annalex said:
“The text is in front of you. There is nothing I said that is not plain in the text.”
Time to close this one out, annalex. I don’t have a decoder ring, Urim and Thummim, or peep stone in hat like you do, so I can’t play your game or participate in your reality. I am limited to just reading the text for what it says, so it is not plain to me ... nor, I’ll wager, to too many others.
Jesus said to the magisterium of His day, “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.” (John 5:39-40) If you put those verses in your hat and look at them with your peep stone it will no doubt read, “... these are they which testify of free will.”
It is more than apparent that free will is the basis of your hermeneutic. It is the doctrine by which your church stands or falls, the doctrine you feel you must defend to the death. Well, you are welcome to it you poor soul.
Why, I am enjoying it immensely. Tell me again how
the thought of their heart was bent upon evil
or
he walked with God
show anything other than free will on the part of the thinker and the walker.