Can We Really Exercise Free Will?

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only your not always friends whatever your disagreement is, your constant thumbs down to my posts in a blink of an eye without taking any consideration proves to me you can't be a friend.

What's the count now of your blink of an eye thumbs down 100 or so

How many I have given you

Well none actually

@Jordon : No, we should still be able to be friends again, even though we disagree on things, shouldn't we?!
 
@Jordon : No, we should still be able to be friends again, even though we disagree on things, shouldn't we?!
wasn't that what i just said,

When you don't think in what friends are saying the consideration gets lost. Or when you don't endure with your friends

Speaking about philosophy that is.

Did you know philosophy is also a gift
 
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@Jordon : That's good; I agree!

So you'll stay on the Forum, now that we're friends again?!

There is a saying ... "show me your friends and I will show you your future".

There is a reason we must be wise regarding whom we associate.

We are all family, God's choice on that matter, but friends are our choice. Choose wisely. :)
 
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Yes gentile believers too definitely....."The persecution of the Saints/Israel rapidly accelerates".
And as I said, the GT begins mid-trib, the time of Jacobs trouble.
And yes, free will = true life, the only life that God creates, and we do choose to receive the cup of the covenant.

While many men during the last half of the Tribulation will have worshiped the beast, which is the very act that bars them from salvation (Revelation 14:9–11, cf. Revelation 13:8; Revelation 17:8), Scripture shows there must still be some evil Gentile unbelievers who have not done so. This is evident because God continues to say “they repented not,” indicating that certain individuals still had the opportunity to repent but refused.

This of course gets to the heart of God providing for man the free will choice to believe in Him, operating under His drawing and enlightenment (John 12:32; John 16:8; Acts 17:30). Even in the darkest period of human history, God’s mercy continues to reach out, yet man must still choose to respond.

So while this period does focus heavily on Israel’s chastisement, the calls to repentance in Revelation clearly extend to all nations, revealing that God’s mercy continues even in the midst of His wrath.

Revelation 9:20–21 – “The rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands… Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.” These judgments are worldwide, showing that humanity as a whole is under warning, not only Israel.​
Revelation 14:6–7 – An angel proclaims “the everlasting gospel to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,” saying, “Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come.” This global declaration extends God’s invitation to the remaining Gentiles who have not yet worshiped the beast.​
Revelation 16:9, 11, 21 – During the bowl judgments, “men… repented not to give him glory.” These passages again show that God continues to call men to repentance, though most remain hardened in rebellion.​
Therefore, even though the worshipers of the beast are eternally lost (with their names never existing in the book of life since the foundation of the world), these verses demonstrate that some Gentile unbelievers still living at that time have not yet worshiped him, and God graciously gives them opportunity to repent, but tragically, they choose not to. This has to be the case, because there would be no opportunity for them to repent if they worshiped the beast.




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wasn't that what i just said,

When you don't think in what friends are saying the consideration gets lost. Or when you don't endure with your friends

Speaking about philosophy that is.

Did you know philosophy is also a gift

@Jordon : Yes, I know: But you were complaining about the DISLIKES that I had given on your Posts! Well, we should be able to remain friends, despite that fact that I give dislikes on some of your Posts!
 
So much for free will...

This is only for those who worship the beast in the future. This is not in context for all wicked men who are told to repent.
So Determinism here is true but only for those who do this very evil thing in the future. That does not mean Determinism is true in every other case for all wicked people. This is not a case for the god of Calvinism that chooses based on no conditions whatsoever (i.e., Unconditional Election). But of course, Calvinists and anti-free will proponents like Determinism and so that is what one will see when they read the Bible. Determinism gets a person off the hook. The Judgment? Yep, its gotta be a farce or a lie in the world of Calvinism. Everyone is judged according to their works? Again, this is a lie in Calvinism. I honestly do not know how you can duck, dodge and maneuver when you read the Bible. There are tons of free will choice verses where God lays responsibility on man choosing Him. Only somebody who has chosen not to see them will act like they do not exist. It's rather silly.




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Scripture contains far more verses where God places responsibility upon man to freely choose Him than the few that may seem to suggest Calvinism at first glance, although those few are easily clarified when read in context.




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This is only for those who worship the beast in the future. This is not in context for all wicked men who are told to repent.
Told, or commanded? Which as you should know, but seem to ignore, the natural man
cannot obey or submit to God in the flesh. Only those in Christ are free to do so.


