Can We Really Exercise Free Will?
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With discussions surrounding the service of God and the precedents that have been set by historical religious leaders, given the consideration that Jesus returned the centurion's ear to him, might killing 'in the service of God' be any indication of a cult?
They absolutely do reverse it, and then they "mine" scriptures thinking they have actually "found" the verses that supports it, that is the really hilarious part.
Amen to what you believe, and you now understand that Mag hates the following believe known as moral free will (MFW):
56. M – Gen. 2:17 begins the biblical revelation of God’s moral nature and requirement and is followed up by Gen. 6:5-6 revealing that God is grieved by sin, which truth Paul noted in Eph. 4:30. A main point of the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7) per Jesus in Matt. 5:20 is that souls should be righteous, and main point of the Sermon on Salvation (Rom. 1-11) per Paul in Rom. 3:21-22 is that righteousness is attained through faith in Jesus as Lord (cf. Acts 16:30-31).
57. F – Deut. 30:19 is one of the clearest statements of the condition of volition in Scripture, and Jesus lamented the sinful misuse of this divine gift in Matt. 23:37. Jesus commanded the correct application of volition in Matt. 7:7 (cf. Heb. 11:6). Paul indicates that God enables sinners to seek salvation in Rom. 2:4, where he says that God’s kindness toward sinners leads them toward repentance. In 1Tim. 2:3-4 Paul taught that God wants all souls to be saved, but he lamented that many resisted God’s will in Acts 28:26-27, like Jesus did in Matt. 13:14-15.
58. W – The short version of Paul’s Sermon on Salvation in Romans is found in Eph. 2:8-10, which states that God’s grace is received through faith, not works, implying that the condition of cooperating (called partnership in Phil. 1:4-5, cf. 2:12-13) with God both by professing Christ at conversion (from first/first day) and by producing the fruit of the Spirit during sanctification (to last/the day of Christ Jesus) is NOT meritorious or a reason to think salvation is earned (Rom. 1:17). However, choosing to disbelieve God or resist His kindness does manifest spiritual separation from His blessings and warrant eventual experiencing of divine wrath per Rom. 2:4-6 (cf. Matt. 23:37).
I only encountered TULIPists after joining CC in October, but I am learning the same thing.
After a systematic study of three Scripture passages that they thought supported TULIP turned out upon deeper
investigation to support MFW, they refused to discuss any other Scriptures with me, preferring to play verbal ping pong.
From Romans 7 verses 18-19 Journey from Inability to Ability I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out... I keep on doing the evil I do not want to do. Praise be to God for cAnd the evil you continue to do is God's fault because He is not causing you to obey well enough? ircumcising my sinful nature, causing me to obey by putting His Holy Spirit in me, and giving me a new heart.
And the evil you continue to do is God's fault because He does not cause you to obey well enough?
(Ignore the previous post that did not attach due to CC's fault.)
Nah, I think you are confused, and the fact that English does not appear to be your first language may be a handicap to you as well. What is required is to believe in Christ, this is a certainty. The free will assertion even if not said in so many words is that the wicked heart of the unregenerated man brings forth the good fruit of faith. The bad tree brings forth good fruit. Many verses speak against this quite explicitly. They are minimized and discounted and contradicted and outright denied on a regular basis by the free will crowd. Like you refusing to admit that cannot means cannot. You overlooked the cannots and said man can where Scripture says he can't.
Perhaps three verses is all that they have, all taken out of context (1 Cor 2:12 disappears). And a totally warped view of the Romans 9 as well.
The vast proportion of the Bible gets thrown in the dumpster. Such as the entire history of Israel and all of the life patterns and trials and testing of the patriarchs to boot.
As well, total inability is destroyed by Acts 17.
10 As soon as it was night, the believers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. 11 Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. 12 As a result, many of them believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men.
They searched the scripture for the accuracy of the claim.
If it was all foolishness why would they bother?
Funny how scripture never once explicitly states God regenerated them and they believed.
