Can We Really Exercise Free Will?
- Thread starter LifelongLearner
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Not always. Only genuine faith leaves one without doubt.
Believing in false doctrine opens doors for pseudo faith.
Kamikaze pilots had a form of great faith.
So did the Muslims who flew the plane into the twin towers.
Nonsense. Its a work in progress. A growth process.
Your bizarre continual failure to grasp required nuances and lack of depth of understanding shows up in every single post.
[Rom 5:2-5 KJV]
2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
3 And not only [so], but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;
4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope:
5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
One’s faith can be put on a spectrum. Abraham’s faith was higher on the scale than Thomas’. More evidence produces a deeper faith usually but one has to believe the evidence is real before that will happen. Abrahams faith very high on the scale. Thomas’ faith was lower. It’s not that one either has it or doesn’t. It’s how strongly they believe.
The faith of the nation Israel went from idle to redline, back and forth, oscillating continuously.
For centuries.
Also consider, Jabob who knew for certain that he was the chosen son, and his seed was to prevail, yet approached Esau with the greatest trepidation.
If you want to compare different people's faith, this is fine. But if you take each instance of the exercise of faith, either a person believes and acts accordingly or doesn't believes and acts according to that.
I believe what the Bible teaches on the will of man, which is that until set free by Jesus, man is
a slave to sin and lover of darkness opposed to the Spiritual things of God toward Whom he is
hostile and incapable of submitting to or obeying, as the flesh cannot please God. And that
without the Spirit of God he can neither receive nor comprehend the Spiritual things of God.
The natural man does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 1 Corinthians ch 2 v 14
Not everybody realizes that faith is not something exclusively biblical.
Some people seem to think it is....
We exercise faith in many areas of our lives.
It is the object of our faith that gives our faith merit.
My point was lacking faith does not mean the person is without faith or faithless. Just as one that lacks sense is not completely senseless. They would just have less sense on a scale compared to others. I may have a deep faith that a chair will hold because I’ve sat in others like it or I know the guy who built it and trust in his work. Someone else may have a shallower faith in the chair cause they’ve never sat in one nor knew who built it but they’ve only seen others sit in it. They both have faith but one has a deeper faith. I have more faith in a theme park roller coaster and less faith in a county fair roller coaster. I still ride both. Having little faith doesn’t mean that you have no faith or even enough to act upon.
I love it when people are asked a simple yes or no question and they reply with everything but yes or no. I asked a multiple choice question a.)yes or b.)no and you answered with m.). I wonder how a student would score taking the ACT if they just wrote in answers for every question instead of picking one of the choices.I believe what the Bible teaches on the will of man, which is that until set free by Jesus, man is
a slave to sin and lover of darkness opposed to the Spiritual things of God toward Whom he is
hostile and incapable of submitting to or obeying, as the flesh cannot please God. And that
without the Spirit of God he can neither receive nor comprehend the Spiritual things of God.
The natural man does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 1 Corinthians ch 2 v 14
You asked a question based on your deceptive misdirect. I answered according to what my position has been all along.
No it’s just that a response isn’t always an answer. It’s like me asking you if the temperature outside is 32°f or 84°f and you replying with a random response of how the uv light from the sun works. Beings that I don’t see you answering questions directly either I wouldn’t expect you to completely understand. The question was:
Do you completely understand the complexity of God’s will or the human will?
A)yes
B)no
I’ll answer it first to demonstrate.
My answer: B)no
Where is this taught in the Bible??? Your question is a deliberate misdirect.
I appreciate your position, but you are talking about faith in general and I am talking about faith specifically. In each incident where faith is exercised or not, either someone believes and acts upon their belief, or doesn't believe and acts in unbelief. Either someone believes an individual truth or they do not. Their actions reveal which is true.