Can We Really Exercise Free Will?

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Rufus said:
I was set free from my imprisonment nearly a half century ago. What's your excuse?
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[Luk 11:24 KJV]
When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came out.

[Luk 11:25 KJV]
And when he cometh, he findeth [it] swept and garnished.

[Luk 11:26 KJV]
Then goeth he, and taketh [to him] seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last [state] of that man is worse than the first.
 
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cv5 said:
Right. The Calvinists are full of questions, the vast majority being ludicrous and betray their vast Biblical illiteracy.
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Would polly like a few crackers with your whine? :rolleyes: When you incessantly complain about tough questions asked by the opposition, this points to the bankruptcy and weakness of your own theology; for you don't like your belief system to be challenged -- just like communists don't like to have biblical Christianity challenging its authority.
 
cv5 said:
[Luk 11:24 KJV]
When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came out.

[Luk 11:25 KJV]
And when he cometh, he findeth [it] swept and garnished.

[Luk 11:26 KJV]
Then goeth he, and taketh [to him] seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last [state] of that man is worse than the first.
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Oh...so the last text explains how you became a heretic. Thanks for having an honest moment.
 
Rufus said:
Because no matter how smart I may be lame, non-squitur replies by dimly lit light bulbs rightfully do not compute.
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The wise ALWAYS escape from Calvinism. Because they are the wise.
Where does that leave you......:unsure::coffee:
 
Blue155 said:
If salvation is truly passive, and man has no part in their salvation in any way whatsoever (otherwise it would no longer be passive), then that would mean God is solely the one responding for them. Taken this logically and consistently, it means He believes for them, repents for them, confesses Jesus' as Lord for them, and is baptized for the remission of sins for them. And that is straight up heresy and blasphemous.

And I've seen where some Calvinists (again, they can't stomach their beliefs), so instead of saying it's 100% God, they would say it's 99% God and 1% man. What 1% is that? Is it believing? Is it repenting? Is it being baptized? Is it living godly? Which one is it? Because as soon as they say that man has a part, they no longer can say salvation is truly passive.
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When Jesus raised Lazarus from his tomb, should Jesus be credited with merely a certain percentage of the miracle and Lazarus the balance? If so, what do you think the proper ratio should be for both? :coffee:
 
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Predestination is a decree of God...

A decree which is the result of God from his omniscience taking all the possibilities that He knows could have taken place in time,
and narrowing them down out from all He knows could happen, into one decree of limiting how much out of the "all things" he knows, to be manifested in time.

He may know a million ways you would keep choosing for the same thing. But He narrows it down to one manifestation in His decree.
He has predetermined when and how your choice will be manifested in time. He did not predetermine how you would choose for something. He predetermined a situation in time to have you manifest your choosing.

God save billions of years in time that way, for men and women to discover who and what they really are.

The Decrees are a manifestation of God's Divine efficiency.

grace and peace .........
 
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Rufus said:
When Jesus raised Lazarus from his tomb, should Jesus be credited with merely a certain percentage of the miracle and Lazarus the balance? If so, what do you think the proper ratio should be for both? :coffee:
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I can see that you are clueless as to the meaning, typology and intent of the raising of Lazarus.
At least you are consistent......:sneaky:
 
Cameron143 said:
If the soul wasn't corrupted by sin, the flesh would influence the soul. Because both body and soul were corrupted, the soul influenced the flesh.
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Both our spirit and our flesh are weak! I believe that when scripture speaks of being born in iniquity, it means that both are in need of help.
You can not totally separate the two in this life because they are at war with each other and that will never cease in this life.
This does not indicate that our physical body is of itself evil, but rather that the desires of the "flesh" are what create opposition to the Spirit. The question should be, from where does this evil desire come?
It is clear that God cares for both body and soul, since He heals the physically sick as well as renews us by the Holy Spirit.
 
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Genez said:
Predestination is a decree of God...

A decree which is the result of God from his omniscience taking all the possibilities that He knows could have taken place in time,
and narrowing them down out from all He knows could happen, into one decree of limiting how much out of the "all things" he knows, to be manifested in time.

He may know a million ways you would keep choosing for the same thing. But He narrows it down to one manifestation in His decree.
He has predetermined when and how your choice will be manifested in time. He did not predetermine how you would choose for something. He predetermined a situation in time to have you manifest your choosing.

God save billions of years in time that way, for men and women to discover who and what they really are.

The Decrees are a manifestation of God's Divine efficiency.

grace and peace .........
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You need to prove from scripture that God's omniscience is merely prescience, which of course reduces God to the level of man, since God must acquire knowledge. I have already proven from scripture that omniscience (foreknowledge) equates to divine prerogative -- ALWAYS!
 
cv5 said:
What is the significance of this admission? Sympathy for JW's wholly unbiblical dogma?
JW's literally get it all wrong. 100% wrong 100% of the time.
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Only in your little box of labels do they and the pointing of your finger 👉 👉 👉 👉 👉.


There only called Jws because they believe God is called Jehovah and there witnesses for God

But the real truth is there witnesses for God, so when a witnesses for God of the jw clan, see you and they testify to Jesus being your saviour that's when there a witness for God.

But like all the other children of God when there confronted with people attacking them like you, they just realise your nothing more than a Mr know it all
 
Rufus said:
This is why God chooses to not save many wise of this world!
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***wise of this world!***

Good grief man you are a glutton for punishment.

1Co 1:20
Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

1Co 3:18
Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.
 
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cv5 said:
I can see that you are clueless as to the meaning, typology and intent of the raising of Lazarus.
At least you are consistent......:sneaky:
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I'm "clueless" because I properly use metaphors logically and biblically? Christ raised Lazarus from his physical tomb; likewise God raises the spiritual dead from their tombs. As Jesus basically asked Nicodemus in Jn 3: "If I tell you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe in the[ir] spiritual [counterparts]" (to paraphrase the Lord)?
 
reneweddaybyday said:
God's plan of redemption was put in place before the foundation of the world ... God knew satan would approach Eve ... God knew Eve would fall for satan's deception ... God knew Adam would eat of the tree ...

Genesis 1:14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years

This was Day 4 ... the "signs, seasons, days, and years" is not just spring, summer, fall, winter. The heavens signal things to come, appointed times, sacred seasons.

Who travelled from the east to see Him Who was born King of the Jews ? ... what did they see ? ... why did they come ?

Matthew 2:1-2 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.

.
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Ok we differ here doesn't matter tho, I don't believe satan was in the garden.

But the serpent still acted like satan.

But anyway I would rather not discuss that, I actually like you despite are difference in faith your very honest and respectful most of the time.

I was hoping maybe you could realise that since Jesus is the tree of life in the garden he was offering then salvation but they rejected,
 
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