Can We Really Exercise Free Will?

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John 14 v 17a, Romans 8 v 6-9 ~ “Inability” in Bible. The world cannot receive the Spirit of truth. The mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind of the flesh is hostile to God: It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are controlled not by the flesh, but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. Praise be to God for calling me out of the world.
 
Thank you for calling me a heretic.
That really makes me feel great today (See: Matthew 5:11-12 KJV).

Oh, and by the way, I clarified that I am not Pelagian several times in this thread.
Pelagians reject Prevenient Grace, which I prefer to call Temporary Enablement or Enlightenment.
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Hypocrite. And Pelagian heretics such as yourself claim man can decide to believe what Scripture says he cannot in the natural state.
 
Well, if that is the case, then you can have people worship you like Jesus had allowed and claim that you are God like He did.
You can die on the cross for man's sins.
So, there are obviously limits to imitating Christ's behavior.

While Christ omniscience was suppressed during His earthly ministry, He also used His divine power as God, too.

#1. Jesus said He has power to raise the dead to life just as the Father had power to raise the dead (John 5:21). Please take note that this was said in context after Jesus healed the man at the pool of Bethesda. Jesus was also saying this when the Pharisees were upset that he did this healing on the Sabbath. So when Jesus says He can raise the dead, like the Father can, He is laying claim to ownership to this miracle He just did. Yes, Jesus did not bring this man at the pool back from the dead. But he did make his legs that were dead to come back alive and He also no doubt had led this man to trust in Him (Which is spiritual life). So this is an example of Jesus acting on behalf of his own power. Jesus does nothing of Himself alone without the Father. Yet, Jesus said that what He sees the Father do (like healing miracles), He also can do likewise (See: John 5:19).​
#2. Jesus had the power to forgive sins and give eternal life (Mark 2:7) (Luke 7:44-50) (John 14:6). This is clearly an act of God here. Only God can truly absolve sin in regard to our salvation and give us eternal life. No man could ever do this. So clearly Jesus is exercising His divine power as God on Earth. There are several examples in Scripture of Jesus forgiving others their sins (Which is clearly a divine act or power of God alone). Jesus also extended eternal life to others by pointing to Himself. Only God can truly have this power.​
#3. Jesus had power to take on our sins & Jesus had power to take away the sins of the entire world (John 1:29).Jesus took away the sins of the world by His death. Only God could do this. Jesus took on our sins in the Garden of Gethsemane in His body. He sweat great drops of blood in this process. No human could do this. Only God could. God is our Savior and not some mere man. Yes, Jesus had a flesh and blood body. No doubt about it. But no mere man has any power for such a task. Only God could truly have the power and strength to carry and take away our sin. In other words, man cannot resist all of his own sin of his own power, and yet for a man to take on the whole sins of the world? Not possible by the strength or power of some mere man alone. Truly the divine power of the eternal Word was at work here.​
#4. Jesus Christ said wherever two or three are gathered in my name, there I am among them (Matthew 18:20). This was said to the people he was around and not to just us today. Meaning, Jesus can be in His spirit among other believers who went away to some other location. Remember, God is Omnipresent. Jesus can be anywhere in His spirit as He desires because He is God. No man has such a power or ability. Only God has this ability.​
#5. Jesus can make His home or abode inside of us if we keep His commandments (John 14:15). This is a part of His divine power and or abilities as God. Humans born to two parents cannot make their homes inside other people. Jesus did not say he would only do this after His resurrection, either. He said it to those around Him and therefore Jesus would have exercised this power because some follower of His would have strived to keep His commands.​
#6 “This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him.” (John 2:11). This was a direct statement. Meaning, Christ’s miracle at the wedding of Cana manifested His glory. This was his first miracle done by Jesus, and it was a part of His showing forth His deity as God. The apostle John did not say that the Lord Jesus manifested the Holy Spirit’s glory, but His own glory. So when Jesus turned water into wine (unfermented wine), it was an act that manifested His own power as the Son of God.​
#7. ”And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.” (John 14:13-14). This was said by Jesus before the cross, and answering prayers is definitely a divine act of God. Please pay close attention to what Jesus said. He said, “I will do it“ in reference to answering prayer. So if a person prays for a healing in His name, he will do it. He will be the One who will heal them and do it.​
#8. Hebrews 1:3 talks about how Christ held all things together by the word of His power when He purged us of our sins.​
#9. Jesus said, He would raise up this Temple (His body) three days later (John 2:19). This aligns with the words of Jesus elsewhere when He said, "Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.” (John 10:17-18). This commandment have I received of my Father." These statements by our Lord highlights His divine authority over His own life and death.​

