Can We Really Exercise Free Will?

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1 Timothy ch 1 v 14
The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.


A horrible translation. No wonder people get the wrong idea

I formerly being blasphemous, and a persecutor, and arrogant. But I was shown mercy, for being ignorant I acted in unbelief. But the grace of our Lord superabounded with faith and love in Christ Jesus. 1 Timothy 1:13-14
 
What do believe is required for that to happen?
In other words, how can you be 100% sure you're going to be in Heaven if something happens?

@HealthAndHappiness : Well, we have to believe in, and trust in Jesus Christ, as our Lord and Saviour, that He died and rose again, for our sins, so that our sins are forgiven: past, present, and future; and that we will therefore go to Heaven when we die.
 
Tell us again how you, @Magenta , @Rufus , @Jordon had absolutely no clue whatsoever that Moses went up and down Mt. Sinai at least seven times as a consequence of hammering out the detailed negotiations to the Covenant.

And how you feel spasmodic pangs of remorse at your woeful abysmal ignorance, the sum of which have driven you all to earnest contrition.....🤢🤮

Oh and BTW, Mt. Sinai is certainly located in Western Saudi Arabia. And none of you know that either....😵‍💫🥲
Moses went up 7 or 8 times, but he wasn't negotiating. God dictated the terms of the covenant.
 
ALL things are possible with God, except for lying (according to what He says in His Word)

Jesus tells us children are innocent:

“And he said: ‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.’” – Matthew 18:3

“When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, ‘Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.’” – Mark 10:14

“Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” – Luke 18:17

“Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.’” – Matthew 19:14

“Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation.” – 1 Peter 2:2



Children are born without a knowledge of evil

DEUTERONOMY 1:39
39 Moreover your little ones, who you said should be a prey, and your children, who in that day had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in there, and to them will I give it, and they shall possess it.

ISAIAH 7:15-16
15 Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.
16 For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that you abhor shall be forsaken of both her kings.

ISAIAH 8:4
4 For before the child shall know to cry, My father, and my mother, the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be taken away before the king of Assyria.

ISAIAH 47:10
10 For you have trusted in your wickedness: you have said, No one sees me. Your wisdom and your knowledge, it has perverted you; and you have said in your heart, I am, and no one else beside me.

JEREMIAH 4:22
22 For my people are foolish, they have not known me; they are silly children, and they have no understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.

Note: The thing that makes us do evil is the knowledge of evil that we learn from the time we are born. The statement, "they are wise to do evil" (Jeremiah 4:22) proves this. When we get the wrong wisdom it perverts us (Isaiah 47:10) and our wisdom is then "foolishness with God" (1 Corinthians 3:19). However, we are not born with any wisdom, good or bad. Isaiah indicated that there was a time when even Jesus did not know enough to refuse evil and choose good (Isaiah 7:15-16).

As Jesus grew up he "increased in wisdom" (Luke 2:52). He had to learn the scriptures in order to do that. "Butter and honey" (Isaiah 7:15) are figurative of the word of God. Spiritual butter comes from "the sincere milk of the word" (1 Peter 2:2), being churned over and over:

(Proverbs 30:33) "Surely the churning of milk brings forth butter."
It is equivalent to meditating on the word of God, or hearing and seeing the same scripture over and over again. All this proves that we are not born with evil knowledge, and therefore have no ability to do evil when we are born.

Children are our example for us to be like in order to enter the kingdom of heaven/God

MATTHEW 18:2-3 (Jesus)
2 And Jesus called a little child to him, and set him in the midst of them,
3 And said, Amen I say to you, Except you are converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

MATTHEW 19:13-14
13 Then there were brought to him little children that he should put his hands on them, and pray: and his disciples rebuked them.
14 But Jesus said, Allow little children, and do not forbid them, to come to me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.

MARK 10:13-15
13 And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them: and his disciples rebuked those who brought them.
14 But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said, Allow the little children to come to me, and do not forbid them: for of such is the kingdom of God.

15 Amen I say to you, Whoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter into it.

LUKE 18:15-17
15 And they brought to him also infants, that he would touch them: but when his disciples saw it, they rebuked them.
16 But Jesus called them to him, and said, Allow little children to come to me, and do not forbid them: for of such is the kingdom of God.

17 Amen I say to you, Whoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no way enter into it.
Note:
Why is it that God requires us to become like little children in order to enter the Kingdom of God if children are born with a corrupt sin nature? The obvious answer is that children are not born corrupt with a sin nature, but rather are born pure and innocent without any knowledge of good and evil. Young children have very little SELF confidence, but have a very trusting heart, especially in their parents. This is how we should be also: pure from the knowledge of evil, and with a steadfast faith in our spiritual father, God. If children are our model then in order to enter the kingdom of God, it proves they are not born with a sin nature.

Since scripture tells us children were not born evil and Jesus tells us we must be like a child in order to get in to Heaven - WHY are you teaching the opposite claiming Jesus is telling us to become evil in order to get in to Heaven???

Somebody needs to STOP listening to the devil! View attachment 281260
Children under the age of accountability, (there is debate exactly when that is) will not be cast into hell. Jesus's Blood covers them, and they will not be responsible for their sin.
But show me the child that you have to teach to sin?
 
