The Biblical View of Favoritism, Pt 2/2
It appears that all our boastful FWers, who are wanna-be bible scholars and experts with gazillions of hours of intense, inductive bible studies under their belt, have no reply to my 20,717 wherein I exploded their mythical version of what "favoritism" truly means in scripture. But I did save the best part for last, for earlier I only alluded to portions of Acts 9 and 10 to make my argument. But then...comes chapter 11, which demolishes another another one of their wicked myths, which is (in a nutshell): all of God's unconditional, unilateral New Covenant promises are fulfilled
after a person's "freewill" decision to trust Christ and repent of their sins -- truly a day late and dollar short salvation plan.
Acts 10 records for us in vv. 6-10 Cornelius' encounter with an angel the Lord sent to this
unsaved, God-fearing Gentile. But how could this be since the gift of grace known as the
Fear of the Lord was promised only to God's Old Covenant people (Jer 32:36-41)?
Not only that but there's an additional problem, for Act 6-10 tells us that God not only heard this unsaved Gentile's prayers but that his prayers and gifts ascended up to God as a memorial! But how could this be since scripture clearly teaches that God does not hear the prayers of sinners/unrighteous (Jn 9:31)?
There is but only one answer to these difficult questions that appear to contradict scripture: Cornelius was one of God's elect since eternity, so from God's eternal perspective this Gentile was always righteous in God's sight by His sovereign, eternal decree.
Acts 11 reveals more of the angel's words to Cornelius than what is revealed initially in chapter 10 in which Peter said:
Acts 11:13-14
13 He [Cornelius] told us how he had seen an angel appear in his house and say, 'Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. 14 He will bring you a message through which you and all your household will be saved.'
NIV
So, there we have it as plain as the nose on our faces! Cornelius was gifted with the NC promised grace of the Fear of the Lord
BEFORE he and his household were saved! BEFORE -- which all FWers are loathe to admit because they preach and teach the false gospel of conditional grace -- conditioned upon sinners' "freewill" choices. And once the sinner does his part in this quid pro quo, transactional type of salvation, this frees up God to do His!
They keep telling us (essentially) that all the unconditional NC promises God fulfills in the sinner on the
merits of a sinner's "freewill" choice to trust in Christ faith and repent of their sins, which is entirely the sinner's efficacious choice. But if this were true, then Paul could have never written what he did in Rom 9:16; 1Cor 1:30; 2Tim 1:9; for FWT outright contradicts biblical theology. Since FWers believe that their "freewill" choices are efficacious, then logically if this were true, it is the sinner who ultimately and efficaciously decided to put himself in Christ. After all, it would be totally unjust of God to take the choice of one's eternal destiny out of any sinner's hand.
Moreover, Peter again affirms in chapter 11 how God does not show favoritism between Jews and Gentiles. He doesn't because He bestowed the
SAME gift on these Gentiles that he did earlier with the Jews (vv. 15-17). Jews and Gentiles both received the precious gift of the Holy Spirit.
Therefore, no partiality qualitatively!
This leaves but one more question to address: How in the world did these Gentile converts to Christianity ever partake of God's grace that was promised only to the Old Covenant people of God? The answer is simple: The Old Covenant people of God, who physically descended from Abraham,
was expanded to include all the patriarch's [spiritual] descendants w/o exception-- not just biological Jews (Gal 3:6-9; 26-29), etc. (An aside: If we understand "world" in Jn. 3:16 to mean
nations -- God so loved the nations -- to which the Jews never considered themselves to be a part of any of the unclean, uncircumcised nations -- then we can see how the Gr, term "kosmos" is being used in the qualified, limited sense, cf. Lev 20:24-26; Num 16:21; 23:8-9; Deut 4:19-20; 7:1-11; 9:1-6; 11:22-25; 32:8-9; Josh 23:6-13; Ezra 9:1-2; 10:11; Neh 13:1-3; Jn 4:9, 27; 18:28-29; Acts 10:28; 11:1-3; Rom 11:11-12; 2 Cor 6:14-18; Gal 2:12-13; Eph 2:11-13; 1Jn 2:2; 5:18-19.)
Finally, God heard Cornelius' prayers because he prayed humbly, sincerely and piously
in the Fear of the Lord which was sovereignly gifted to him! The Fear of the Lord and Circumcision of the Heart are both efficacious, transformational, life-changing, eternal gifts. Since God decreed the salvation of all of Cornelius' household in eternity, we can be certain that his decree will be fulfilled in temporal reality which is exactly what occurred in this narrative. For nothing can thwart God's purposes (Isa 14:27)!
So, FWers, it appears that your mean-spirited, narcissistic god did "bully" and "force" Cornelious and his entire household to believe in Him. In FWT, your version of god is just as wicked as the world's god (Satan), for in both cases both gods coerce their people to do their bidding.
I find it more than intresting that you guys never post anything disprespectful about the god this world who blinds mankind and hold them captive to do his will. But you are very quick to blashpeme a Good, Holy and Righteous Savior whose only purpose in salvation is to resuce, redeem, reconcile and restore helpless, hopeless sinners to Himself.
