Yes; but the fact remains (or so it seems to me) that man is free to reject God's great gift of faith. This would be an act of will independent of God.
My dear brother in Christ Quix gives several examples of the forms this attitude can take, at Post #864.
But then again, I take your meaning WRT the qualification, "from God to His own".... God's sheep know their shepherd, and the Shepherd knows His own.
Omniscient God knows from timelessness how individual men (souls) will choose in time; but He does not compel or determine their choice. In this sense, there is free will in the world. A man is free to choose evil — even the evil that he knows (consciously or perhaps subconsciously) will hurt him.
God's answer for this was to send His only-begotten Son into the world, His Truth, Whose example redeems us from this sort of soul-destroying, fatal error.... At least among those who have the "ears to hear," and the "eyes to see."
But that amounts to persuading, not compelling, those with the ears and eyes.
What I don't know is whether there are human souls born into this world without ears and eyes. Would the God of justice and truth allow this to happen?
What if every man was born with the ears and eyes, but then some choose to shut them up against all the freely available evidence that God is Lord and Master of all creation from beginning to end? And humans are His natural-born children, made in His image?
The great philosopher Henri Bergson spoke of the situation of l'ame overt and l'ame close — of the condition of a soul open to God, or as closed to God. Bergson suggests this is a matter of human will. It seems to me God would not have created a soul to be inexorably, determinedly closed to Him in the first place.... Thus made for damnation from the very beginning?
Whatever the case, the Lord alone knows how it all turns out in the End....
Obviously dear sister in Christ, I have more questions than answers.
Thus I rest in God the Father, His Son, and the Holy Spirit: If I don't have the answers, I'm entirely confident that God does. And maybe someday He will share them with me. But probably not in "this" world....
Whatever the case, God's will WILL be done, in heaven and on earth. I'm entirely confident about that, too.
And with this understanding comes peace — and joy.
God's blessings be upon you, dear sister in Christ!
"For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive?" -- 1 Corinthians 3:7
"Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you." -- John 15:16"Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee" -- Psalm 65:4
It just makes more sense to me to believe that whatever occurs does so because God has ordained everything in this world, one way or another, for His glory. He creates vessels of wrath fitted to destruction to display His judgment and vessels of mercy which He had before prepared to make known the riches of His glory (Romans 9.)
What if every man was born with the ears and eyes, but then some choose to shut them up against all the freely available evidence that God is Lord and Master of all creation from beginning to end?
But no one is born with ears to hear or eyes to see since all men are fallen and none is righteous but God. New ears and eyes are gifts from God which are given to those He regenerates by the Holy Spirit.
It makes me happy to believe God is in charge. That way I know whatever happens, "all things will work for for the good of those who love God, who are the called according to His purpose" (Romans 8:28.)
Thus I rest in God the Father, His Son, and the Holy Spirit: If I don't have the answers, I'm entirely confident that God does. And maybe someday He will share them with me. But probably not in "this" world.... Whatever the case, God's will WILL be done, in heaven and on earth. I'm entirely confident about that, too. And with this understanding comes peace — and joy.
AMEN!
God's blessings be upon you, dear sister in Christ!
And to you, Betty. All God's blessings.