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.
Well I was thinking when the person does not have the capacity to understand they typically act out.

The strange thing is, the Gospel is so very simple but the Calvinist complicate it so much in the end many do not understand nor are they adequately able to defend their own doctrine.

Some Calvinists could get the saved to believe they are not really saved...
It is a weird form of legalism.
 
God spoke directly to Moses (the "thee" to whom God was speaking).

Exodus 33:18-23

18 And he [Moses] said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory.

19 And he [God] said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.

20 And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.

21 And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock:

22 And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by:

23 And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.

Moses asked to see the glory of God.

God told Moses no one can see Him and live.

God told Moses his face would be hid in a cleft in the rock ... God would cover Moses with His hand while He passed by ... when God took His hand away, then Moses could see God's back parts. This reveals God's grace to Moses. God would reveal to Moses as much as He could.

In our day and time ... the rock is symbolic of the Lord Jesus Christ ... as we hide ourselves in the Lord Jesus Christ, then God's glory is revealed to us. How much of God do we want revealed to us? ... are we willing to let go of whatever is keeping us from knowing more of God? ... are we willing to draw closer to God?

Another interesting (to me) fact ... in Ex 33:11 we read that God spoke to Moses face to face:

Exodus 33:11 And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle.

So God spoke to Moses face to face, yet Moses still wanted more ... Moses wanted to know more and more of God.





Did the children of Israel "destroy them totally" ? ... see Joshua 9.

Did God know the Gibeonites would behave deceitfully ? ... did God know the children of Israel would not seek God's counsel ? ... did God know the children of Israel would make a league with the Gibeonites ?

God's decree ... smite them, utterly destroy them; make no covenant with them, show no mercy to them.

God allowed the Gibeonites to deceive the children of Israel ... God allowed the children of Israel to make a league with the Gibeonites.

.
Your not getting it m

I'm not going to run around in circles

Here it is

In deauorimny 7 the lord say show them no mercy to his people

I'll show you the wisdom

The lord your God will harden whom he hardens

Romans 9:18

In this passage he will be saying to his believers by his sovereign will when the time comes and your confronted with unbelief, I will harden your heart to unbelief
 
That's a bald-faced lie. I know of no one in the Reformed tradition that believes what you wrote.

John Piper:

“Has God predetermined every tiny detail in the universe, such as dust particles in the air and all of our besetting sins? Yes… Now the reason I believe that is because the Bible says, “The dice are thrown in the lap, and every decision is from the Lord” (Proverbs 16:33).”

“God is able without blameworthy ‘tempting’ to see to it that a person does what God ordains for him to do even if it involves evil.”


R.C. Sproul Jr.:

“God wills all things that come to pass…God desired for man to fall into sin. I am not accusing God of sinning; I am suggesting that God created sin.”


Edwin Palmer:

“All things that happen in all the world at any time and in all history–whether inorganic matter, vegetation, animal, man or angels (both good and evil ones)– come to pass because God ordained them. Even sin– the fall of the devil from heaven, the fall of Adam, and every evil thought, word, and deed in all of history… Foreordination means God’s sovereign plan, whereby He decides all that is to happen in the entire universe. Nothing in this world happens by chance. God is in back of everything. He decides and causes all things to happen that do happen. He is not sitting on the sidelines wondering and perhaps fearing what is going to happen next. No, He has foreordained everything ‘after the counsel of his will’ (Eph. 1:11): the moving of a finger, the beating of a heart, the laughter of a girl, the mistake of a typist even sinAlthough sin and unbelief are contrary to what God commands…God has included them in his sovereign decree (ordained them, caused them to certainly come to pass).

Gordan H. Clark:
*** “I wish very frankly and pointedly to assert that if a man gets drunk and shoots his family, it was the will of God that he should do it…” He goes on to assert, “Let it be unequivocally said that this view certainly makes God the cause of sin. God is the sole ultimate cause of everything. There is absolutely nothing independent of him. He alone is the eternal being. He alone is omnipotent. He alone is sovereign. Some people who do not wish to extend God’s power over evil things, and particularly over moral evils…The Bible therefore explicitly teaches that God creates sin.





.....
 
That's rich. No Calvinist or free will denying proponent here is explaining 2 Thessalonians 2:10 and Jonah chapter 3.
One such poster here actually said it is a dark verse, meaning it is a mystery. This is a standard tactic by Calvinists where actual memes are made of them declaring "mystery" upon certain verses that refute their actual belief. This is why you know that they are teaching false doctrine. When you cannot explain a verse that refutes the very belief you hold to, there is something seriously wrong.






.....
I did answer when you first posted the question. Perhaps you will answer my question.
 
I did answer when you first posted the question.

Well, either I missed your reply to 2 Thessalonians 2:10, and Jonah chapter 3, or you gave an answer that did not really address the actual words of these verses properly. Please provide a post # for your answer or repost it here. If not, then I will take that as admission that you truly have no intention of properly explaining these passages.

You said:
Perhaps you will answer my question.

Please restate the question and I will do my best to answer (when I have time).



....
 
@Rufus : How very rude of you, Sir!!

It is not rudeness to tell the truth. If a person’s post is incoherent babbling, makes no rational sense, or has extremely poor grammar, then it is not wrong to point these things out. Yes, we should strive to do so in a loving or kind way, but at the end of the day, truth is truth. If you honestly understood his post, feel free to explain it. And do you really believe, in your best judgment, that his post was perfectly clear and easily understood by others?

This is not a one-time issue with him but a consistent pattern. I say this not to be mean but because it is simply the cold, hard reality.

