Can We Really Exercise Free Will?
- Thread starter LifelongLearner
- Start date
-
Christian Chat is a moderated online Christian community allowing Christians around the world to fellowship with each other in real time chat via webcam, voice, and text, with the Christian Chat app. You can also start or participate in a Bible-based discussion here in the Christian Chat Forums, where members can also share with each other their own videos, pictures, or favorite Christian music.
If you are a Christian and need encouragement and fellowship, we're here for you! If you are not a Christian but interested in knowing more about Jesus our Lord, you're also welcome! Want to know what the Bible says, and how you can apply it to your life? Join us!
To make new Christian friends now around the world, click here to join Christian Chat.
1 Corinthians 4 verse 7b; John 3 verse 27; Romans 9 verses 15-16 ~ What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did also receive it, why do you boast as not having received it? John replied, "A man can receive only that which is given him from heaven." "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." So then, it does not depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy.
well it could be but my mum believed strongly that when God said to king of tyre those precious stones adored you in the garden before your fall he was speaking to his nature that he in inherited from Adam,..
But also my mum said the heart of stone could be like the flaming sword able to go in different directions. Protecting the way of.live and shielding the way of life.
But also leading to the way of life but also or blocking the way to life
God's elect are those who are predestined to salvation [determined beforehand]. God chooses those who will be saved. They are the elect of God.
Some believe this means that God, through His omniscience, knows those who will in the course of time choose of their own free will to place their faith and trust in Jesus Christ for their salvation.
Others believe that God not only elects His people, but also grants to these the faith to believe. In other words, salvation is based on grace alone.Who then, makes the ultimate choice in salvation – God or man?
The answer is:
God is in control. He freely chooses those whom He will save. He not only elects those whom He will save, but He actually accomplishes their salvation. Rather than simply making salvation possible, God chooses those whom He will save and then saves them. This view puts God in His proper place as Creator and Sovereign.
There are certainly many who view this as unfair, but God word tells us in Rom 9:14-18 that He is in control of His entire creation, including man! And, the fact that He is in control flows from Rom 8:33-35 – where He tells us that we are secure in Christ.
Psalm 118:1
AMEN, brother! Preach it! And all of God's born again children know that God's love for THEM endures forever since God loves the righteous, the God-fearing, believers and those who love His Son -- all of which are conditions attached to His eternal love!
Use a little logic and be truthful. Your evangelism looks for changed natures - evidence of a prior decree. Ours seeks to change natures - through responsive, Spirit-convicted, volitional belief. As I said, He’ll use your efforts despite the errant focus - as long as the proclamation is true.
You did not change your incurably wicked heart so you could choose to believe what you were opposed to and did not understand.
Did you not say you were given the choice to believe what God had convinced you of?
Which is a logical fail right from the get-go.
If you were convinced you did not need to decide to believe. You already did.
This type of logic fail is common among free willers.
Reformed Evangelism seeks one thing: To reveal God's rescuing grace in the Message of Life to a lost, dying and helpless world that is in desperate need need of God's indescribable salvation. No mere mortal needs to "divine" if people's natures are changed or not. That's God's work!
So, is that what John is teaching in 1Jn 5:18: That the "whole world" which is under the devil's control is limited to those OF the world"?
How does one preach/proclaim to a thing: "volitional belief"?
And since you're so sold out to, and invested in unbiblical notion of "volitional belief", I would be remiss if I didn't tell you that since you have never on this thread, to the best of my knowledge, have ever professed heart-felt, heart-held faith, then it's highly likely you're still in Adam and a seed of the serpent. Just sayin'....
Phil1:18 does address the motives of the proclaimer. But what's the point of proclamation you fail to see and the reason Paul rejoices in it?. He rejoices in proclamation, because the proclamation of Christ carries power - and the Spirit works with it to convict. Paul’s looking for volition under every rock. He rejoices that Christ is preached, even from improper motives, because the message still reaches the unsaved. Volitional belief is the point of proclamation.
.but God is still able to make a natural man do good despite having a heart of stone ?
It looks like you copied that from a non-determinist site that thinks the world is more universal than you do and that lost and dying doesn't mean corpse!
Why don't we all just agree on that and call it a day (meaning forever, or at least a thousand years)?
Jesus sustains all things. That would by necessity include people, all people regardless of faith or lack thereof. He also said we can do nothing aside/apart from Him. Of course this is directed toward believers, but nobody could do anything if not for God. This is rather basic. But Jesus also said, What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? He affirmed that those who are evil know how to give good gifts to their children. But this should not be confused with doing good in the eyes of God Who sees works for salvation as filthy rags, and anything not of faith as being sin. The man with a heart of stone does not have faith in God. His heart of stone is incurably wicked and needs to be replaced. Also, the king of Tyre was never in the Garden of Eden.
John 15 verse 5c; Philippians 2 verse 13 ~ Apart from Me you can do nothing. For it is God who works in you to will and to act on behalf of His good purpose.
Volitional belief is simply Scriptural. Commands to believe require volitional responses. Your willingness to slander Christians does not speak well of you, nor of the errant tradition you sinfully support to such a degree.
all true, the question I asked tho was do you believe God can make a man do good who has a heart of stone
Yes. God is sovereign. God's sovereignty is among the top things FWers scream against.
If He could use one dumb ass, then He can use all of them for His purposes if He wanted to.
[2Pe 2:16 KJV] 16 But was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb ass speaking with man's voice forbad the madness of the prophet.