[Dr. Eckleburg]

"Repentance, faith and charity," like all good works within us, are the result of God regenerating our dead hearts.

"As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one." -- Romans 3:10-12.

"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" -- Jeremiah 17:9

"But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." -- Isaiah 64:6

"But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared,

Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;

Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour;

That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life." -- Titus 3:4-7

"...he saved us by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost."

You continue to claim for yourself the work of God within you, even though 2 Timothy 2 tells us repentance is something God gives to us -- "if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil..."

And Romans 2:4 says that the "goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance..."

Yet men prefer to see themselves as the final arbiters of their own salvation. But it is all of God, and none of man. Jesus Christ, "the author and finisher of our faith" (Hebrews 12:2).

You miss so much by not acknowledging that your faith, your repentance, your charity and your salvation are all gifts from God, not born out of our love for Him, but born out of His love for us.

[bubbleb]

Amen.
And thank you Harley for posting this.

[ettiegirl]

Very eloquent and to the point in addressing the pride of the poster. Pride, that sin that visits each and everyone of us. How is it that so many are unable to see the sweetness in giving God all of the credit and thereby glorifying Him? That it is our vanity which does not allow us to humbly acknowledge that left to ourselves we would never choose God?

[marbren]

Did Martin Luther believe in double predestination?

[kosta50]

You continue to claim for yourself the work of God within you

The Church our Lord Jesus Christ established gives all credit to God for giving each and every one of us the opportunity to accept Him.

"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." (Mat 5:16)

[Campion]

You continue to claim for yourself the work of God within you

And you continue to claim that salvation is achieved by intellectual effort and understanding.

(Don't like that response? It's as fair, and as charitable, and as accurate, as what you said to me ...)