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To: kosta50
God certainly did not intend man to be immoral and unrighteous. The whole concept of moral, repsonsible and righteous becomes meaningless unless man has free will to exercise the qualities God gave him, in the image and likeness of God.

Then God does not get what He wants? Maybe God decided that the best way for us to know righteousness was to have the experience of sinning. We learn from our mistakes. God doesn't make us sin, but He creates us with the potential to sin, which He knows we will do. God doesn't intend the elect to end up immoral or unrighteous, but He teaches us righteousness by allowing us to be unrighteous.

But in order for man to be free he must be able to choose between what is right and what is not right. The only alternative is to create a man who is, like animals, driven by necessities, and has dominion over lower species by brute force alone. And that's not how God created man.

But isn't it the truth that sets us free? Were we born with the truth? I don't think so. The truth comes with salvation, doesn't it? Can an unregenerated heart know the truth? I would agree that we are free to choose evil after salvation, but we are not born so. I would say we are born dead in sin, so from birth we will sin. It just isn't a choice until after salvation.

2,224 posted on 02/01/2006 8:13:03 PM PST by Forest Keeper
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To: Forest Keeper
Then God does not get what He wants

Why? Because Bill doesn't go heave and Jo does? God gives His love to all. Love is respect. God is Love. He respects our free will. I know, this is an alien concept to western Christian thinking! How can omniopotent God be humble? How could He possibly respect our decisions? Well, then, this tells me that western Christianity does not know what love is.

And God gets what He wants. There are many who have been purified by His love who will pass that eye of a needle. Those who won't will not fail because of lack of God's love for humanity, but because of their arrogance and pride.

2,227 posted on 02/02/2006 3:37:16 AM PST by kosta50 (Eastern Orthodoxy is pure Christianity)
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