Posted on 09/16/2002 10:45:34 AM PDT by Quix
You have said a mouthful here, as the maestro knows. (How gracious He is to his priests.)
If you could your will would be stronger than His grace..then you would be God
The bottom line is for most of us ..it never occurred to us to refuse..because bring in His presence and His grace made us desire him more than anything...that is why He is God:>)
I see no evidence that we are ushering in Christ return..I see no evidence that satan is bound with anything more than a paper chain...but some day we will all know
"...out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks"
Matthew 12:34
You speak, and speak and speak — "I, I, I, me, my experience, my baseless opinion" — and others can see your heart. Or at least that's what Jesus says.
Dan
Most people do not understand the calvinist belief on free will..
It has nothing to do with smarts. And you know it. Paul instructed all to seek to prophecy. Joel insists that youth and old will have dreams and visions. Those are God's orders, not mine. The most I can do is try to be cooperative and not get in the way overmuch.
"...out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks" Matthew 12:34 You speak, and speak and speak — "I, I, I, me, my experience,
I find that I speak most authentically when I speak from my own experience. Speaking from someone elses may be fitting at times but it's much more kosher, truer if I speak from my own--far less distortion. You can twist that fact and dinegrate it as much as you wish. God knows very, very keenly who's on the throne of my heart. He knows exceedingly keenly the fiery furnaces He's brought me through toward conforming me to His image. I can't be overly responsible for your blindness.
my baseless opinion"
Baseless opinion? Interesting choise of word. There have been plenty of bases for my statements for anyone with heart and ears to hear. God knows that. I'm sorry you don't.
— and others can see your heart. Or at least that's what Jesus says.
Regardless of my efforts at cooperating with His conforming my heart to His; replacing it with His--I still fall far short. You are well able to see my short-comings. I don't hide them under the rug.
I would prefer to be a gentle, winsome sort with great gems of wisdom falling off of every syllable and 0% offense. Alas, I seem to have been made much more in the mold of fiesty Jeremiah or Paul or Peter. And when I've complained about such aspects of my nature, God has persistently said that He made me uniquely such a bird of rare plummage for His own purposes--to shut up and get on down the road about His business . . . that He delighted/s in me as He made me and even as I am at this imperfect level of maturity. I've found it better not to argue with Him when He speaks so sternly.
And if I stopped to squeeze every shred of possible offense out of every word for any possible reader, I'd never write anything. . . and God wouldn't have a chance to use anything I'd written. As it is, it seems to be His good pleasure to take my very flawed efforts and do His wonders with them. Always amazes me and humbles me.
Walter Martin had the best explanation about All Knowing and Free will choice of anyone I've ever heard or red. And in his sizeable brilliance, he saw no Scriptural place for strict Calvinism at all.
Actually the Arminians have set up a straw man They say Calvinists do not believe in free will.
Actually strongly believes in true free will
The free will of Adam was lost in the fall. Adam (and us though him) lost one set of choice options.
Rom 3:11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
Jer 4:22 For my people [is] foolish, they have not known me; they [are] sottish children, and they have none understanding: they [are] wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.
Why? It is because a spiritually dead man cannot freely choose spiritual life. He needs spiritual CPR
NO We need a whole heart transplant
Eze 11:19 And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh:
THEN the free will that God gave to Adam is restored.
Dave go and read Genesis 3 (the account of the fall) See what happened to the relationship between God the father and Adam after the fall
God was seeking Adam.Adam was not seeking God
Gen 3:7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they [were] naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
Gen 3:8 And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.
Gen 3:9 And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where [art] thou? Gen 3:10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I [was] naked; and I hid myself.
That Dave is the natural response of man to God since the fall
Man tries to make his own solution and covering, He does not seek out God
Rom 1:22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
They thought they could save themselves.they had the solution they liked.
But it was not Gods solution, not one of their choice. They were now totally dependant on their "free will " , their dominion was gone. They hide and covered they did not seek and find .
THAT is the condition of carnal unregenerate man.
He can make choices. But he will never choose God. He will make insufficient choices that do not please God nor cover their nakedness
Unregenerate man will choose the lesser of two evils. BUT until he has that heart transplant he will never choose Gods solution
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.