Can We Really Exercise Free Will?
- Thread starter LifelongLearner
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It is God who establishes you in Christ. God made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. We have not received the spirit of the world. God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts. If the Spirit of God lives in you, you are not controlled by the flesh, but by the Spirit. By this we know that we remain in Him, and He in us: He has given us of His Spirit.
God has saved us and called us to a holy life - not because of anything we have done but because of His own purpose and grace. Jesus Christ is the author and perfecter of my faith, which was not by my will, effort or desire.
I am still not convinced that you comprehend the serious problem that Calvinism creates. It is not only a moral problem. It is also a problem of ignoring a great number of clear verses in the Bible.
You have to deal with verses like 2 Thessalonians 2:10 KJV and the entire account of Jonah 3. Scripture plainly shows people perishing because they refused the truth that they might be saved, and it shows people repenting freely at God’s warning.
If God is capable of snapping His fingers to save some people against their will, then why does He not do this for everyone else?
The answer is obvious. He doesn’t.
Because if God did save in that kind of forced way, then it would make Him an impartial and unjust Judge. Calvinism pushes a belief that makes God fail the basic morality test that we are given in the Bible.
If Calvinism were true, then God would be shown as unloving for saving only a few when He could easily save all.
Basic morality should make this obvious to almost anyone. Yet Calvinism clings to a small set of verses taken out of context, while ignoring the many verses that say otherwise and clearly show God offering salvation to all.
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One word, winner m
God has saved us and called us to a holy life - not because of anything we have done but because of His own purpose and grace. Jesus Christ is the author and perfecter of my faith, which was not by my will, effort or desire.
there you go again m you've ignored the truth I posted about John Calvin and your mocking again
Ye where saved in hope m
But who's hope was it
It’s really tough to follow what you are trying to say, friend.
Is English your native tongue? What is your education level?
Please don’t take offense here. I just think it would help a lot if you worked on making your points clearer when you type. It would also be helpful if you backed your thoughts with Scripture so we can understand the biblical basis for what you are saying.
I’m not saying this to tear you down but I say this in love. I genuinely want you to be heard, and for your points to come across the way you intend. You can even use tools like ChatGPT to help polish your wording before you post.
I hope this helps, and may God bless you.
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well I'm saved by free will so im a good demon-strator m
And I believe without without the covenant of the jaw, I would never have bashed my head in m
Jordon is a lovely person whose heart is in the right place. Look up aphasia.
I'd like to see the post where one of us ever said God needed our consent to act. They make stuff up from their imagining and then blame us for their error. <shrug>
So be it. They will be the ones answering for their words.
Oh but we all deserve the good things God has graced us with. Erm, don't we?????
Heh, you know I jest. Nobody deserves the goodness God bestows on us.
But according to free willers, they are rewarded for choosing with their flesh things Scripture says it cannot.
They are so special they figured out without the help of the Holy Spirit things which require the Spirit to understand.
B
Believer08
Guest
@Rufus, nope. That’s what YOU think it translates into. Instead of misrepresenting and lying about me, I suggest you either understand my position, or repent for lying about what I believe and am. Otherwise, we have nothing left to discuss. Have the final word, if it makes you feel cozy and better inside.
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.
I am not convinced you understand the serious problem you create by calling me a Calvinist when my
beliefs are based on the Bible and what it teaches, not some old dead guy you obsess about who came
along hundreds and hundreds of years after the Bible was written. But you are in denial about this as
are many here with CDS, just as you are in denial about being a Pelagian heretic, believing the flesh
can decide to do things against its very nature, things that Scripture says it cannot do.
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. Romans 8 v 6-8 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. 1 Corinthians 2 v 13-14
B
Believer08
Guest
And this thread (among many others) is exactly why it is usually fruitless talking about biblical things with others online. Much better either privately, in person, or privately online with someone that is seeking to learn, hear and listen to the other side. Finding common ground to start off with is a must.
Flesh serves the law of sin. For the flesh craves what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are opposed to each other. Nothing good lives in my flesh. Who can say, “I have kept my heart pure; I am clean and without sin”? Who can bring what is pure from the impure? No one! The flesh brings forth fruit unto death. Romans 7 v 25, Galatians 5 v 17, Romans 7 v 18, Proverbs 20 v 9, Job 14 v 4, Romans 7 v 5 (Romans 8 v 13 and James 1 v 15)
Honestly, you make no sense. You have been telling us all through the thread that no-one desires life and that God simply gives the new birth to whoever He decides to give it to and then you ask a question like the above?
