kosta50: Who determines if you should believe, God or man?But your last statement is a total non sequitur, kosta! My belief in God is not in any way the "supreme authority" which "determines" my salvation. God is the supreme authority, always and everlastingly. My life is in His hands. He alone is my Judge; on Him my salvation entirely depends.betty boop: Ultimately, I do — in response to God's living appeal, given in four revelations....
kosta50: Then you are the final and supreme authority that determines if you are "saved" or not "saved." From your response, it seems you believe that man is the ultimate god.
Are you trying to put God and me on the same ground, kosta dear? But this cannot and does not work. This would be a category error....
As for your conclusion, drawn from that error — "Then there must be as many gods as there are believers! " — this is total nonsense. It lacks logical basis, given the inequivalency of God and man.
As for your last observation: God provides; He gives us everything we need for the exercise of the free will which He endued in us. Having free will, we are moral agents.
But God is Principal.... freely allowing his "agents" to make their own free decisions — subject only to His Final Judgment.
Thanks for writing dear kosta!
snip: Oh, the “dialogue” goes like this:
kosta50: Who determines if you should believe, God or man?
betty boop: Ultimately, I do — in response to God’s living appeal, given in four revelations....
kosta50: Then you are the final and supreme authority that determines if you are “saved” or not “saved.” From your response, it seems you believe that man is the ultimate god.
Spirited: The great apocalyptic prophet Fyodor Dostoevsky observed that free will ultimately exists for just one purpose: to either accept or reject salvation by Jesus Christ. By extension, Hell exists for those who willfully choose it.
kosta has confused the right use of free will (to accept salvation) with the fatally wrong use of free will (to reject salvation) which he quite naturally equates with “Ye shall be as God.”
Hardly, betty boop. I asked you who determines if you should believe, God or man, and you answered "I do" (i.e. humans). That doesn't describe an almighty, sovereign God, but a God who depends omn human decisions. In other words, base don what you say, God is simply a provider, but you are the decider.
I will give you another chance to pull yourself our of this hole and save your face. Assuming you didn't understand my question or misspoke in haste, let me rephrase it: whose will is it that you believe, yours or God's?