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To: annalex; HarleyD
Isolated verses in the Scripture might suggest absence of free will. The Scripture as a whole is clear on Man's faculty of free will.

I agree. There are individual snippets of Scripture that imply that God moves man. There are also individual snippets of Scripture that tell us man must choose between good and evil. By cutting and pasting verses, we will get nowhere. Thus, we have an infallible Church to tell us WHAT God's Word is on the subject. Because on SCRIPTURE ALONE, you really can't tell. There is enough evidence to support Harley's case, or Pelagius' view (by ignoring other Scriptures). That is why it is so critical to harmonize ALL of Scripture and interpret it through the Apostolic teachers that WROTE the Scripture...

Regards

1,833 posted on 01/21/2006 2:16:50 PM PST by jo kus
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To: jo kus; HarleyD; kosta50
man must choose between good and evil.

Which reminds me, -- man has eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and indeed "[God] said: Behold Adam is become as one of us, knowing good and evil" (Gen 3:22). Now, is Harley prepared to argue that man has the knowledge but cannot act on the knowledge? In the light of the fact that the first concrete action described in the Bible following the expulsion from Eden is a good deed, a thanksgiving offered to God? If Cain and Abel story describes anything at all, it is free will. One chooses to give a generous sacrifice. The other does not. God tries, and, amazingly, fails, to convince Cain to conquer the sin of anger (Gen 4:7). Cain succumbs to sin and kills Abel. God rebukes Cain, -- what hast thou done? I cannot see how the free moral agency of man can be described with greater clarity.

Incidentally, Cain is cursed, which also would make no sense unless the entire mankind, fathered by Seth, is not.

1,835 posted on 01/21/2006 2:43:51 PM PST by annalex
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