Scripture contains far more verses where God places responsibility upon man to freely choose Him than the few that may seem to suggest Calvinism at first glance, although those few are easily clarified when read in context.
Like being taken captive to do the will of the devil?

Blinded by the god of this age as is the whole world?

Oh, you ignore that as well as a plethora of other verses.

You have the incurably wicked heart of the flesh doing what Scripture says it cannot.
 
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@Jordon : The Day when I'll never hear from you again.
I wasn't speaking about that day.

@Jordon : Yes, I know: But you were complaining about the DISLIKES that I had given on your Posts! Well, we should be able to remain friends, despite that fact that I give dislikes on some of your Posts!
you only dislike as many things in a blink of eye when
as you have when your kicking against his goad.

Its his will, or no will at all the day I was speaking of.

The day of lord

For whom doesn't have the fathers will, will be cut of from the lord.

And who has both the father and the son will not.

Hoping that we will speak then, as it's only in his living hope which in his will that lives in you can we.
 
I wasn't speaking about that day.

you only dislike as many things in a blink of eye when
as you have when your kicking against his goad.

Its his will, or no will at all the day I was speaking of.

The day of lord

For whom doesn't have the fathers will, will be cut of from the lord.

And who has both the father and the son will not.

Hoping that we will speak then, as it's only in his living hope which in his will that lives in you can we.

@Jordon : Sorry, but I can't understand what you're saying here.

So, are we friends, unconditionally, or not?
 
I do see one of the reasons for the Tribulation is to drive Israel as a nation to the wall to repent and accept their Messiah.
Yet, in the Great Tribulation (Middle of Tribulation), we see Gentile believers slaughtered by the Antichrist / Beast. Those who died or were beheaded in the Tribulation are going to go through the 1,000 year reign of Christ. So I don't see the Tribulation as exclusive to Israel. Both the Jew and the Gentile are involved and it deals with their right standing with God.

I see the Middle of the Tribulation as the Abomination of Desolations. This is the time when the Antichrist will stop the Jewish sacrifices in the new Jewish temple and he will declare himself to be God. The enforcement of the mark and his demand to be worshiped under the threat of death will not happen globally in an instant. Hence, why the Great Tribulation is not exactly at this specific point. How so?

Matthew 24:15–21 (KJV)

15 "When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand: )​
16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:​
17 Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:​
18 Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.​
19 And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!​
20 But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:​
21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be."​

Meaning, after the abominations of desolations, THEN shall be great tribulation.
Not that it is the start of the great tribulation.
A great tribulation wold be defined also in the fact that the tribulation is not average or minor but that the events are great and unlike anything that has ever come before it. The trumpet and bowl judgments sound like powerful world ending events.
At least that is how I see it, brother.



Yes, we do have free will in choosing God. But I see this as only existing under God's drawing and enlightenment, which is in God's timing. Hence, why Lydia's heart was opened, and hence why the work of God is to believe in the One whom He sent is a true statement in Scripture. Meaning, it really is ultimately the work of God (not man's work) when we believe. We could not get to a point in choosing God without the Lord's involvement opening our eyes to the truth so as to decide.



.....
"So I don't see the Tribulation as exclusive to Israel."

I agree, it is not. Not at all.
In fact the tribulation is all about.....salvation.
Most people miss that predominant purpose.

Gentile survivors will repopulate the planet, with the recommissioned Israel as their kingdom of priests, who will fulfil their original mandate to minister to the gentiles, now that the nation Israel are truly faithful servants of the Lord.

BTW, you may have noticed that the "free-willers" have a FAR more accurate grasp on eschatology than the Calvinist-Reformed group.
It isn't even close.....;)
 
So much for free will... the proponents of which cannot but help to contradict themselves.
Never forget: those who take the mark of the beast do so of their OWN FREE WILL.
Then comes the consequences of their BAD CHOICES!


And remember......God warned them over and over again. Two witnesses, Israelites preaching, angels flying in heaven warning the world.

You do err, as do all of the hard-core Calvinists.

[Rev 14:6 KJV]
And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,

[Rev 14:7 KJV]
Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.

[Rev 14:8 KJV]
And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.

[Rev 14:9 KJV]
And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive [his] mark in his forehead, or in his hand,

[Rev 14:10 KJV]
The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
 
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