“Ahh, but you have already read them and dismissed them — so I will not waste my time listing then for you.
Like everything in scripture, nothing is dismiss. I would suggest you’re misreading it.
As for “free will”, just an interspective question, did you choose to be saved? Did you, on your own accord, say you were going to live a righteous life and follow Christ?
Just think about it. The Jews, after all, are the CHOOSEN people.
John 6:44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught of God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me.___HarleyD
_______
* Believe it or not , I understand ALL that up there.
* I have on my desk The Reformed Doctrine Of Predestination by
Dr. Loraine Boettner.
I have read it dozens of times over the decades.
* I am very familiar with Calvinistic books and doctrines.
* God’s absolute Sovereignty AND man’s Free Will are
BOTH taught in Holy Scripture.
* The correct position is to affirm BOTH and NOT
to select one, to the exclusion of the other.
* “Did I choose to be saved?”
Answer is both Yes & No.
No if you mean did I originate my salvation process
totally apart from God.
Yes if you mean did I use my Free Will to choose
to accept the Lord Jesus as my personal Savior.
* The BIG problem with both
{1} Calvinism
and
{2} Arminianism
is that they BOTH deny
a vital Biblical doctrine.
* By the time some Calvinists get through
with the Biblical doctrine of Free Will
-— it no longer exists.
* By the time some Arminians get through
with the Sovereignty Of God -— it no longer
exists.
* BOTH these are
true:
{1} God’s Soveregnty.
{2} Man’s Free Will
Best.
JAG
Scot me up Beamy.
```
On the other hand, election, predestined, chosen are all over the scriptures. I would suggest you will not be able to understand the Gospel of John or Romans without understanding these doctrine. At least I never could.
Do you think Paul had a choice? It certainly wasn't his "free will" that pushed him over on the Damascus Road. Paul states that God choose him from his mother's womb:
Gal 1:15-16 But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood,
Same is true about Jeremiah where God states:
“Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Jer 1:4-5
Doesn't sound like Jeremiah had a free choice in the matter. I could go on and on. But the greatest evidence is within each of us. And, give what you have written, it shows up in your testimony as well when you stated: No if you mean did I originate my salvation process totally apart from God.. If you didn't originate your salvation then God must have. Just like this testimony, I have NEVER heard a personal testimony yet that didn't say..."I was going this way BUT God..." It is this one simple phrase in our testimony that illustrates the proof that we are chosen by God. God opened our eyes and ears to see and hear the gospel call. Just like Paul on the Damascus Road.
1 Peter 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,