Can We Really Exercise Free Will?
- Thread starter LifelongLearner
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Thankfully Calvinism is not true!
God did NOT design fallen man unable to respond positively to the truth and the power of His revelation and His plan of salvation.
Ergo, everyone let us dismiss the wall of supposed "proof" texts for Calvinism, it is not a valid method of interpretation.
Calvinists are naturally arrogant. And who wouldn’t be when you were unconditionally predestined by God to be the elect!
Yup, noted many times on this thread, but they always tell us how humble they feel that they are among the elect/chosen/created for salvation.
Those questions...
In the plan of salvation >>>>>>> regeneration does not precede belief/faith
and >>>>> saving faith is not explicitly taught to be gifted to a particular, created, chosen people.
All the while hurling rancorous insults and accusations of "blasphemy".....Yup, noted many times on this thread, but they always tell us how humble they feel that they are among the elect/chosen/created for salvation.
Calvinists have a very selective memory. Probably part of the programming.
[Mat 22:3 NKJV]
"and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come.
[Mat 22:4 NKJV]
"Again, he sent out other servants, saying, 'Tell those who are invited, "See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle [are] killed, and all things [are] ready. Come to the wedding." '
[Mat 22:8 NKJV]
"Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy.
****************************************************************************
[Luk 14:16 NKJV]
Then He said to him, "A certain man gave a great supper and invited many,
[Luk 14:17 NKJV]
"and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, 'Come, for all things are now ready.'
Romans 2 is a continuation from Paul's argument in Romans 1. In Romans 1, Paul argues that all mankind is guilty before God because God can be known through creation and conscience. Romans 2:1...Thou art inexcusable...
So who is inexcusable? Romans 2:9...the Jew first, but also the Gentile. It's easy to see why the Jew is guilty. He has been under the law and failed to keep it. But why the Gentile? How would he know to keep the law? Because the work of the law is written on his heart and upon his conscience...Romans 2:15. He knows intuitively that murder is wrong, for example, and is therefore guilty before God for his sin.
@reneweddaybyday posted a video from Martyn Lloyd-Jones earlier in the thread which explains this. I highly recommend it to you.
All the while hurling rancorous insults and accusations of "blasphemy".....
Quite something that they even make that charge, considering the "god" they promote commands and requires us to believe but
already unchangeably decreed we'd be born with a corrupt nature which cannot believe and then does not give this ability to everyone
and condemns those who do not.
yes Jackson129, those who are not born again can do (and do) what some who have posted in this thread insist the natural man cannot do.
Many who are not born again believe it is wrong to murder, steal, lie ... so God's Word can be believed by those who are not born again. Many who are not born again believe there is a Creator Who created the universe and all that is therein.
And, taken further, in Galatians we are told that the intent of the law was to bring the children of Israel to Christ:
Galatians 3:24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
Since the purpose of the law is to bring those who are under the law to Christ ... wouldn't the same hold true for those who have the work of the law written in the heart?
If and when the gospel is revealed to those who are not Jews ... wouldn't the work of the law written in the heart serve the same purpose?
In other words, the automatic response of those who come to faith at the hearing of the gospel does not always have to be to reject, consider it foolishness, be blinded to its truth, be hostile to it ... as insisted by some who have posted in this thread.
Romans 1:16-19 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.
Those who believe the gospel of Christ, which is the power of God unto salvation, receive the promise.
Those who suppress the truth in unrighteousness receive the consequence.
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Does God give people grace to to let people speak the truth, and did God also give people grace to let them lie.
Actually, your logic is flawed. Why would God give commandments to puppets who have no free will, and yet we see those same supposed puppets disobey God, justify sin, and commit evil? Not all Calvinists even believe you must live a holy life as evidence of being one of the elect. And no Calvinist I know claims that all Calvinists live perfectly holy lives. Yet is it not God’s will that His commands be obeyed? If Calvinism were true, you would think God would force obedience to follow His commands just as He supposedly forces belief, right? The god of Calvinism is not consistent. This is why Calvinism is crazier than a bag of cats jacked up on catnip.
If God can simply snap His fingers and force save people against their will, and yet chooses not to save everyone, then that would make Him unjust and unloving. It would be like a firefighter who rescues only a few people from a burning building even though he could have saved them all. Such a firefighter would rightly be called heartless. Likewise, the Calvinist view paints a dark and distorted picture of God, not the loving God revealed in Scripture. Perhaps that is why many Calvinists struggle with poor attitudes. In fact, why must Calvinists write books urging their own followers to be less harsh or unkind? Because the god of Calvinism is portrayed as harsh and cruel, one who supposedly creates people for the express purpose of tormenting them forever according to the good counsel of His will.
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What's truly absurd is that you're unable to recognize that God's own Word limits his heart, since the grace He gives was gifted only to the humble in eternity in Christ. There is no grace promised or issued to anyone outside of Christ our outside of eternity, as I have proved from scripture several time already.