Like a bad tree cannot bring forth good fruit? The words of Jesus, denied by free willers. There are none righteous. All who sin are slaves to sin? The words of Jesus, denied by free willers. Human nature is very clearly delineated in Scripture. That is the inspired words of the Holy Spirit of God. Man's heart is incurably wicked. Denied by free willers. Man cannot change himself. Denied by free willers. Man acts out of his nature. Denied by free willers. There are none good. Denied by free willers. The list is long. Even you looked at verses that said, man cannot, and you claimed he could. Right in front of your very eyes were the words, man cannot, you read them, and denied them. Paul had a lot to say too. Shall we go through that list? Children of wrath, sons of disobedience, unable to submit, unable to comprehend, blinded by the god of this world... but, free willers contradict and deny. Jesus said not everyone hears. Guess what free willers say? Everyone hears. Jesus said He came to open the eyes of the blind and unstop the ears of the deaf. Free willers say man was born with everything he needs. No spiritual reveation is required. Another contradiction of what Jesus said.
So you argue from silence. Not a good strategy. But you love to contradict and deny what Scripture
explicitly says when it does not align with your pet man-exalting philosophically based doctrine.
Like telling us the gospel is not hid, and everyone hears.
Man’s heart is deceitful above all things and incurable (Jer 17 v 9), himself full of evil (Mark 7 v 21-23); loves darkness rather than light (John 3 v 19), cannot come to God on his own (John 6 v 44), does not seek for God (Rom 3 v 10-12), is helpless and ungodly (Rom 5 v 6), nothing good dwells in his flesh (Rom 7 v 18), is a slave of sin (Rom 6 v 20; John 8 v 34; 2 Tim 2 v 26), cannot receive spiritual things (1 Cor 2 v 14), is dead in his sins (Eph 2 v 1), is by nature a child of wrath (Eph 2 v 3), is at enmity with God (Eph 2 v 15), hostile to God and cannot submit to God's law (Rom 8 v 7), blinded by Satan (2 Cor 4 v 4), hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his evil deeds will be exposed (John 3 v 20). Therefore we rightfully conclude in accordance with the conditions described of the unregenerated man in Scripture that his inborn inclination is to reject God. Thanks be to God, Who appoints people to believe (Acts 13 v 48), chooses who is to be holy and blameless (Eph 1 v 4), predestines us to adoption (Eph 1 v 5), calls according to His purpose (2 Tim 1 v 9), chooses us for salvation (2 Thes 2 v 13), leads us to and grants us repentance (Rom 2 v 4; 2 Tim 2 v 24-25), grants the act of believing (Phil 1 v 29), works faith in the believer (John 6 v 28-29), causes us to be born again (1 Pet 1 v 3), born again not by our will, effort or desire but by His will and desire (John 1 v 12-13), grants that we come to Jesus (John 6 v 65), draws people to Himself (John 6 v 44), predestines us to salvation (Rom 8 v 29-30), and circumcises our heart (with the heart one believes [Rom 10 v 10]) as promised in Deut 30 v 6, all according to His purpose (Phil 2 v 13). The stony ground of man’s wicked heart is not good ground. A bad tree can not bring forth good fruit. Jesus said so! (Matt 7 v 18 + 12 v 33; Luke 6 v 43). All this and more weighed against zero verses articulating the so-called “free will” of the natural man, which is a vain man-exalting philosophically based tradition erroneously and egregiously elevated to Bible truth.
What Say You? ~ When Scripture says there are none good, does it mean some are good? When Scripture says we all fall short, does it mean there are some who meet God's standards? When Scripture says, "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..." Does it mean the natural man can understand the spiritual things of God? Does it mean he really can understand the gospel message even though it is heard as foolishness to him as Scriptures say? Is the natural man gifted with wisdom even though he has no fear of God, which is the beginning of wisdom? Will the lover of darkness come into the light even though Scripture says he will not, because he suppresses the truth of God in unrighteousness and is actually defined as darkness itself, hates the light, and is a slave to sin, blinded to the truth and captive to the will of the devil, which many define as being free? Is the heart of the natural man, the stony ground which needs to be replaced, fit for receiving and growing the Seed of God's Word into faith? Will that incurably wicked heart choose of its own accord to believe? Will that bad tree bring forth the good fruit of faith even though Jesus said it was not possible?