Side Note:

It's important to remember that God the Father also performed miracles through Jesus (John 14:8-12). Additionally, Jesus cast out demons and healed people through the power of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 12:22-32). However, this does not conflict with the fact that Jesus possessed His own divine power as God and actively used it. While the theological doctrine of the Kenosis suggests that Jesus had power but chose not to use it, I believe the verses above clearly demonstrate that He did indeed exercise His own divine authority as the Son of God during his Earthly ministry.




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Indeed the hypostatic union is the mystery that no created creature can ever fully understand.

But yes, there certainly are lessons being taught us during His bodily sojourn among us.
 
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The free will camp assumes, with no supporting text and contrary to many verses that evidence the opposite, that the man of flesh is free to choose, and will believe, that which he can neither receive nor comprehend, and to which he is inherently opposed with his uncircumcised heart of stone. There is simply no getting around the fact that this is the core of their belief, and it flies in the face of what Scripture actually teaches about the natural man who is a slave to sin and lover of darkness refusing to come into the light, blinded to truth and under the power and influence of Satan: he serves the law of sin which brings forth fruit unto death, not life. Without the indwelling Holy Spirit of God, his incurably wicked heart cannot be changed. He hates God, rejects the light, and hears the gospel message as foolishness. Praise the Lord if He has set you free!
 
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1 Corinthians 1 v 20-25 Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know Him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand signs and Greeks search for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.
 
May the Lord Jesus and His love shine greatly upon you today...
How many of these questions do you answer "Yes" to?

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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?
 
May the Lord Jesus and His love shine greatly upon you today..
How many of these verses to you reject, contradict, outright deny, or simply not believe? Please let me know...

I gave them earlier but you did not address any of them that I saw.

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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 soil. A bad tree cannot 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 doctrine erroneously and egregiously elevated to Bible truth. Praise God and to His glory, what is impossible with man is possible with God.
 
Indeed the hypostatic union is the mystery that no created creature can ever fully understand.

But yes, there certainly are lessons being taught us during His bodily sojourn among us.

Understanding the Incarnation and the Trinity has never been difficult for me, even though I know many believers wrestle with these profound truths.

Then again, I grew up reading many Marvel comics, which probably helped me grasp these concepts early on, along with God opening my understanding by His power (of course).



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Understanding the Incarnation and the Trinity has never been difficult for me, even though I know many believers wrestle with these profound truths.

Then again, I grew up reading many Marvel comics, which probably helped me grasp these concepts early on, along with God opening my understanding by His power (of course)...
Your idea is He forced understanding on you.
 
The Word was God and was with God.
So both are true.



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. So then there's a reason for this sir and I've been patient in being for coming for a reason

So if you recognise the word was with God and it was God

Do you recognise that the will of flesh that lives in man is the will of man ?

As also cited in John 1
 
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1 Corinthians 3 v 19-21a, 1 Corinthians 1 v 19 ~ The wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness.” And again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.” Therefore, stop boasting in men. For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”
 
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Romans 1:20-21 Since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood from His workmanship, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and darkened in their foolish hearts.
 
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Romans 1:20-21 Since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood from His workmanship, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and darkened in their foolish hearts.
The church of England have just appointed a woman bishop to be there main speaker I like her she spoke about Gods will to. 🙂


 
Fairness. The ONLY truly unprejudiced ultimately fair system of salvation is......free will belief.
Rich or poor, Jew or Greek, great or small, great sins or little, great labor or little.
Doesn't matter.

The angelic host (good and evil) behold the spectacle of salvation, and no accusation shall stand.

[Mat 20:8 KJV]
So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them [their] hire, beginning from the last unto the first.

[Mat 20:9 KJV]
And when they came that [were hired] about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny.

[Mat 20:10 KJV]
But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny.

[Mat 20:11 KJV]
And when they had received [it], they murmured against the goodman of the house,

[Mat 20:12 KJV]
Saying, These last have wrought [but] one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day.

[Mat 20:13 KJV]
But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny?

[Mat 20:14 KJV]
Take [that] thine [is], and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee.

Equal privilege and equal opportunity for everyone.

Psalm 98:9

9 let them sing before the Lord,
for he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness
and the peoples with equity.


