Can We Really Exercise Free Will?

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HeIsHere said:
Agree God foreknows all.

Election generally speaking in scripture is to service.
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While it is true that election can refer to service, this is not always the case according to Scripture. Romans 11 teaches that there is “a remnant according to the election of grace” (Romans 11:5). This remnant is made up of those Jewish believers who responded to God’s grace by faith. They are part of this elect group because God, through His foreknowledge, knew who would believe the truth when the gospel was preached. This fits perfectly with 1 Peter 1:1-2 which says that believers are “elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father,” showing that God’s election is in harmony with His knowledge of how they would freely respond. In contrast, “because of unbelief they were broken off” (Romans 11:20), which shows that election in Romans 11 is not unconditional. It is based on God’s foreknowledge of their free response to His grace. The remnant is chosen on the principle of grace, and they entered that elect remnant because they believed the truth, not because they were forced to believe.



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Cameron143 said:
I'll try another way.
When God came to Abraham and saves him, God made promises to Abraham. In order to fulfill those promises, God would need to have a people through which the promises could be fulfilled. God didn't select a nation from all the nations that already existed. Instead, he took Abraham, who was previously from another nation, and created a nation from him.
Similarly, for God to fulfill the promises made in Genesis 3, God began with Christ and created a nation through Him. The genealogy is not by physical creation, but spiritual birth.
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Ok so why did God pick Abraham?
 
Rufus said:
Something else "the Bible does not teach" is that DEATH is the power to believe the gospel unto salvation.
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The gospel calls us according to 2 Thessalonians 2:14.
It calls us to the truth that God has chosen you to salvation through the Sanctification of the Spirit and a belief of the truth.
Meaning, the gospel calls us to live a holy life, and to continue to believe all of what the Bible teaches.
This is confirmed in another passage by the use of other words.
Titus 2:10-11 basically says that God's graces teaches us to deny ungodliness and that we should live righteously and godly in this present world. Grace and the gospel are closely connected to one another. It's why its called the gospel of the Grace of God in Scripture (Acts 20:24 KJV). However, Calvinists see grace as Election which takes place before regeneration, which then follows believing the gospel by faith. So the Calvinist has things backwards. Believing the gospel is God's grace and it is the point by which saves us. Romans 5:2 essentially says we have ACCESS to grace through faith. Romans 10:17 basically says faith comes by hearing and hearing the Word of God. Grace is not accessed before we have faith.



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Cameron143 said:
I'll try another way.
When God came to Abraham and saves him, God made promises to Abraham. In order to fulfill those promises, God would need to have a people through which the promises could be fulfilled. God didn't select a nation from all the nations that already existed. Instead, he took Abraham, who was previously from another nation, and created a nation from him.
Similarly, for God to fulfill the promises made in Genesis 3, God began with Christ and created a nation through Him. The genealogy is not by physical creation, but spiritual birth.
Click to expand...
Some cannot even accept that men are born in a natural state and need to be born again.
 
Bible_Highlighter said:
Romans 10:17 basically says faith comes by hearing and hearing the Word of God.
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You may need to start dealing with the Biblical FACT that not all hear.

You did sort of bump into it in an earlier post when you said some never had their names written in the book of Life...

But it also came across as just another one of your contradictions at the time.
 
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Bible_Highlighter said:
The gospel calls us according to 2 Thessalonians 2:14.
It calls us to the truth that God has chosen you to salvation through the Sanctification of the Spirit and a belief of the truth.
Meaning, the gospel calls us to live a holy life, and to continue to believe all of what the Bible teaches.
This is confirmed in another passage by the use of other words.
Titus 2:10-11 basically says that God's graces teaches us to deny ungodliness and that we should live righteously and godly in this present world. Grace and the gospel are closely connected to one another. It's why it’s called the gospel of the Grace of God in Scripture (Acts 20:24 KJV). However, Calvinists see grace as Election which takes place before regeneration, which then follows believing the gospel by faith. So the Calvinist has things backwards.
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🎯
 
HeIsHere said:
I agree, however I would say it depends on the context where the word is used.
Election is also used in reference to service as well..
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Without knowing exactly what verses you are referring to, I can only say it would not surprise me, as what God chose (elected) was what to do with believers not who would be a believer. Ultimately we were all created to serve the Lord. :)
 
Bible_Highlighter said:
continue to believe all of what the Bible teaches.
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You cannot continue to believe that which you have not yet started to believe.

