Can We Really Exercise Free Will?

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Its tough for some alright.

Jas 2:26
For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

1Pe 4:6
For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.

Rev 2:11
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

Uuuhhmm hum.
Again, another peculiar way of saying...You're right.
 
Take note of the tenses in both texts. The one above is talking about life in the eschatological sense, i.e. "will live"

V. 26 switches tenses: He who [now] lives and believes....will always live (implicitly understood by the phrase "will never [spiritually] die").
"Take note" ...

HeIsHere's point:

BELIEVE AND THOU SHALT LIVE!

not >>>> Live and thou shalt believe.


Rufus' point:

Really?

John 11:26
26 and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"
NIV


Rufus, we all "take note" of the fact that you quoted vs 26 in your futile effort to respond to a point made by HeIsHere ... HeIsHere's point has been Scripturally substantiated by vs 25

John 11:25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live

and I pray you will "take note".
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FWers don't do metaphors. Those pesky figures of speech were never meant for readers to draw parallels from... :rolleyes:
The lack of honesty some of them evince is really ... what is a good word for it? Like saying they do not conflate
spiritual death with physical death even though they have more than once told others to go preach in cemeteries.
Their meaning is plain and their lies blatantly obvious. But they also scoff at the idea of being held accountable.
It is not for them. The idea that man is not such a bad guy in their theology should be shown to be false by their
very own behaviour, and yet they are blind to that also. That last panel came as a result of the bastardization one
of our FWers presented of Jesus' words; he claimed only those who choose to sin are slaves to sin and that is only
atheists. When in actual fact Jesus said that everyone who sins is a slave to sin. FWers reject and rewrite Scripture.
 
do they?





You have yet to acknowledge the fact that God said all the way back in Genesis 3:22 that mankind can know both good and evil.

You acknowledge only the knowledge of evil ... never the knowledge of good.
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False. Man can know good and not be able to perform it. What you fail to acknowledge is the natural man is hostile to God and cannot receive spiritual things, yet have him in this estate acting in subservience to God and comprehending spiritual things and engaged in spiritual activity. That's simply impossible.
 
you keep adding terminology which is not included in Scripture ... in the above example you add "come to". When the gospel is preached, people either believe or suppress the truth in unrighteousness. The "power ... exercised toward those who do not come to believe" is revealed in Scripture as well.

Romans 1:

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

19 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.

note that vs 16 does not state the gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation to every one who comes to believe ... you add the words for some reason ... and they are added in error.

As far as those who do not believe the gospel when preached, God's wrath is revealed from heaven ... there is a day coming when all the earth will see God's wrath ... He's holding back now in His mercy and grace.
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And I get accused of semantics? Lol.
 
Why is so important to limit the Good News?
His sheep hear. Who else? You say everyone. Jesus disagrees.

Jesus needs to open people's deaf ears. Oh, but you say something completely different, don't you?

According to you man is born with everything he needs to come to belief.

You object to what Scripture says. Contradict and outright deny it.
 
LOL, you work so hard to find ways to make sure the true Good News of "whosoever" believes" is not proclaimed.
Why is that?
Why is so important to limit the Good News?
What does it feel like to go day in and day out, knowing a person in your family or a friend (maybe someone you even care about) did not make the list based on this arbitrary selection by god who so insecure he has to create fallen man completely devoid of any moral ability to respond to the Good News. But then maybe you do not care. One has to wonder.
What does it feel like to know God (yes the real God) states love your enemy, but he (not the real god) hates people.
Such cognitive / biblical dissonance.
To be honest, I think that you, I and many others know and understand the root cause.
No honest heart can RECEIVE NOT the teachings that undergird sound doctrine.
 
False. Man can know good and not be able to perform it. What you fail to acknowledge is the natural man
is hostile to God and cannot receive spiritual things, yet have him in this estate acting in subservience to
God and comprehending spiritual things and engaged in spiritual activity. That's simply impossible.
Paul affirmed this also although FWers deny it repeatedly. It is their go-to mantra = deny, deny, deny.

Romans8-7a-Galatians5-17-John1-5-John14-17.png

Romans 8 verse 7a, Galatians 5 verse 17, John 1 verse 5, John 14 verse 17 ~ The mind of the flesh is hostile to God: It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. The flesh craves what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. Darkness does not comprehend the Light. The world cannot receive the Spirit of Truth, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him.
 
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2-Corinthians-4-4.png

2 Corinthians 4 v 4The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
 
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False. Man can know good and not be able to perform it. What you fail to acknowledge is the natural man is hostile to God and cannot receive spiritual things, yet have him in this estate acting in subservience to God and comprehending spiritual things and engaged in spiritual activity. That's simply impossible.

The cross and resurrection are physical things.
 