Psalm 9:8

8 He judges the world with righteousness;
he judges the peoples with equity.

Acts 17:31
For He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the Man He has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising Him from the dead.”

Acts 16:31~~Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved......
 
... why are there tons of verses that make it sound like God commands, and says things that will hold man accountable?
Don't tell me you are one of those who denies that God has commanded things that are not possible
for man to do? Oh my, it is shocking how little of the Bible you believe or understand. I never would
have expected it of you, since you put yourself forward as quite the expert, although admittedly of
a cult. And if you do believe you can do all God commanded, please tell me how you circumcised
your heart. And also your ears, as I have never heard anything about that.


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Philippians 3 verse 3; Colossians 2 verse 11; Romans 2 verse 29b ~ For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh. You were also circumcised, in the putting off of your sinful nature, with the circumcision performed by Christ and not by human hands. Circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code.
 
How many of these verses to you reject, contradict, outright deny, or simply not believe? Please let me know...

I gave them earlier but you did not address any of them that I saw.

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1. The Heart is Deceitful (Jeremiah 17:9)

Yes, the heart is deceitful, and that is why we need God’s conviction and light. But this verse does not say man cannot respond when God convicts. God says elsewhere, “Ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13 KJV). The same prophet shows that men can seek God when enlightened by Him.

2. No Man Can Come to Me Except the Father Draw Him (John 6:44)

The drawing here is not a secret irresistible act limited to a few. It is the Father’s instruction that enlightens and calls through His Word. Jesus explained this clearly in the next verse:

“It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.” (John 6:45 KJV)​

Those who have heard and learned from the Father are drawn by Him through His Word. Jesus spoke the very words that the Father commanded Him to speak:

“For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.” (John 12:49–50 KJV)​

Therefore, those who receive and believe the words of Christ are responding to the Father’s teaching. This is how the Father draws. It is through His revealed Word, which Jesus spoke and which is now recorded in Scripture.

Jesus confirmed that this drawing is universal:

“And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.” (John 12:32 KJV)​

This means that all men are drawn through the light of God’s truth found in Scripture. Yet some resist that light and perish because they refuse to receive the truth that could save them:

“And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.” (2 Thessalonians 2:10 KJV)​

Jesus prayed, “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” (John 17:17 KJV). Those who reject the truth of God’s Word reject the Father’s drawing through the Scriptures. Their perishing is not because they were excluded from grace, but because they hardened their hearts against the truth that was given to them.

The Father draws through His Word, and His Word is truth. When men receive that truth in love, they come to Christ. When they reject it, they turn from the very light that could have led them to salvation.


3. None Seeketh After God (Romans 3:11)

Paul describes the condition of mankind as it stands apart from God’s revealed truth. No one seeks after God on his own initiative, for man’s natural tendency is to turn away from Him. Yet throughout Scripture God continually calls men to seek Him. Acts 17:27 says, “That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him.” Paul, the same writer, declares that God “is not far from every one of us.” This shows that when people are confronted with God’s revelation, they have the real opportunity to seek and find Him. The problem is not that seeking is impossible, but that most refuse to do so. Those who respond to the light of God’s Word and truth are the ones who come to Him.


4. Dead in Trespasses and Sins (Ephesians 2:1)

Being dead in sin is spiritual separation, not the inability to hear or respond. Jesus said the dead will hear His voice (John 5:25). So even in death, God’s call enables the hearing. The question is whether the person responds. That is Prevenient Grace in action.

Even though the world lies in sin, Jesus said that when the Holy Spirit comes, “he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment” (John 16:8 KJV). This shows that spiritual death does not mean total inability to respond. The Holy Spirit convicts the entire world, awakening the conscience and confronting every person with the reality of sin and righteousness. Those who yield to that conviction are led to repentance and faith, while those who resist it remain in unbelief.


5. Blinded by Satan (2 Corinthians 4:4)

Satan blinds, but God removes blindness through the light of the gospel (2 Corinthians 4:6). The light shines to all, and men can resist or receive it (John 1:9 and John 3:19 through 21).


Summary

These passages describe the fallen condition of man apart from divine truth, not a total inability to respond when God’s Word draws. God draws all men through His Word, teaches through the words given to His Son, and enlightens through the Spirit. Those who receive the love of the truth come to Christ and are saved. Those who reject it remain in darkness, not because God refused them, but because they refused His Word.




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