[HarleyD]

You want scripture? How will that help you since you are starting from apersepctive which contradicts the Bible?

I would suggest a careful study of the scriptures and a harmony of the verses. Please note the verses you quoted and the context in which they are given:

Jn 3:16 For God so loved the world that HE GAVE His only begotten son ... How is it love when you assert that we each are either going to accept or not based upon what God dictates rather than as an act of free will to love Him back or not?

Look at what John says in John 3:16-21 in it's entirety, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son...but people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil." The truth is that our nature is such that we love dark things. We are dead in sin.

1 John 4:19 We love him, because he first loved us. You are insisting that a god loves by compelling some to love Him back. Strange definition of love...

Not at all. It is in complete harmony with John 3:19, "people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil". Please recall Ephesian:
Eph 2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,

Eph 2:5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—

Eph 2:6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

We were dead in sin. Our works were evil. But God, in His mercy made us alive.

Galatians 1:4 Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father: By your assertion this is an act of petulance by your god figure because he is forcing those who love him and obey him to do so, thus his showy act of sacrificing himself to achieve something he will compel anyway is not the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

I'm not entirely clear on your point. Christ showed His love for us by sacrificing Himself. He was obedient to the will of the Father. Paul, even in Galatians 1 states that
Gal 1:12 For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

Gal 1:13 For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it.

Gal 1:14 And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers.

Gal 1:15 But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace,

Gal 1:16 was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone;

Paul didn't make a decision for Christ. He persecuted the church. His deeds were evil-just like the rest of us. But God was pleased to reveal His Son to Him and He did so for a purpose-to preach among the Gentiles. So He does with everyone He saves-He has a purpose for us.

Titus 2:14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. It is not redeeming, is not a gift if the one for whom it is done has no choice but to accept what is offered.

Who said we don't accept what is offered? Paul certainly accepted what is offered. But we accept that offer, as Paul did, when the Son is revealed to us. You are making a claim that everyone has a Damascus Road experience in which they can choose to accept or reject Christ. That is simply not the case. Pilate couldn't see the truth even when it was standing in front of him.

Genesis 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. This commandment is hollow if Adam and Eve could only do as the puppet master directs....

The sad situation is that Adam had a choice-a free choice just as you describe. And, when given the "free" choice, Adam chose to rebel against God. And Adam represented man at his perfection. This is what man is about, rebellion against God.

By denying free will in humankind you cheapen the Cross and do violence to the Glory of God's redeeming work.

On the contrary.

First, free will is not scriptural. There is God's will and then there is man's will. Adam had "free" will and showed us what perfect man will do with that will-rebel against God. But, apart from perfection, we are not any different than Adam in our rebellion.

Second, in understanding that we are rebellious to God, we then understand not only our true nature as Christians before God, but we also understand the evil and rebellion of others around us and can have compassion. We know why we sin and why we must confess our sin. We can't say the "devil made me do it". We also understand why others sin.

Third, we understand God's love for us. That, as Paul, we are undeserving children of His grace and mercy. He opened our eyes and hearts. He set us apart for a purpose in doing His will. We rely upon His promise that we will bear fruit. Whatever happens in our lives it is for our good and best interest, and to bring Him glory and honor. And we have His assurance the He will lead us home.

Fourth, we know that God is in total control, though we see in a mirror darkly.

[MHGinTN]

It is amazing that such a false image of the real God can have such credence with those who claim His Grace. I can almost hear Screwtape reciting the lesson Wormwood is to deliver:

*begin sarcasm* Whisper to them in the times they consult The Bible, 'but of course, you have nothing to do with making that claim by your will, of receiving that Grace, since you are merely an automaton doing what your god created you to be, dangled from strings you welcome because they make you special.'

'Since you are not sovereign in your existence then you have all to boast of because your god made you for salvation while making others for hell. What a mystery that you even bother 'going into all the world to share the Gospel of God's Grace in Christ' in this Internet forum, since only God makes the choices, you just dance at the end of creation strings.'

