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To: jo kus
IF every decision rests entirely with the Lord, explain my tagline. YOU CHOOSE...

It's our decision but God already knows our decision. He made us so we will act just as He predicts we will act. He is not surprise. For example Adam was given the task of naming the animals. Adam could name them anything he wanted and God would not interfer. God knew Adam would "chose" the correct name and what that name would be; simply because God gave Adam his knowledge and fashioned his understanding.

As far as you tagline, I believe I've already address that. Deut 30:19, "Choose life..." is the outward calling of God. Read Deut 31:16,

If the Lord issued a command to "Choose life" in Deut 30:19, why would he turn right around and say, "They're not going to do it." in Deut 31:16? Deut 30:19 is the outward calling of God. It is similar to Noah preaching for 125 years all the while he's building an ark that will house seven, like Lot pleading with his neighbors and son-in-laws to leave after God had said only Lot (et company) will be spared or like Luke 9:44-45 where the Lord instructs His disciples to remember His words and yet the Lord concealed it from them.

God commands, but then He must give what He commands. God commands us to have faith in Him. Yet He is the one who gives us our faith. Instead of reaching inside ourselves for something that just isn't there, we should be praying to God to give us the thing that He has commanded.

3,336 posted on 03/07/2006 9:49:03 AM PST by HarleyD ("A man's steps are from the Lord, How then can man understand his way?" Prov 20:24 (HNV))
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To: HarleyD
It's our decision but God already knows our decision.

I agree.

He made us so we will act just as He predicts we will act. He is not surprised

God doesn't need to predict anything! He sees everything in time as one event - the Creation to the Final end seen in the blink of an eye...What's to predict? His decisions are "based" on an event that is equally present to His view!

Deut 30:19, "Choose life..." is the outward calling of God

A call that people refuse to heed, as you point out in Dt. 31:16. God sees that the people will NOT choose life. Where is the difficulty here? And God is not "determining" the entire nation's end! We DO know that many will NOT worship false gods.

It is similar to Noah preaching for 125 years all the while he's building an ark that will house seven

Again, your example does not take away man's freedom. God knows what man will choose because He sees it all at once. His command to Noah and the end of the flood are all one event to God. There is NO TIME that binds God. It is all available to Him.

God commands, but then He must give what He commands. God commands us to have faith in Him. Yet He is the one who gives us our faith. Instead of reaching inside ourselves for something that just isn't there, we should be praying to God to give us the thing that He has commanded.

I agree. God gives us the ability to choose Him. Faith comes from God as a gift. Then, He commands us to use it. But He doesn't force us to use His gifts. He knows how we will use them, but this doesn't mean that we are not choosing one or the other.

Regards

3,344 posted on 03/07/2006 4:32:20 PM PST by jo kus (I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore CHOOSE life - Deut 30:19)
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