Aren't you establishing here a relative (solipsistic) reality? What is real to me (oh, that me-me-me generation!) is real.
A little earlier in your post you state: "No one forced me to pray the prayer. I experienced no force of any kind. For me it was absolutely real. What was unknown to me at the time was how much God was behind it."
But, again, I ask you how do you "know" how much God is behind it, or if He is even behind it and what you "know" is "real" is not a product of one's imagination and, yes, even insanity?
Then you say: "Those who demand that man is autonomous and sovereign will disagree and say it doesn't count unless man moves wholly separately from God, but that's ridiculous. To them reality is DEFINED by man's autonomy..." but somehow you fail to see that you are defining your reality by the same thing you are criticizing.
We can only believe that God is real, that God exists, that God is good, that God resurrected, that believers are 'saved.' That's why it is called faith (hope), and not knowledge. Your side is committing the same error for which Gnosticism was rejected by Christianity: they claimed special "knowledge" and confused it with faith (hope). It is pure solipsism; what is real is that which is "real" to me.
It is not contradictory. It is true by experiential perception. If I am of the elect then God ordained me to come to Christ from the foundations of the world. And when that point came I asked Christ into my heart with a free will
So, you were pre-programmed to make a "free" will choice. My computer did the same thing this morning. So, you are essentially no different than a blade of grass, except that God endowed us with a delusion that we have free will? That's pure Calvinism, I have got to hand it to you. Nice religion.
Aren't you establishing here a relative (solipsistic) reality?
I am just saying that our experience and POV is not the same as God's. Fortunately, He has chosen to share some of His POV with us in scripture. When I said the sinner's prayer I wasn't thinking of the totality of why this was happening because I didn't know it. God obviously did.
But, again, I ask you how do you "know" how much God is behind it, or if He is even behind it and what you "know" is "real" is not a product of one's imagination and, yes, even insanity?
I know how much God is behind it because the Bible tells us how much He is behind it. To me the Bible is fully authoritative as God's revelation to His children. Christ died on the cross to justify us, God changed our hearts and God gave us faith. I know that my relationship with God is not my imagination or insanity because the Bible instructs us to honestly take stock of that very relationship. Therefore, that activity is possible, and I engage in it. The Holy Spirit guides us in our faiths and confirms them for us. He is the seal of the relationship and we can know that the seal is there. Otherwise, Paul would not say "do you not know... " all the time.
Then you say: "Those who demand that man is autonomous and sovereign will disagree and say it doesn't count unless man moves wholly separately from God, but that's ridiculous. To them reality is DEFINED by man's autonomy..." but somehow you fail to see that you are defining your reality by the same thing you are criticizing.
The way I read your statement is that I am claiming to be autonomous in stating that I am not autonomous. Does that sum it up? If so, then I disagree because now that I am more mature in the faith I understand that the Bible teaches that we are not autonomous. I didn't make up that rule, I just follow what the Bible says and intellectually agree with it. When I said the sinner's prayer I simply didn't know that only God was fully autonomous.
We can only believe that God is real, that God exists, that God is good, that God resurrected, that believers are 'saved.' That's why it is called faith (hope), and not knowledge.
Let's see if it is a matter of semantics. Would you say you know your wife loves you or do you merely believe it? If you know it, then I say we can know that God loves us. It is a personal relationship. I experience God's love for me in my life just as much if not more than the love from my own wife and I KNOW she loves me. If you say that you cannot know about your own wife, then for you no one can have any knowledge about any loving relationship. I don't think you'd have many takers on that opinion. :)
So, you were pre-programmed to make a "free" will choice. My computer did the same thing this morning. So, you are essentially no different than a blade of grass, except that God endowed us with a delusion that we have free will? That's pure Calvinism, I have got to hand it to you. Nice religion.
God ordained what I would do because He actually CARED what I would do, and He knew that the decision could not be left solely in my hands because I would blow it. In addition, as I see it, the Reformed faith is not a religion, instead it is a personal relationship with God. We leave it to others to practice their "religions", and wish them the best of luck in using all their talents, abilities, and rituals, etc., to come to God, and then stay there.