If I wrote, “Acah bah bah,” “Tom is in the shed wearing the color of red,” or “I like chicken fries in my brownies, so jump up and down with a frown on your face,” then I would fully expect people to correct me and tell me that I am not making any sense.




....
 
  • Like
Reactions: Blue155
@Bible_Highlighter, I have noticed the verses Calvinists uses to support Calvinism/TULIP/Reformed does not say or teach what they say it does. Example, Job 1 and Acts 4:28

I have noticed the same thing. Many of the verses Calvinists use simply do not say what they claim when you read them closely in the King James Bible.

Job 1 is a perfect example.
Calvinists often say this chapter teaches that God decreed everything that happened to Job, but the text does not say that. Job 1:12 says, “Behold, all that he hath is in thy power,” showing that God allowed Satan to act but did not cause the evil. Later Job 1:16 says, “The fire of God is fallen from heaven,” yet the context clearly shows it was Satan acting, not God decreeing or forcing the event. Permission is not predetermination. Nothing in Job 1 says God authored the evil. Satan is the one who “went forth from the presence of the Lord” in Job 1:12 and Job 1:7.

Acts 4:28 is similar.
Calvinists use this verse as evidence that God predetermines every human action. But the verse is specifically about the crucifixion. It says that Herod, Pontius Pilate, the Gentiles, and the people of Israel acted “to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.” This refers to a single prophesied event in God’s redemptive plan. It does not say that every sin or every human choice is predetermined. The chapter is describing how God foreknew and planned the atonement, not how God micromanages every thought or action of every person.

So yes, I agree with you. When you look at Job 1 and Acts 4:28 in their actual wording, they do not teach TULIP. The Calvinistic interpretation is reading far more into the verses than what the text actually says.



....
 
  • Like
Reactions: Blue155
Well, either I missed your reply to 2 Thessalonians 2:10, and Jonah chapter 3, or you gave an answer that did not really address the actual words of these verses properly. Please provide a post # for your answer or repost it here. If not, then I will take that as admission that you truly have no intention of properly explaining these passages.



Please restate the question and I will do my best to answer (when I have time).



....
Forget it. You are a dead-beat poster. Perhaps I can collect your evening paper and read it to you.
 
I have noticed the same thing. Many of the verses Calvinists use simply do not say what they claim when you read them closely in the King James Bible.

Job 1 is a perfect example.
Calvinists often say this chapter teaches that God decreed everything that happened to Job, but the text does not say that. Job 1:12 says, “Behold, all that he hath is in thy power,” showing that God allowed Satan to act but did not cause the evil. Later Job 1:16 says, “The fire of God is fallen from heaven,” yet the context clearly shows it was Satan acting, not God decreeing or forcing the event. Permission is not predetermination. Nothing in Job 1 says God authored the evil. Satan is the one who “went forth from the presence of the Lord” in Job 1:12 and Job 1:7.

Acts 4:28 is similar.
Calvinists use this verse as evidence that God predetermines every human action. But the verse is specifically about the crucifixion. It says that Herod, Pontius Pilate, the Gentiles, and the people of Israel acted “to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.” This refers to a single prophesied event in God’s redemptive plan. It does not say that every sin or every human choice is predetermined. The chapter is describing how God foreknew and planned the atonement, not how God micromanages every thought or action of every person.

So yes, I agree with you. When you look at Job 1 and Acts 4:28 in their actual wording, they do not teach TULIP. The Calvinistic interpretation is reading far more into the verses than what the text actually says.



....

Calvinism/Reformed = making atheists everyday
 
It is not rudeness to tell the truth. If a person’s post is incoherent babbling, makes no rational sense, or has extremely poor grammar, then it is not wrong to point these things out. Yes, we should strive to do so in a loving or kind way, but at the end of the day, truth is truth. If you honestly understood his post, feel free to explain it. And do you really believe, in your best judgment, that his post was perfectly clear and easily understood by others?

This is not a one-time issue with him but a consistent pattern. I say this not to be mean but because it is simply the cold, hard reality.

If I wrote, “Acah bah bah,” “Tom is in the shed wearing the color of red,” or “I like chicken fries in my brownies, so jump up and down with a frown on your face,” then I would fully expect people to correct me and tell me that I am not making any sense.




....
no you like to make our I'm ignorant and incoherent.

So does @HeIsHere @Genez @cv5 @Blue155

And all along ive had no answers from them. In thousands of posts

All along I haven't condemned them I've asked them.

All along they've gas lighted because they don't like the answers

All along ive said I want to discuss the lords will

All along you have discussed your will more than you have his will.

All along I have said where can you his ways his authority his will

His everything

All along you have been denying the true walk of a true blue

And if that's not enough you will not accept a request to discuss the word on the lords terms

I would say you have a problem sir

All along I have expressed the faith I've been naturally brought up in

You don't like

I don't mind i walk a path that's narrow I'm use to it


I will not condemn what I live for and what my mum lived for


So long live Gods will 🤩
 
Forget it. You are a dead-beat poster. Perhaps I can collect your evening paper and read it to you.
Proverbs19-21-Jeremiah10-23b.png

Proverbs 19 verse 21 Jeremiah 10 verse 23b ~ Many plans are in a man’s heart, but the purpose of the LORD will prevail. No one who walks directs his own steps.
 
Yes, we already know you love to ignore, contradict, and outright deny what Scripture actually says.

Any time you want to properly explain 2 Thessalonians 2:10, and Jonah chapter 3, I am all ears.
But we both know you will not really do that because these passages refute the Calvinist or Anti-Free Will beliefs.



....