That is not how I became a Christian. God convicted me of sin, raised me to life from spiritual death, and drew me with loving kindness to the point where I became convinced of the Truth of God's revealed written Word and what it says of the Living Word of God, Jesus Christ, the lover of my soul. Being convinced did not leave room for me making a choice to believe. I simply did, after years and years of running from Him in rebellion and defiance. Now I am grateful that He pursued me. To hear free willers talk, they are resentful of the mere thought that God would do anything that really proved His love for us. They say He forces things on us but not life. Too weird.
Welp.......those who see fit to edit/censor/redefine what the Bible declares because of "personal experiences" take the risk of plunging headlong into a precarious chasm of heretical folly......:cautious:
 
When they run out of arguments, usually very quickly, insults are all that remain for them.

That's the seventh greatest commandment of free will
Thou shall insult intelligence 😭
They just don't get it free will is freedom of thought, m

But it would make a real difference if they could listen to the many many requests to stop using there intelligence to insults people intelligence with m,

Especially @cv5 @HeIsHere @Genez @Believer08 @Bible_Highlighter @sawdust

Who repeatedly almost everyday gang up on magenta, insult her by making out her ideas are what they see as twisted Theologies spoken by a twisted evil individual whom they don't even want to know the truth about.

All they is do is continue to speak ill of a dead good person even thou he was a well loved and a valued person during the great reformation which Calvin was apart of, neither will thet want to acknowledge the many books and writings that write about his caring work of people.

And as for creating new bogus member names just to have an confrontation with magenta just shows how much there flesh controls them m

This is what really annoys me, as this is the behaviour of dipshits, behaving like scum balls

It's doesn't take intelligence to know m that when you get a totally new member going directly into insulting people personally, there, then being nice and insulting people then being the nice it's @Genez the king of the trolls
 
Yes. She’s on Calvinism. A horrendous doctrinal and theological drug to the soul.

Yup, we have been stating this over and over, and so very apparent on this thread.

I love (in a comical way) how they "boast" about how humble they feel by the fact they were selected for salvation.

As though their feelings can be trusted and affirms their repulsive doctrine.

Their hatred towards humanity rears its ugly head sometimes, how can it not, when they consider themselves the elite, created and selected by God.

Another thing I love (in a comical way) is how they think by repeating, repeating, repeating, plucking verses out of context, with no regard for the point of the verse in context or how it fits in with first principles is good exegisis. :D

Truly, it is such a joke on their part, how they handle the text.

Mostly on this thread is like trying to talk sense to a one year old.


So yes it is a horrible drug to the soul, but I would respectively disagree that it is not theology .. it NOT the study of the nature of God of scripture.
 
Yup, we have been stating this over and over, and so very apparent on this thread.

I love (in a comical way) how they "boast" about how humble they feel by the fact they were selected for salvation.

As though their feelings can be trusted and affirms their repulsive doctrine.

Their hatred towards humanity rears its ugly head sometimes, how can it not, when they consider themselves the elite, created and selected by God.

Another thing I love (in a comical way) is how they think by repeating, repeating, repeating, plucking verses out of context, with no regard for the point of the verse in context or how it fits in with first principles is good exegisis. :D

Truly, it is such a joke on their part, how they handle the text.

Mostly on this thread is like trying to talk sense to a one year old.


So yes it is a horrible drug to the soul, but I would respectively disagree that it is not theology .. it NOT the study of the nature of God of scripture.
look up the word integrity


If your walking behind an old lady behind on the high street and you see her drop some money

Do you pick it up and give it her back or do you give it back

That's the integrity of my humble reasoning

Is it stealing you if you put in your pocket because you saw her drop it.

But anyhow I just can't lose my rag or swear because I have a child.

And when someone who has a loving relationship with God like magenta does m, why do you now on 3 occasions go directly back to calling her names she doesn't like ? Straight after me requesting you don't ?
 
Welp.......those who see fit to edit/censor/redefine what the Bible declares because of "personal experiences" take the risk of plunging headlong into a precarious chasm of heretical folly......:cautious:
it's a shame you can't disaplin your thoughts

You could actually come in peace if you wanted to.

Your thoughts tell you on one occasion that your helping people with there inflictions, but no your not.

Your exaggerating them

Get some integrity for humble reasoning to ok m 😭
 
We Witness/Evangelise, in order to try to bring people to Christ, hoping that they will CHOOSE to be BORN AGAIN.

There are many faulty analogies used in the Reformed plan of salvation.

One being Lazuras, debunked on this thread, the other what it means to be born again.

Christ Jesus is talking about birth and not conception so we can rule out the conception argument.

A baby does excrete hormones as part of the birth process, so to say the baby does nothing is blatantly wrong.

Calvinists say "We can't make ourselves born again, only the Spirit can do that. And God decides whom to make born again."

Belief and born again are two separate things.

Yes, it's true that we can't make ourselves born again (that's the Spirit's job)... but it's also true that He does it in response to what we can do: BELIEVE.

Believing is our job, the one responsibility/condition God gave us to do to be saved: "Then they asked him, 'What must we do to do the works God requires?'

Jesus answered, 'The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent [Jesus].'" John 6:28-29.

On the surface Calvinist make you think they are saying something truly Biblical and that you might agree with…something that actually glorifies God but they change the meaning by redefining the very terms. They give themselves great liberty in redefining terms and ultimately when one goes to the logical end of the doctrine it does NOT Glorify God at all.

The Bible does not teach, that even in his fallen state, a human is born unable to respond positively, willingly to the Good News of Christ Jesus unless regenerated first.

Regeneration prior to belief is what is truly missing from scripture, autonomous moral will is seen throughout scripture.
 
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A baby does excrete hormones as part of the birth process, so to say the baby does nothing is blatantly wrong.
The baby does not choose to do this. Your analysis and conclusion are faulty, as usual, and there is no corresponding truth
associated with the discussion around free will aside from one that contradicts your position, since it is part of God's design.