1Corinthians2-14.png

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. 1 Corinthians ch 2 v 14
 
We all know how Jn 3:16 reads, right? And how FWers mangle, distort and pervert the text to say something that it doesn't, i.e. that God loves each and every person in the world, no matter how wicked or vile or depraved they are. But of course when FWers say this, they unwittingly shoot themselves in the foot because this supposed universal love for all is given by God outside of Christ. Yet, when it comes to God's elect, scripture teaches that God's eternal love for them is only in Christ!

Rom 8:39
39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
NIV

And,

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

This means that God doesn't love anyone with a covenantal love who is non-elect and outside of Christ. But of course, FWers would be loathe to believe God's truth; for they love the lie that God loves all w/o exception. Well then...if FWers insist that God loves all w/o exception (perhaps even the devil himself?), then they must bring that belief into alignment with the above passages; and that would mean that everyone on the planet is in Christ; for only IN HIM is God's love to be found for his chosen people! Everyone has been elected in eternity! Everyone is saved! Universal Salvation is alive and well!
 
Cameron143 said:
Individuals fit themselves for destruction.
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We were all fit for destruction. The fact that God saves some and ignores others is why we say your god plays favourites.

You have seven(?) children, if all are misbehaving do you discipline only five of them and give the other two a pass?
 
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Jackson129 said:
In thier pride that's a good one. What about yours. This forum is a continous argument that has been going on for 400 years before you were born and will continue till the last day. And yet you keep saying things like " I proved " over and over. You didnt prove anything except in your own mind.

1+1=2 even you and @HeIsHere can agree on that because it has ACTUALLY been proved.
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Well, good. Since you say I haven't proved a thing, then reconcile your unbiblical notion that God's, covenant, filial love is universal in extent with these passages: Ex 20:5-6; Ps 32:10; 86:5; 103:11, 17; 146:8; Jn 14 21, 23; 15:10; 16:27. Go for it if you feel up to it. Find me at least one passage in scripture that teaches God loves the wicked just like he loves the ones mentioned in the above passages.
 
Cameron143 said:
Election isn't selection. God didn't create all humanity and then pick. He chose before the foundation of the world.
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That's true. He selected out of all humanity those who would believe based on His foreknowledge and saw them as saved and therefore elected what He would do with them.
 
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Bible_Highlighter said:
While it is true that election can refer to service, this is not always the case according to Scripture. Romans 11 teaches that there is “a remnant according to the election of grace” (Romans 11:5). This remnant is made up of those Jewish believers who responded to God’s grace by faith. They are part of this elect group because God, through His foreknowledge, knew who would believe the truth when the gospel was preached. This fits perfectly with 1 Peter 1:1-2 which says that believers are “elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father,” showing that God’s election is in harmony with His knowledge of how they would freely respond. In contrast, “because of unbelief they were broken off” (Romans 11:20), which shows that election in Romans 11 is not unconditional. It is based on God’s foreknowledge of their free response to His grace. The remnant is chosen on the principle of grace, and they entered that elect remnant because they believed the truth, not because they were forced to believe.
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I have already proven that foreknowledge is wedded to God's prerogative -- not his prescience. Once again, you read your erroneous assumptions into 1Pet 1:2.
 
sawdust said:
We were all fit for destruction. The fact that God saves some and ignores others is why we say your god plays favourites.

You have seven(?) children, if all are misbehaving do you discipline only five of them and give the other two a pass?
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Poor analogy! For this is not what biblical favoritism is all about!
 
Rufus said:
And I have proved from my two part series on Corneilius (Act 9-11) that the biblical concept of partiality (or favoritism) simply means that God doesn't favor the Jews over the Gentiles. It doesn't mean what you FWers say it does.
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Wrong. Has nothing to do with ethnicity whatsoever.

When used to describe God, it always means that His JUSTICE is equitable.
JUSTICE....not some bizarre Calvinist humbug about favoritism.

But your post DOES betrays typical Calvinist thinking: how God shows favoritism.....toward YOU and nobody else....:sick:
 
cv5 said:
Wrong. Has nothing to do with ethnicity whatsoever.

When used to describe God, it always means that His JUSTICE is equitable.
JUSTICE....not some bizarre Calvinist humbug about favoritism.

But your post DOES betrays typical Calvinist thinking: how God shows favoritism.....toward YOU and nobody else....:sick:
Click to expand...

Yup it has everything to do with race/ethnicity! I pointed this fact a few weeks ago in my Cornelius series. See Act 11:15-18. Why do you freely choose to remain blissfully ignorant of God's Word?
 
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