Can We Really Exercise Free Will?
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Genesis 7:1.
"And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation."
So explain to us ye Calvinists:
Was Noah dragged into the ark against his will?
Could Noah have refused?
Did Noah will to do His will? WILLINGLY?
"And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation."
So explain to us ye Calvinists:
Was Noah dragged into the ark against his will?
Could Noah have refused?
Did Noah will to do His will? WILLINGLY?
Jordon ... I have stated over and over in the pages of this thread that God reaches out to mankind first ... God always makes the first move ...
God has revealed Himself in creation ... that is God making the first move. He can keep Himself hidden if and when He wants to.
God has given us the Scriptures ... that is God making the first move.
God inspires faithful believers to speak His Word to the world ... that is God making the first move.
When God reaches out, a person either believes the truth revealed by God and receives the promised blessing ... or the person suppresses the truth in unrighteousness and receives the consequence of having rejected the truth.
You and I both agree that God's Word is a living word and God's Word is powerful.
When a person believes the truth revealed by God to him or her, God brings increase. The person becomes stronger in faith each time God brings increase.
When a person suppresses the truth in unrighteousness, God does not bring increase. God's Word does not change from being living and powerful just because a person suppresses the truth in unrighteousness. God just does not bring increase to the person. The person remains weak in faith.
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That is a poor argument for free will though unless I misunderstand how does this have to do with free will? God called Noah yes? so therefore he answered have yu ever heard his voice alud before? your body instinctly obeys your soul trembles your spirit is shaken but Noah was called by God and yes he freely chose to obey but he was drawn to God first that pattern is all through scri[ture you have adam and eve you have Abraham you have Moses and yes even Noah all were called by God before anything else as far as choice goes
OP: Free will is agency granted by God to all human beings. It is by this mental faculty that we know the difference between right and wrong, good and evil, useful and useless, sacred and base. If you did not have the actual ability to be useful to God, using your own word which is not predetermined by God to propitiate for your sin, he could not forgive you for living in such a manner. Money is a curb on your freedom to do as you will, as in the motto "In God We Trust" and much of your value as a human being is not determined by your past behavior but by your physical fitness.
err no, calling somebody a no good Calvinist, when hes said multiple times he's not a Calvinist, is your error to not to not see those kinds of manners as hatred, and
The fact you choose to not even acknowledge my reason for saying thats very disrespectful manners, and choose to make me look like I'm in the wrong, once again is a reflection on how you think you can just treat people as if there nobody.
It's like I said it is, your friend cv5 gives you all the reasons for you to be Mr superior, and the worst part about that is you don't have valid reason for disrespecting the people who you are, what your doing is hating innocence which the lord detests.
ok Sis well to bring every discussion we have ever had in disagreement and I'm not just speaking about are minor disagreements me and you have had, but other peoples ott disagreements, to a close, perhaps the best solution would be to agree that God influences a persons will.. I believe really this is the best agreement we can come to.
But I suspect that won't work either for some here. They like there rants
When you don't listen to Gods will in your mind and heart, and your wrong about something, and then you carry on in disobedience or envy or hatred or jealousy, you will not have proper peace from God unless you listen. Obviously you never listened to that part in billy Graham,
Which means Gods will was influencing enough for your will to be in line with his will, and Gods will being strong enough to influence your will and change your will. Because if it wasnt strong enough then the fact God can cause unrest in you, means his grace is strong enough for you to change, and to change you.
Anyway here is his sermon again I suggest you listen to the full sermon
I don't meant to interrupt your discussion, I was just reading through some threads and I came across this post and saw you suggested the other member listen to the full sermon you linked.
I hesitated to listen to it, as I've never heard a sermon by Billy Graham before. I avoided him because some of the members of my Church included him in a list of "Televangelists", they claimed that all of them preach the same old prosperity gospel. Since I had already watched many of the popular TV evangelists, I thought Billy Graham would be the same.
