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To: ItsOurTimeNow
His choice, His selection of us, is irresistable

No it's not. It becomes irresistable once we submt to His love, and fall in love with God.

He inscribed the knowledge of Himself in everyone's heart, yet not everyone accepts Him.

My only "choice" after salvation is whether or not to obey

You are not saved -- yet (contrary to what the Protestants have been peddling for centuries). Believeing in Jesus means more than just a statement; it means becoming Christ-like. Perhaps you have this illusion, but you are not Christ-like yet, as neither am I. So, both of us better stay on that train...

I sumbit that they did not choose their position or calling, but only obedience to it

And all along I thought we are under Grace and not under the Law! Look up the word "grace" and find where it has anything to do with obedience. Christian God returns our ingratitude with blessings, not with wrath. For our transgressions, He sends His Son to rescue us; for our corruption, He gives us a New Covenant. God never returns evil with evil.

The unregenerate heart is at a natural enmity with God - and cannot pray, worship, or ask properly without the intercession of Christ

Oh, what a mouthful! God has inscribed the knowledge of Himself in everyone's heart. The "unregenerate" heart is a heart full of pride, and self-love. When I said that God helps if we ask Him -- obviously only believers ask -- so your answer makes no sense.

As for to "ask properly without the intercession of Christ. Intercession? I don't know about your Protestants, but Orthodox and Roman Catholic Christians pray, and have always prayed, to Jesus Christ, our Lord and God (Jn 20:28), as we pray to God the Father and to God the Holy Spirit, one essence.

214 posted on 01/03/2006 3:34:14 PM PST by kosta50 (Eastern Orthodoxy is pure Christianity)
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To: kosta50

>>It becomes irresistable once we submt to His love,<<

A heart that is drenched in sin (as all unsaved hearts are) cannot submit to God's will without the involvement of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 8:7) (John 15:26-27) (Psalm 10:3-4)

>>yet not everyone accepts Him<<

Dead men cannot choose life. It is given.

>>You are not saved -- yet<<

Really? That's news to me! (Ezek 36:25-27)

>>Believeing in Jesus means more than just a statement; it means becoming Christ-like. Perhaps you have this illusion, but you are not Christ-like yet, as neither am I.<<

What you refer to is SANCTIFICATION, not SALVATION. Salvation is the event where our hearts are regenerated - when we are born again in the spirit. Sanctification is the process that follows - rejecting sin, prayer, worship, mortification of the Old Man, growth in Christ. It ends and is perfected at the moment of Glorification.

>>And all along I thought we are under Grace and not under the Law!<<

We are. I hope you're not suggesting that we're not to obey His commandments? The moral law is still applicable, and we are to follow it.

>>Christian God returns our ingratitude with blessings, not with wrath.<<

So all those people on the broad path to perdition are...?

>>As for to "ask properly without the intercession of Christ. Intercession?<<

Heb 7:25 - "Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them."

John 14:12-14 "Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it."

We cannot approach God the Father on our own, it is only through the redemptive blood of Christ, our sole justification, that we can. He bridges the gap that seperates us from God. To suggest otherwise is to negate his atonement for our sins.


291 posted on 01/04/2006 9:45:56 AM PST by ItsOurTimeNow ("Hail Him who saved you by His grace, and crown Him Lord of All")
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