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To: Dutchboy88
I searched for a line or two in your post to highlight, but it was impossible. ALL your post is God's truth. AMEN!

.I wrote that God's foreknowledge is not the constraining factor, but rather the constraining factor is His predestining all individuals. I simply stated that the REASON that His foreknowledge is absolute, perfect, without error, and true is that it is a reflection of His aboslute, perfect, and error free control of all matters occurring, including where individuals end up. There is not a maverick molecule in existence.

And I noted, if His foreknowledge is absolutely perfect, then that means what He foreknows is absolutely going to occur and if it is absolutely going to occur, then no other outcome could occur in its place. I did not, and never would, say that this absolute control is detectable by man. You and I cannot feel the genius of this "management", nor can any other existent being. Satan cannot "feel" the limits, direction, and control that the God of ALL HEAVEN AND EARTH is exerting upon him...but it is happening to Satan's peril.

Now, this "feeling" that you can go left or right without any perception of control does not mean that the "feeling" is correct. On the contrary, the Scriptures inform us the opposite is happening, Prov. 16:9, "The mind of man plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps." You may think you picked the red sox over the green sox, but your plans were being managed by God. This goes for the apparent random events of the universe. Prov. 16:33, "The die is rolled into the lap, But its every decision is from the Lord." There is no such thing as real chance, real randomness, real anything that this not being ultimately done by God. Again, I am NOT SAYING you can feel it. If you wish, I can provide some 30 passages that state this unequivocally.

Now, if that fact is acceptable, I can from that understand how it is that God is really fashioning all of the decisions of a man's heart and their ultimate destinations. If you trust Christ, if you turn to Him, aware of your desparate sin, then that understanding is not ultimately originating from you. It is because in eons past, your Heavenly Father set His heart upon you to draw you to Himself. The credit is His.

Imagine, not only is the Rescue itself accomplished by Christ (the vicarious atoning death of Jesus instead of you), but the very fact of your heart being broken to come and partake of Him, is due to Him. This position of utter dependency is what the Gospel is really all about. There is no part of this that we can trace to us. This Monergistic work (singularly and only God at work in you) is what removes the opportunity to boast. You cannot say, "Well, at least I decided to follow Jesus and those evil men did not." Such is a form of adoration of my own works.

But, notice, if He decreed you to be adopted in ages past (in Ephesians Paul says it was before the foundation of the world 1:4), then He set in motion all that must have transpired to get you to turn to Him, this is such utter and unbounded love that He expressed toward you that you ought to have one and only one person to thank...God.

So, "mercy" is defined not as giving anyone and everyone who wants it salvation. Rather, "mercy" is God deciding to set some free from the punishment that the rest will not escape. And Paul knows when the Romans understand what he is arguing will say, "Then how can He still find fault, for who escapes His will?" But, the answer is...that is just the way it is.

And, yes, of course we are all offenders. But, your conclusion this should imply, "...salvation be available to all who have freewill to accept it or reject it?" contains those two errors. It assumes the Scripture teaches "freewill" and it assumes the Scripture teaches anyone should be able to choose salvation. Unfortunately, neither of these comport with the text.

I will add as a postscript that you might argue one could find all kinds of places where Scripture calls you to "decide". Such demands do not address whether such a decision is entirely yours to make. It simply states, "Decide". You are reading into it that the decision is to be unaffected, unmanaged, uncontrolled by God. This is often the claim regarding John 3:16. But read the verse closely, John simply states a fact. He does not make an open offer. John 6:44 makes it crystal clear that "No one comes to Me unless the Father draws him."

Every word gets an AMEN! The Christian distinctive is real and God-ordained. The temporal world seeks to tell us it's all up to men, but the truth is that now and always it is up to God. His call. Thank God.

36 posted on 05/08/2010 1:05:30 PM PDT by Dr. Eckleburg ("I don't think they want my respect; I think they want my submission." - Flemming Rose)
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To: Dr. Eckleburg

Such kind words. Thank you.


37 posted on 05/08/2010 2:11:04 PM PDT by Dutchboy88
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To: Dr. Eckleburg; Dutchboy88
To your reply to Dutchboy88"s post #35:

Every word gets an AMEN! The Christian distinctive is real and God-ordained. The temporal world seeks to tell us it's all up to men, but the truth is that now and always it is up to God. His call. Thank God.

I can only add my AMEN as well.

74 posted on 05/12/2010 12:40:24 PM PDT by Graybeard58 (No Romney,No Mark Kirk (Illinois), not now, not ever!)
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