'But then, the grace of your god really is no more than a divine caprice, which really doesn't require a Cross because none have the freedom to choose or reject so Great a means of escaping anything.'

'Justification has nothing to do with a choice you make to accept it, you're just pre-chosen to be justified. And that silly notion of sanctification by the indwelling Holy Spirit, well that too is nonsense since by choosing to make you saved somewhere during your lifetime needs no transformation because your god will pop you into a new being by his will alone, whether you like it or not. But then your god has made you so you will like it and others so they would not like it and he populates a hellish place with those he predestinated to be the fodder of hell's fires. In fact, since your god knows the end from the beginning and humankind have no free will to choose or reject your god's salvation plan, what's the point in us even discussing any of it further. Have nice day.' */sarcasm*

I write the above paragraphs dripping with sarcasm because I try to show the illogical of the image of the god you seem to believe is God the Creator. In all seriousness and with a humility I cannot even express in writing, if you are not given sovereignty over your choices then none of the other items in life amount to anything greater than puppeteering you along a timeline. Human conscience loses significance, other than a capricious weight the god you describe has placed upon some to torment them. Let's look at what that means regarding the message in The Word of God:

What the Bible calls Grace becomes capricious methodology since you will have not a single thing to do with having that Grace applied to your spirit because the god you describe has not afforded you a choice.

When Peter writes [2Peter 3:3-5] that some remain 'willingly ignorant' of God's Grace, Peter is mistaken, since your god so described has not given them choice to 'will' one way or the other.

Where the Bible speaks of Love, you can freely insert any other action/emotion, any other relationship, because that silly notion of agape is something compelled by the god you describe. 'For God so made the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever was made to believe in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.'

Where Paul speaks of the Law of Moses being a school master it is stripped of meaning, since learning is a pointless exercise because regardless of what you learn, you have no choice but to be the thing this capricious god has created for a destiny no more meaningful than pouring lead into molds to make lead soldiers.

With such a god as you ascribe, the Bible is empty rhetoric when it tells us of the extent of Love that God has for His creation, because automatons do not receive gifts, they merely behave and suffer the timeline they are made to follow. A Gift like His Son on a Cross is no more significant to automatons than Peter crucified upside down, or the life and image of Jim Caveazel in a movie, because automatons have no choice so one is as good a 'gift' as the other, and not a gift anyway, just the unfolding of what was made to be.

What a vacuous statement the assertion of no choice in matters makes of Jesus looking over Jerusalem and saying "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!" [ Matthew 23:37 ] The 'humans having no sovereignty' perspective on the Truth in the Bible makes Jesus's words mere stagecraft, only recitation of lines written for a play, an imaginary reality, lines delivered in a Shakesperean drama. What happens to the following verses from The Bible, with no choice afforded the objects? ...

Matthew 7:24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

Matthew 10:32&33 Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.

Matthew 21:44 And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.

Luke 6:47&48 Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation on the rock; and when a flood occurred, the torrent burst against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built

Luke 9:24 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.

Revelation 22:17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.

If an individual has no choice then the meaning is empty. Whosoever becomes whatsoever. Yes, there are passages in Scripture which appear to teach that God has not afforded some a choice to be and do (100 years before a certain king was born, God's Prophet wrote a Kings name down and assigned him reward and job, to get Jerusalem rebuilt, as Daniel showed to the man who conquered Babylon the night of Daniel chapter five). But to make all of human History the same script is to make common the Grace of God in Christ, because it is not Grace at all if you have no choice but to accept or reject according to some script pre-written. That God can see what you will choose does not mean He made you make that choice, for good or for ill. So choose you this day to accept so Great gift, so Great Grace that He would take upon His deity the bands of human flesh and die in your stead, that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. THINK! If you have no choice but to call upon or not then His Promise is nothing more than stagecraft. God forbid that we would reduce so Great Salvation to mere stagecraft by denying we have a choice to make.

[xzins]

Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Whosoever will may come.

Jonah 4: 11 But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?”