If God predisposes certain people to Him and not others, how does this agree with free will? Isn't this a form of predestination? Furthermore, it suggest God purposely creates people who follow His will.
The reason my Calvinists brethren rightfully distance themselves from me is that predestination states that all men are equally corrupt. Our hearts and spirit must be changed. Predisposition suggests this isn't the case.
In synergistic or monergistic theology there is no support that God predisposes individuals to His will. Both sides were right in skewering me simply because this suggests God is partial to certain individuals which is false.
"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations." Jer 1:5
I don't see how you can say Jeremiah free chose God. Seems to me it was a done deal.
As believers God has put a new heart and spirit in us but we're just as responsible for our actions. If we walk by the Spirit and do the things pleasing to God then He promise to bless us. If we grieve or quench the Spirit and are not doing the things pleasing to God, this is sin. He will chasten us. This chastening may be nothing more than a guilty conscience or as big as a giant fish or worst. God's punishment for sin may be done away with by a simple prayer or it may have long term consequences as David's sin of murdering Uriah.
That is the message I get from scripture.
Terrible! Well, you forgot part of my quote, which would explain my point of view better. Here it is again:
I would say that God predisposes people whom He wills to choose Him - and since He sees all time as one present NOW, He is aware of what will be necessary on our part to react to His promptings. Again, you keep forgeting about how God and time interact. God has access to the past, present and future simultaneously, not in a linear way like us. Thus, His interactions are done at the same "Now" that we make our decisions.
Perhaps I can give an example...Let's say God expects 1 erg of "neutral" response from men for a good work to be achieved in the will (since man himself cannot will positively good without God). But first, to achieve that 1 erg, that man must FIRST have been given 1 joule of grace from God. Perhaps God gives more than 1 joule, but to each person, He gives at least this 1 joule. Now, whether the man produces that 1 erg or not depends on his will to REFUSE to do it (not his will to DO it). The 1 joule WILL accomplish the 1 erg UNLESS the man refuses to allow it. The 1 joule, we will call "sufficient grace". It is given to EVERYONE. IF the man does NOT refuse to allow the erg to be produced (it is ONLY God's joule that produces the erg. Man only cooperates by not destroying the joule.), then we will call this positive movement of man's will "efficacious grace". Note, God gave the same 1 joule to both men, but one refused to allow the erg to be generated, while the other, who contributed nothing, DID NOT refuse God's grace.
To further confuse this all, God knows what we will do - but God is not held accountable, because He has given what was necessary to produce the 1 erg. Thus, the man is given the ability to choose good or evil (which the Scriptures state) AND God foreknows and guides our works.
The reason my Calvinists brethren rightfully distance themselves from me is that predestination states that all men are equally corrupt. Our hearts and spirit must be changed. Predisposition suggests this isn't the case.
The Church teaches predestination, but not like the Calvinists. We don't believe in double predestination. Like my example above, God predisposes the GOOD we do. HE does it. We merely are neutral (rather than negative) during a given action. Where Calvin left 1500 years of Christianity was when he said that God ALSO predestined and caused man's EVIL actions! No way, Jose. God does NOT make people do evil - although one could read some of the OT (without the Church's interpretation) in that manner. Further revelation has told us that God does NOT cause evil, He merely allows it. How? Again, God's grace, the 1 joule comes to us. We say "no", rather than "I don't know". The "no" makes US responsible, not God. The "I don't know" makes God the creator of our good works.
Thus, God is responsible for our good works, we are responsible for our evil works. God predestines people to heaven, while allowing people to reprobate themselves.
God is partial to certain individuals which is false.
This Scripture doesn't mean that God has the same plan for all men during the "creation" of His plan, it merely means that men will all be judged using the same criteria, whether Greek or Jew. "Did you love"? "Did you obey what was revealed to you"? God does not "respect" a man because the man was a Jew. But He is certainly free to design the "clay pot" to lead the Jews out of Egypt (Moses).
I don't see how you can say Jeremiah free chose God. Seems to me it was a done deal.
Scripture ALSO points to Jeremiah agonizing over this very issue. Yes, God has predestined Jeremiah, but His knowledge does not force Jeremiah's decision. God knows that Jeremiah will say "yes". Thus, the Scriptures can say that God formed Jeremiah in the womb to do His will - He sees simultaneously that Jeremiah WILL follow His will based on the gifts of grace He "will" give Him. Here's where I lost you last time. Recall that Jeremiah is born in time, but God sees Jeremiah's entire life, the before, during, and after of Jeremiah's decision, as one view. Thus, God's plan is "flexible" to the infinite degree. We can say it is made on the fly - but it is not, because God already sees it made on the fly BEFORE the decision.
AAHHH! I told you it was a mystery...
We are totally responsible for our action
That is only possible IF we CAN say "no" or "I don't know" to God's graces. Otherwise, if God moves us irrestibly in either direction, we no longer have a will. It becomes God's will within us in each case, to sin or not.
God withheld His grace from Pharaoh and Pharaoh just kept digging in deeper and deeper
A lot of interpretators have wrestled with this verse and what it implies. But I believe my explanation takes it into account, because God SIMULTANEOUSLY sees Pharoah's response of "no" with Pharoah's continued response to God's further graces. Pharoah will not change - and God sees that simultaneously - thus, the sufficient graces stop. They never become efficacious because Pharoah will always say "no", in God's eternal NOW.
God could have chosen to pour out His grace on Pharaoh. He didn't and that's His business as to why He didn't.
Yes, here is where we come to mystery. Why doesn't God give Pharoah 10 joules rather than 1 joule. Again, God has given sufficient grace. God is not a respecter of men, so WHY should the Pharoah get MORE grace than the ordinary man? And secondly, God chose to show His glory through the proud "no" of the Pharoah. God did not interfere with the Pharoah by "forcing" him to comply. God gives us what we want - and that was what the Pharoah wanted...
If we walk by the Spirit and do the things pleasing to God then He promise to bless us
True. I will take it for granted that you mean that God moves within us the will and desire to be pleasing to God. "He who made you without your own self will not justify you without yourself" AND (paraphrase) "God merely crowns His own gifts when He crowns us" (Augustine)
If we grieve or quench the Spirit and are not doing the things pleasing to God, this is sin.
I believe my above explanations would agree with you.
Regards