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Ergo, there is a lot here, but with your permission, let's just look at one or two.

An unsaved person does not have the Spirit, so he isn't either resisting or grieving God.

But if God determined to save that soul, there is no amount of resisting that will stop it. If there is, then God isn't God.

However, once the HS has entered in, the man can now resist sin with the help of the HS. So if the man sins, he is not "resisting the Spirit", he is "grieving" the Spirit, by not being all that he now can be, with God's help.

God expects good fruit from good trees, and we are expected to walk the Christian walk, (symbolized by Jesus healing the lame) and grow in the knowledge of Christ. We pray and we study so, as Dr. Eckleburg is always pointing out to us--

2Ti 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

To rightly divide the word of truth, we must study. And what do we study? God's Word. We don't study the writings of great philosophers, nor the writings of great scientists, nor even the writings of great theologians-- we are to study God's Word.

Every prophet who comes to us must come in the name of the Lord, and as all prophecy has now been fulfilled in Christ, (Revelation 19:19) that prophet is now confined to preaching only Christ and Him crucified. Anything else is going to have to be set aside if God's elect are going to be faithful to the Word.

Now back to the Urim and the Thummin: we don't know from scripture exactly what they were, most believe they were either jewels on the priest's breastplate, or, actual people who were gifted with the Spirit, or in other words, special prophets in the service of the Lord.

What they were not, is some kind of Jewish ouija board. What if two professing Christians wave their hands over the Ouija board of Scripture employing their Holy Spirit radar and each comes up with different interpretations how can we tell which one's radar is defective?

Thank y’all for your posts and for sharing your insights!

Protests that predestination should not be compared to strong determinism – because one is according to God’s will and the other is dumb, blind chance are neither accurate nor relevant.

Strong determinism is also heralded by Deists who most certainly do believe it was God’s will, that He had a purpose – but they believe He has had nothing further to do with Creation, He is “out of the picture”. They would say in effect “Everything God does is perfect and with a perfect Creation, what is left to do?”

IOW, a person who asserts “strong determinism” is not necessarily an atheist who believes everything happens by dumb, blind chance (without a purpose.)

It is irrelevant anyway because the effect of both views is exactly the same, i.e. the mind, soul, spirit, consciousness can be no more than an epiphenomenon, a secondary phenomenon which can cause nothing to happen.

That a man cannot willfully cause anything to happen means that all laws – whether of God or of man – are punishing a mindless material entity for something it could not not do. It is like hitting a rock for falling.

That is why the doctrine of predestination only (as compared to a mixture of both predestination and free will) – sets off my “Holy Spirit radar” – and it is why I bother to post on any predestination thread.

Justice and judgment [are] the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face. – Psalms 89:14

1000, you said:

An unsaved person does not have the Spirit, so he isn't either resisting or grieving God. But if God determined to save that soul, there is no amount of resisting that will stop it. If there is, then God isn't God.

Then how do you explain Stephen’s testimony when he was filled with the Holy Spirit?

Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers [did], so [do] ye. – Acts 7:51

More importantly, how do you explain Jesus' words:

And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. – John 12:47-48

Concerning the Urim and Thummin, you said:

Here is what the Jewish Encyclopedia has to say on the subject (with Scripture references): URIM AND THUMMIM

Objects connected with the breastplate of the high priest, and used as a kind of divine oracle…

I Sam. xxviii. 3-6 mentions three methods of divine communication: (1) the dream-oracle, of which frequent mention is made also in Assyrian and Babylonian literature; (2) the oracle by means of the Urim (here, undoubtedly, an abbreviation for "Urim and Thummim"); (3) the oracle by the word of the Prophets, found among all Semitic nations….

The Urim and Thummim are implied, also, whereever in the earlier history of Israel mention is made of asking counsel of the Lord by means of the ephod (Josh. ix. 14; Judges i. 1-2; xx. 18 [rejected as a later gloss from ib. i. 1 by most commentators], 26-28; I Sam. x. 22; xiv. 3, 18, 36 et seq.; xxii. 10, 13; xxiii. 2, 4, 6, 9-12; xxviii. 6; xxx. 7 et seq.; II Sam. ii. 1; v. 19, 23 et seq.; xxi. 1. On the nature of the ephod see G. F. Moore, "Judges," 1895, pp. 380-399, where copious references and the literature are given; idem, "Ephod," in Cheyne and Black, "Encyc. Bibl."; and especially T. C. Foote, "The Ephod," in "Jour. Bib. Lit." [1902] xxi. 1-48). In all cases except I Sam. x. 22 and II Sam. v. 23 et seq., the answer is either "Yes" or "No." It has been suggested by Riehm and others that these two passages have undergone editorial changes. After the death of David no instance is mentioned in the Old Testament of consulting the Lord by means of the Urim and Thummim or the ephod. This desuetude is undoubtedly occasioned by the growing influence of the Old Testament prophecy.