So we are saved by grace.
Is grace merited or freely given?
I challenged you Dr E well over a year ago to find a single verse saying that saving faith is a gift given by God to enable belief. Have you found it?
I not only found it and many others then, I have given you several verses tonight.
You ignore them now as you did then.
Would having faith in Jesus be pleasing to God? Of course it would. Yet Scripture clearly tells us that it’s not possible for us to please God without the Spirit’s indwelling.
Romans 8:8-9 “Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.”
Why does the natural man hate the sovereignty of God so? Who are you oh man to answer back to God?
I haven’t ignored the verses, but I’ve already gone thru them with you over a year ago. I see no reason to repeat myself with you or the usual suspects.
The links I gave provide ample information for any lurkers with an open mind.
You cite, for example, John 10:
22At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter, 23and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon. 24So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” 25Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, 26but you do not believe because you are not part of my flock. 27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”
And it is true that God (Jesus) regularly tells men that they will never believe. The Apostles did so a few times, and I’ve done so once...although I don’t know if my response was from God or from my flesh. And why would someone say such a thing?
Paul gives the answer:
“9For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
24Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.”
Note what Paul says - that “although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.”
According to your theology, that is impossible, for you claim that God must first irresistibly give man life, and then he irresistibly gives them faith. But Paul says they “knew God”, but rejected him, and then “their foolish hearts were darkened.”
For such a one, there is no reason to preach the Gospel. The one who has will be given more, and the one who has not will lose what little he had. So it is with the revelation of God to men. Those who respond will receive more, and those who reject will lose what they had.
If y’all wish, you can read more here:
http://evangelicalarminians.org/Landstrom.Proof-texting-Presuppositions-with-John-6.44-65
You might also want to read:
Here we read about the importance of listening receptively to the words of God, and with a humble and hungry heart (“ears to hear”). These Pharisees were not “granted” to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven because their heart had become dull and they did not have “ears to hear.” They were not faithful with the light of the scriptures which they had been given, therefore they were not given more, for he who is unfaithful in little is also unfaithful in much (Luke 16:10, John 5:39). Thus we see man’s responsibility affirmed, just as the talent was taken from the wicked servant because he showed himself unfaithful in little (Matthew 25:29).
You might also want to read here:
http://thearminian.net/2010/01/06/acts1348-appointed-to-eternal-life/
and here: http://evangelicalarminians.org/node/49
and here: http://evangelicalarminians.org/node/179
You are welcome!