Predestination or free wiil.
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I agree. I did not say "therefore its truth", I just reacted to his "how can this be mentioned on a Christian forum", making it something uknown, unusual or unused between Christians.
Everything kind of like I expected, but I was surprised that so many got caught by this one:
"Jesus is the first and greatest being created by God."
It seems that when Evangelicals hear something good about Jesus (first, greatest), they ignore the rest (created).
I'd suspect they may have been tricked up by the questions wording, but, they really shouldn't have been. Grounding in sound doctrine should have immediately raised a red flag IMHO.
The natural man, as described in 1 Cor 2:14, cannot suppress something that he never had, which is "truth".
Romans 1:18-23
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.
For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.
I am not trying to be dis-respectable to you, but maybe you are not understanding just how depraved the natural man is. Eph 2 mentions something about the natural man, as we were before God regenerated us, It is my understanding that Paul in Romans 1 is talking about how the children of God, by their fleshly nature, can do some really bad things. The natural man, as described in 1 Cor 2:14 cannot understand, "that which may be known of God," and it is not manifest in them. The invisible things are spiritual things that the natural man thinks is foolishness.
As I explained to you here and here, the "natural man, as described in 1 Cor 2:14" is not the unbeliever as you infer.
In 1 Cor 2:6 Paul indicated that he spoke to those who were perfect (i.e. more mature, not "perfect" as in 'no sin') concerning the wisdom of God in a mystery (1 Cor 2:7).
But the natural man spoken of in 1 Cor 2:14 were those who were "brethren" (1 Cor 2:1) who could receive instruction as to Jesus Christ and Him crucified (1 Cor 2:2). Paul could not instruct these immature believers about the wisdom of God in a mystery so Paul taught them what they could understand. He did not go beyond what they could comprehend.
The "natural man, as described in 1 Cor 2:14" is the born again believer who is still immature and is referred to in 1 Cor 3:1 as a babe in Christ:
1 Corinthians 2:
14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.
16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.
3:1 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
The "natural man" in 1 Cor 2:14 is the same as the "babe in Christ" spoken of 3 verses later in 1 Cor 3:1.
I had asked you to provide a post submitted by me wherein you believe you were disrespected. I note you did not provide any post submitted by me wherein you believe you were disrespected. I must conclude, therefore, that the statement made in your post #455 that "[ I ] have marked [you] out as [my] enemy and [am] intent on replying to [your] comments negatively no matter what [you] say" is wholly unfounded.
The whole idea that God is an omnipresent, omniscience and omnipotent being kinda contradicts the whole narrative. It makes the entire fact of reality a farce in which an all powerful and all knowing God did nothing to alleviate suffering here and now and fore knew of the 'fall' in the garden still did nothing- didn't even fence the Tree in "because it's all part of plan" I guess...Secondly, it means that if God knows something is going to occur in the future but cannot change it for whatever reason then he isn't all powerful - his obviously bound by some higher reality or if he can change it but doesn't then he isn't benevolent...Basically the whole concept of God in these terms is rife with holes.
1 Cor 2
[c] 14 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. 15
Non Christian is without Spirit.
You believe impossible for non Christian to accept Jesus?
I have been freely predestined. I freely believed upon the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of my sins. Upon believing, the Lord sealed me with His Holy Spirit and I have been predestined for the future adoption, which is the redemption of my body. It's a guaranteed thing. My destination is set because God declared it so through the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Bible states God knew the end from the begining. There is proof. Eclipses crossing a country has been a condemnation for a country. The USA has been crossed from coast to coast by an eclipse going straight across a few years ago. There is a predicted eclipse going across the US in 2024 diagonally from northeast to southwest crossing 7 cities named Salem. This creates an X of eclipses on the US. This country was founded as a Christian nation but mostly now rejects God so God is now rejecting the US. This sequence was created during creation. This is an example of the awesome power and foreknowledge of God.
The Lord regenerated you (Eph 2:5) before you could have believed in anything of a spiritual nature (1 Cor 2:14).
God who foreknows the end knows that all the troubles and suffering that would be experienced down through the history of creation would be worth it in the end..
Suffering is evidence that our current state of existence is faulty.. God must allow suffering to make humanity know it's need for Gods intervention / salvation..
Yes God knew it was all going to occur.. The problem is that humans in their limited understanding don't understand why so they doubt God and His perfect attributes .. How dangerous it is to rely on ones own severely limited capacities in understanding.. It leads people to falling away from the truth and into eternal destruction..
The holes are in your limited intellectual understanding.. Not in Gods perfect will..
Wow I checked out the site. If these results are accurate then RIP christianity its dead. What other names can we call ourselves other than christian, anyone got any alternatives?
Now if you say you are a "christian" its absolutely meaningless, you never know what they believe.
Btw I suspect these stats are accurate based on the situation in many churches, its a liberal fun-center. Charles Spurgeon predicted this.