hope you come to understand some day that the ability to make choices should not be conflated with having a will that is free, especially when the Bible does not teach free will, but actually explicitly articulates that people have been taken captive to do the will of the devil ... and I don't understand how you can call that freedom. Of course you can pass gas wherever and whenever you want. It has no bearing on the salvation of your soul.
 
For people with your point of view. Fine.
nope think for yourself not me.
It's not up to me to determine the state of your free will neither can I put a rope around the freedom of your thoughts, or chain you up and I can't determine whether or not God has fully woken you up from the dead, all I know is he keeps waking you up from the dead with us giving you sound doctrine.

As the saying goes wake up you sleepers

I can't imagine why m he's got us waking you from the dead everyday tho m maybe you could determine a reason why

Maybe you think it's because God owes you an apology.
 
How did we determine we don’t have free will without using our will to say it’s not free?
 
And if we don’t have free will, then what are we using to determine we don’t have it? And whatever we are using, did we freely choose to believe that? Or is it programmed in our minds to believe whatever it is we were supposed to believe, without giving us the choice to be able to freely choose it?
 
Could be. FWers aren't exactly the straightest thinkers in this world. :rolleyes:


I am going to love to see the big change in you after the is done with evaluating you.

But, fear not.
He will wipe away every tear.
We might even end up being friends...
 
I have no doubt we have and can make choices throughout life,

However, since a human CAN NOT Self-generate Biblical FAITH (Rom 10:17, Heb 11:1), there's obviously more to it than "Mental assent" - Intellectual belief. Intellectual belief IS NOT "Substantive", and is only "Evidence" of personal pre-conditioning / experience.

Biblical FAITH is entirely predicated on GOD'S ACTION (Rom 10:17), i.e. God's WORD TO THE INDIVIDUAL - as it was in Abram's case.

Abram responded in FAITH (imperfectly - the "Lot issue") ONLY as the direct result of God's WORD to him, which was substantive enough for him to make significant life changes. His actions were not the result of personal planning, economic conditions, or personal interest considerations. Abram responded purely on the SUBSTANCE, and EVIDENCE of God's instructions.

our options are far more restricted than most realize. What do you think?

When FAITH COMES - typically in the form of CONVICTION OF SIN, only THEN does the "Free-will" option become viable. The Calvinist "I" (irresistability) is a "Theological Construct", not definitively formalized Biblically. The

In my own case, back in '63, I was fully conscious of the simple fact that ONLY UNDER CONVICTION was it possible to repent and call out in Faith for Jesus SIN OFFERING (Isa 53:10) to be mine. I had the FREE WILL option to "Walk away" from the Conviction, and probably would have - if I knew that I'd get another chance - but since God doesn't ALWAYS "Strive with man" (Gen 6:3).

As it was, in my status at the time, Surrender, and repentance were the only SENSIBLE reactions. I'd already walked away on other occasions in which Conviction of SIN was given, and I knew from personal experience that the conviction would subside.
 
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And if we don’t have free will, then what are we using to determine we don’t have it? And whatever we are using, did we freely choose to believe that? Or is it programmed in our minds to believe whatever it is we were supposed to believe, without giving us the choice to be able to freely choose it?
yeah the problem is anything other than not recognising free will for you is freedom of thought becomes a head shrink