Ex 19:3-8 tells us that God reminded the children of Israel that He had brought them out of Egypt with His mighty hand ... that they were to obey His voice ... and the people said "all that the LORD hath spoken we will do".

Ex 19:9-12 tells us that God set a boundary for the people (vs 12) because He wanted the people to hear His Word when He spoke to Moses (vs 9).

Ex 19:16 tells us that the people trembled (were terrified) because there were thunderings and lightenings, a thick cloud, the voice of the trumpet.

Ex 19:17 tells us the people stood at the nether part ... iow, they did not approach to the boundary set ... they stood far away ... they could not hear the Word of God spoken to Moses as God desired in vs 12 – they could only hear the thunderings.

So the children of Israel did not do "all that the LORD hath spoken" ... they did not approach to the boundary set by God.





you call it "an outer expression of faith" ... I call it terrified of God, sad to say ... they were sorely afraid of the God Who led them out of Egypt with His mighty Hand, Who fed them manna, Who gave them water from the Rock ... just as is revealed above.

They would not even come close to the boundary God allowed. They stood afar off ... far away from the mount. As stated in Ex 20:19 they told Moses "Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die" ... a complete turnaround from "all that the LORD hath spoken we will do".





and who might that "one" be?





Moses is a type ... a foreshadowing of Messiah ... the Lord Jesus Christ.
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I don't hink where on the same page.

No matter it's ok

To answer your question who's act of faith was counted as righteousness was Abraham.

But the most convincing scripture that i believe who the lord will decide who will be his children is this, God took Abraham outside and he said look up to sky son, you see all those stars, your offspring will be as numerous as those stars.

Important to note here is God is telling this knowing his future and his off
springs future.

And Abraham believed, and so God accounted that to him for righteousness.

Its important to understand here at the moment in which the lord accounted Abraham belief for righteousness, that what is really meant here is the lords righteousness
 
Knowing good and evil is not the same thing as knowing and understanding or even desiring to embrace the Gospel. All mankind intuitively knows it is sinful. This is why every man is without excuse!
still more wrangling away the fact that mankind can know good.

Romans 1:16-19 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it [the gospel of Christ] is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.

only two responses to the preaching of the gospel:

believe and receive the blessing

suppress the truth in unrighteousness and receive the consequence
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This has nothing to do with regeneration.

Well you still have not demonstrated that regeneration is separate from eternal life such that God gives one and not the other and belief is somewhere in the middle, I guess. :eek:
Your assertion remains very weak... kinda like this,

 
The cross and resurrection are physical things.
"The cross" functions as a potent metaphor in several ways, symbolizing both the suffering and death
of Jesus Christ and the process of spiritual transformation for believers, representing sacrifice, redemption,
death to self, and hope amidst suffering. Christians widely understand the cross to mean not just the physical
wood upon which Jesus hung, but to convey deeper spiritual truths about God's nature, the atonement for sin,
and the call to follow Jesus. None of which you seem to understand. Oh, that's right. Spiritual things do not
exist in your theology. Spiritual revelation is not something God promised according to you. According to
you it is something to make fun of and try to shame people for affirming. Who is the author of your theology?
 
The cross and resurrection are physical things.
So? Are you suggesting that this changes the estate of the natural man?

Take a look at Acts 7 and see what the natural man did armed with that information. They can even condone it for religious reasons. But their behavior revealed their hostility and lack of spirituality. I'll grant that this is a worst case scenario, but it remains impossible for those of a hostile mind and spiritually dead to comply with God and engage in spiritual activity.
 
That's because...

Deut 29:4
4 But to this day the LORD has not given you a mind that understands or eyes that see or ears that hear.
NIV
As is ALWAYS the case.....this is reactionary judgement due for WILLFUL unbelief.
Forty years worth of opportunity GIVEN in good faith, opportunity REJECTED in bad faith. Then comes the judgement.

Deu 29:2
And Moses called unto all Israel, and said unto them, Ye have seen all that the LORD did before your eyes in the land of Egypt unto Pharaoh, and unto all his servants, and unto all his land;

Deu 29:3
The great temptations which thine eyes have seen, the signs, and those great miracles:

Deu 30:1
And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath driven thee,

Deu 30:2
And shalt return unto the LORD thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul;

Deu 30:3
That then the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee.

***********************************************************************************************************

And here is the NT parallel. Opportunity GIVEN in good faith, opportunity REJECTED in bad faith.
Jesus is unfailingly consistent and perfectly just in this, and never prejudiced.

All of this a total repudiation of all things determinist BTW.

Luk 10:13
Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon, which have been done in you, they had a great while ago repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.

[Luk 10:14 KJV]
But it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment, than for you.

[Luk 10:15 KJV]
And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted to heaven, shalt be thrust down to hell.

[Luk 10:16 KJV]
He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me.