But I decided to listen anyway and I was pleasantly surprised to find his message to be very encouraging and powerful.
I'm really glad I came across it, now I'm going to send it to those who discouraged me from taking any notice of Billy Graham.
This has made me realise that Church members don't always agree with each other. I don't expect all of us to agree on everything, but I don't think it's right to dismiss other Ministers, as being irrelevant, just because they have a different style of preaching.
I didn't want to side-track your discussion, so disregard my little rant and carry on. But I do want to thank you for sharing that sermon.
The Calvinists have no answer. And they never have had a sound Biblical answer for all of the 1696 pages of this thread.
Rev 4:1
After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, “Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.”
Mat 11:28
“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Mat 19:14
But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.”
Mat 19:21
Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”
Jhn 5:40
“But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.
Sorry but are you calling me a calvinist? and also you cannot just highlight words word of scripture to make it say something it isn't not that your entirely wrong on some of it but you cannot take words out of a sentence and think that is sufficient evidence.
We are born in the flesh and the flesh does not seek the spirit it only desires the things of the flesh so no we do not come to him unless he first calls us to him
Good for you standing uo for people who are being bullied and you are absolutely correct in your statements here
But does Billy teach the deep things of God?
I tend to refrain from spending valuable time on any preacher who fails to teach.
[Jdg 15:1-2 NKJV]
1 After a while, in the time of wheat harvest, it happened that Samson visited his wife with a young goat. And he said, "Let me go in to my wife, into [her] room." But her father would not permit him to go in.
2 Her father said, "I really thought that you thoroughly hated her; therefore I gave her to your companion. [Is] not her younger sister better than she? Please, take her instead."
[Lev 16:7-10 ESV]
7 Then he shall take the two goats and set them before the LORD at the entrance of the tent of meeting.
8 And Aaron shall cast lots over the two goats, one lot for the LORD and the other lot for Azazel.
9 And Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for the LORD and use it as a sin offering,
10 but the goat on which the lot fell for Azazel shall be presented alive before the LORD to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness to Azazel.
[Gen 38:15-17 ESV]
15 When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face.
16 He turned to her at the roadside and said, "Come, let me come in to you," for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. She said, "What will you give me, that you may come in to me?"
17 He answered, "I will send you a young goat from the flock." And she said, "If you give me a pledge, until you send it--"
That is a false Calvinist tenet.
And what you have argued is not what Paul was asserting at all, and this has been clearly explained many times on this thread.
Also see post #33866
Tell me what are >>> curiosity, intention, motivation, reason, critical thinking, analyzing, reflection, volition, examination, wonder etc.,
Basically the Calvinist creates a two-dimensional man who lives solely for sin.
However, anyone who reads Paul with understanding can see that God knows man to be very different.
Yeah, I wonder why Paul even employed "reason" if people were not seeking to learn.
Act 17:17
So very true.
They are okay with that it seems, they continue to defend their special, unique, individual selection.
The more they defend "the system"
the worse it looks!!!Interesting how that happens, but it makes sense, since it not truth!!
I don't know how this relates to Billy Graham not teaching how you see he's not, you would have to take it up with him, oh but wait he's passed away just like John Calvin so he can't answer you, well anyhow cv5 it's not the name of the preacher that matters here, its the word he studied, and way in which he pieced it together that matters, in a way that all that he spoke, lined up with scripture, that's the important thing here and where theres many scriptures lining up with scripture, we should take notice, and not just pass it of as not deep enough. Now he may have some teaching you don't agree with from his past, or that he never spoke to deeply, all tho I disagree with your conclusion, as his message was not just a deep message for believers to take warning, but also unbelievers, whilst at the same time talking about matters that can make a person feel not chosen.
If you listen to him hes caring about those not chosen to, and the chosen to, on how to mature, but more importantly he's teaching that the chosen are not people that see themselves as higher but people whom are God's children