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To: connectthedots

Just because God wills something, does not mean there is no action on our part. Granted, we are not the initiators of our salvation, but we must certainly live it out to the end. I think you are confusing God's will with God's action.

Take this example:

God gave the promised land to the Jews but they still had to roam the deserts from Egypt to Israel to reach their promise. God obviously guided them and sustained them through this migration, but the Jews were still required to make the trip.


God uses ordinary means for His extraordinary will. Our salvation does not come at the snap of God's holy finger (although it could). God uses His scriptures, other people, and circumstances in our lives to reveal the Gospel to us. There are occasions of miraculous conversions but those are far outnumbered by the miracle of Christ revealed in ordinary means.



10 posted on 09/07/2004 11:39:17 AM PDT by visually_augmented (I was blind, but now I see)
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To: visually_augmented
God gave the promised land to the Jews but they still had to roam the deserts from Egypt to Israel to reach their promise. God obviously guided them and sustained them through this migration, but the Jews were still required to make the trip.

Very good illustration, VA. And on their arrival to the land of Israel, in Joshua 1, God tells Joshua that the land beyond the Jordan will belong to them. And yet the tribes of Israel still had to fight for it.

11 posted on 09/07/2004 11:43:56 AM PDT by Alex Murphy (Psalm 73)
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To: visually_augmented
Just because God wills something, does not mean there is no action on our part. Granted, we are not the initiators of our salvation, but we must certainly live it out to the end. I think you are confusing God's will with God's action.

I think some members of the GRPL equate the two.

God gave the promised land to the Jews but they still had to roam the deserts from Egypt to Israel to reach their promise. God obviously guided them and sustained them through this migration, but the Jews were still required to make the trip.

I think the Israelites were punished with an extra 40 years in the desert because of disobedience and that if they had been obedient, they would have avoide the consequences/punishment for that disobedience.

I think this an excellent example of how everything is not predestined as some members of the GRPL understand it.

13 posted on 09/07/2004 11:52:27 AM PDT by connectthedots
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