Does God desire the salvation of all mankind?

What if someone argued that the Holy Spirit applied the Gospel to the ‘elect’ thus giving them new birth/life.

So which comes first the believing or the New Birth?

So Jesus tells his followers to do something they cannot do?

40 Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”

So God tells us to do something we are not capable of, nope that is not God.

True.God's gift of grace and faith. Afforded through his Holy Spirit lending understanding where before the natural mind could not understand the things of God.

As well, if this position is true, whose fault is it if the “unregenerate” man never accesses the “things of God”?

Answer: God, you make God morally culpable.

What scripture is actually teaching, outside of the contamination of the Calvinism, not the contrast between the natural man and the regenerate man but rather that from the natural perspective and the spiritual perspective.

People were putting natural wisdom of Greek philosophy over what needs to be understood from a spiritual perspective.

Go read 1 Cor 2 and step outside of bias you bring to the text and read from the perspective of Paul and his audience.

“These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” (John 20:31)

The power of conversion is in the hear and reading of the written word.
The word of God is sufficiently powerful, faith comes by hearing. Scripture is clear.

Yes, but the Jews are still the chosen people. There are still promises God will keep to the Jews.

That would contradict the Gospel which offers salvation to all freely: And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. (Rev 22:17).

I am not excluding works. God commands good works as instructions for his born again children of God to live their lives by, as they sojourn here on earth, but God does not require good works as a pathway to secure eternal deliverance.

Actually all non-liberal Reformed and Presbyterian churches require their members to believe and hold to the teachings of the Westminster Confession. Are you a member of such a church? If so go and talk to the pastor and confirm what I have said. So those "narrow parameters" are exactly what Reformed Theology represents.

Nehemiah6



New Birth of course. John 1:13 tells why some believed on Christ from Jn 1:12 because they were born of God

So - how did Adam's nature "change" since with his "perfect" nature, he disobeyed???

I have summarized the false teaching of Total Depravity -- "wholly
inclined To all evil". Now is this true or false? IT IS UTTERLY FALSE.

Was Job for example "wholly inclined to all evil" and "wholly defiled in all the parts and
faculties of soul and body"? Let's see: There was a man in the land of Uz, whosename was
Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil. (Job 1:1)

So Calvinistic Total Depravity is a totally depraved doctrine.

True.God's gift of grace and faith. Afforded through his Holy Spirit lending understanding where before the natural mind could not understand the things of God.

I've noted in my travels those who insist we can choose salvation and understanding are also of a mind we can choose to return to our fallen damnable blind state.
Therein fixing all ability upon human will, not God's.
That's what some call auto-theism, or, self as God powered.

Saving faith is not a gift, grace and salvation are the gift.

We are saved through faith.

The grammar of the text (Ephesians) and the big picture of scripture makes this clear.

Saving faith is not a gift, grace and salvation are the gift.

We are saved through faith.

The grammar of the text (Ephesians) and the big picture of scripture makes this clear.

That's not clear at all from that text. Grammatically, faith is the closest antecedent.
Personally, it appears salvation, grace, and faith are all included.

Before sinning, was Adam by nature deserving of God's wrath?

I say no. You seem to be saying yes.

Salvation here is deliverance, quality of life.

Faith is feminine, and the pronoun “that” is neuter, so the pronoun cannot be pointing back to faith.
Greek pronouns must agree with their antecedent in gender and number.
there is a mismatch if it refers to faith.

If you speak a gendered language you would hear the problem, but English is not gendered so it is difficult to hear that mismatch.

The word ‘gift’ is also nominative which clarifies that it is salvation that is the gift, not faith.
There are three words that are in the subject or nominative case, and they all agree together: saved, this, and gift. The gift of God is not faith — it is SALVATION.

I could write more, but what amazes me is how this wrong understanding has permeated Christianity and has caused people to believe that God bestows the gift of faith so people can be saved, very wrong.

Paul never once wrote directly saving faith is a gift.