[DoughtyOne]

NOTE: I read this as I replied to each stage of your post to me.  Please know that where you made some comments of agreement later on in the post, I noted it and understood your thoughts on things.

I believe the Holy Spirit lives within us. Without it there is no compulsion to do right.

I'm not certain who you mean by us.

Who did God create?  Are we not all God's children?

If you mean the regenerate, certainly the Holy Spirit has made us His temple and He dwells in us.

There is a flicker of the Holy Spirit in every man.  We know that on the cross beside Jesus a man who was evil was motivated to give his heart to Jesus and accept his death as his salvation.  If man has the choice, then the Holy Spirit has to be present for him to make an evaluation.  No Holy Spirit, no pleading on behalf of God to make the right choice.

But, if you mean all humanity I must disagree.

I can understand your reasoning here, but ultimately I disagree.  The Holy Sprit exists inside of each of us, Christians, and the followers of every other religion or cult.  Depending on revealed truth to humans, they make choices.  That is the roll of the Holy Spirit, to be that contact with man that allows in him the ability to review truth and recognize it for what it is.

Nothing good comes from Satan.  Nothing bad comes from God.  Even the followers of Islam are inhabited by the Holy Spirit to some degree.

This does not mean that the Holy Spirit thrives in every man.  It is up to us to nurture the Holy Spirit in the same way Christ did, so that it will be the force for us it was for him.  We can cause the Holy Spirit to be stronger within us, by making right choices.

I am convinced that the most vile follower of Islam could at some point repent.  This is the power of the Holy Spirit, and without it's presence, this would not be possible.

Humanity has been given general revelation to know things of God but not His redemption. (see Romans 1 below) The call to the sinner is effectual when the Holy Spirit working upon the elect to will and to do. The "helper" in John 15:26 is understood to be the Holy Spirit.

    "But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me."

Okay.  I would submit that the Holy Spririt comes upon us when we contemplate actions, and make decisions.  If we focus on the Holy Spirit, ask for hit's help, and exercise our connection, that connection become stronger.  I do not believe in a total absense of God from our souls.  I believe the permanent absense of the Holy Spirit only happens upon death.  It is only then that our decision to be good or bad is cast in stone, never to change again.  There is also a question if the Holy Spirit leaves us even then.  Some care has been taken to protect our souls.  Nothing good comes from Satan.  Only God can do this.  God's agent on earth, the Holy Spirit.

It would seem that the Holy Spirit was not in all if He was sent after the resurrection. Yet, there were many who did right even before the Holy Spirit was sent so I think your reasoning is incorrect.

Once again, I understand why you might come to some of these conclusions, but ulitamely I am compelled to disagree.

The Bible is replete with accounts of men and women who were moved by the Holy Spirit in Old Testament times.  Would God give only some men the Holy Spirit to comfort them and not others?  

You know the stories as well or better than I do.  In the Garden I doubt you think man was cast adrift to be tempted by Satan without the counter-balance of the Holy Spirit?  God would not abandon man like that.  Man merely listened to the wrong voice.

Gifts of the Holy Spirit were elevated after the Cross.  We know the diciples were given the gift of speaking in tongues so they could instruct and edify to the four corners of the world.  I do not share the belief that the Holy Spirit did not move upon man until after the Cross.  For Jesus to be the true test of living a perfect life and dying for us, wouldn't he have to be a man that experienced the full human experience?  He was moved by the Holy Spirit prior to the cross.  He proved what the posibilites were.  

    Romans 1:19-25 ... because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man -- and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

Do you believe that every man prior to the cross was condemned to die an eternal death?

I am certain you don't.  If you don't, then you must understand that man had to be able to reason between right and wrong.  Isn't reason a good thing?  No good thing comes from Satan.

People had to reason to make the right choices before the cross.  Without the Holy Spirit, they would not have been able to chose between right and wrong.  There had to be an agent of compelling for the right within those people.

Thank you for the discussion.

[DaveyB]

The Bible is replete with accounts of men and women who were moved by the Holy Spirit in Old Testament times. Would God give only some men the Holy Spirit to comfort them and not others?

Yes! God is not fair, but just. He also made some men taller than others. He made a covenant with Abraham but not with Lot, with Jacob but not Ishmael.

Romans 9:21-23 Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor? What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory...

Emphasis mine.

Do you believe that every man prior to the cross was condemned to die an eternal death?

No, many believed in the types and shadows of the promise to come. In these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, we have the advantage over men in history. They were without excuse, we all the more for to whom much is given much is required.

Shalom!