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To: P-Marlowe
It says it all throughout the Bible.

Chapter and verse please.

Where is that addressed in scripture???

I will take that as a "no."

Why? Because you can't answer my question?

I will therefore have to assume that you believe that by the exercise of your own free will, independent of any compulsive influence of the Holy Spirit, that you made a rational and natural decision to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

And that is your assumption for what it is worth. But why is any way that a person winds up believing on the Lord Jesus Christ the right way or the wrong way? Is your way the only way? Is believing the gospel irrational?

I believe that is Pelagianism.

Now that belief is a work. You had to work hard to come up with that conclusion and the following question.

170 posted on 05/28/2007 1:55:50 PM PDT by Uncle Chip (TRUTH : Ignore it. Deride it. Allegorize it. Interpret it. But you can't ESCAPE it.)
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To: Uncle Chip
But why is any way that a person winds up believing on the Lord Jesus Christ the right way or the wrong way?

If you believe that you can come to Christ independent of the compulsive influence of the Holy Spirit, then you are flirting with Pelagianism. God must (one way or another) make you willing and take away your natural unwillingness to repent and believe. It therefore requires a supernatural act. If you believe you did it on your own, then your salvation is the result of a natural act.

Is believing the gospel irrational?

It is both unnatural and irrational. No man who is uninfluenced by the direct intervention of the Holy Spirit will ever make a rational decision to embrace the gospel of Christ. If, at the time you received Christ, you believed it to be a rational decision, it was only because the Holy Spirit put the ability to see that as a rational choice in your heart. It didn't grow out of some kind of natural tendency in mankind. The natural tendency of mankind is to reject the Gospel, as it makes no sense to the person who is not under the direct influence and guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Now that belief is a work. You had to work hard to come up with that conclusion

No, your answers were classic Pelagianism. Even Arminians would refute them.

180 posted on 05/28/2007 4:14:15 PM PDT by P-Marlowe (LPFOKETT GAHCOEEP-w/o*)
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