ECT Free will

oatmeal

oatmeal

Well-known member
Puppet said:
Predestination is the only way God is going to keep His promises
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What is your definition of predestination?

What is the meaning of the Greek word translated predestination?

The Greek word means to mark out beforehand, it has nothing to do with an absence of freewill.

God foreknew who would choose to believe and He marked them out before hand. He prepared for those who would believe, He already knows what we need before we even ask.

Matthew 6:8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.

How does He know? Foreknowledge. And He knows if you will ask, if you are not going to ask, what reason would there be for Him to prepare the answer?
 
revpete

revpete

New member
oatmeal said:
Well, until any man learns to put God first, he will not put God first.

For a man to rise up to God's calling, that man must focus himself on the things of God.

We are not to ignore ourselves as we learn to live by God's doctrine.

1 Timothy 4:16

Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.

If you keep this in mind, you might see that God is the focus of my posts, not man, but if you exclude man from the situation, you deny God's decision to give men freewill to choose to serve Him or not to serve Him. What is the point of your post if you are to ignore your relationship with God?

Your relationship with God requires the involvement of two parties, God and you, a man.

Why would you ignore the man part?

We must believe God, who are we? man
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Ignoring man's part is not my intention, my point is that I believe that scripture teaches that man is totally dead in sin and is incapable of any spiritual act and is reliant on God until moves by His grace. God bless bro.
 
glassjester

glassjester

Well-known member
revpete said:
Ignoring man's part is not my intention, my point is that I believe that scripture teaches that man is totally dead in sin and is incapable of any spiritual act and is reliant on God until moves by His grace. God bless bro.
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Does Man freely choose to sin?
 
revpete

revpete

New member
glassjester said:
Does Man freely choose to sin?
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When a person is dead in trespasses and sin they have no choice, they cannot help but sin. We are born with a sinful nature and our carnal minds are not subject to God's Law. Christians also sin but not wilfully. An understanding of the Holiness of God is essential to grasp the seriousness of sin.
 
Puppet

Puppet

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Banned
oatmeal said:
What is your definition of predestination?

What is the meaning of the Greek word translated predestination?

The Greek word means to mark out beforehand, it has nothing to do with an absence of freewill.

God foreknew who would choose to believe and He marked them out before hand. He prepared for those who would believe, He already knows what we need before we even ask.

Matthew 6:8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.

How does He know? Foreknowledge. And He knows if you will ask, if you are not going to ask, what reason would there be for Him to prepare the answer?
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I may have time to explain that to my friends but to you, you're too lost to waste my time repeating something I've already explained in my past posts. Sorry about that. In short, I believe the same as nang and amr and the rest of the traditional reformed beliefs. Others may be too hyper Calvinist and go too extreme. you go extreme in your theories and your denominational beliefs. No need for me to correct the lost that refuses to acknowledge God's power of them. I don't have time for that.
 
revpete

revpete

New member
glassjester said:
And how is this condition remedied?
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You don't know? This condition is remedied by The Lord giving us His grace, The Holy Spirit regenerating us and leading us to repentance, the new birth being the result. We are then justified, accepted, forgiven, adopted and sealed by The Holy Spirit making us eternally secure. Although some would say that repentance comes before regeneration.
 
Jamie Gigliotti

Jamie Gigliotti

New member
Totton Linnet said:
If God had not foreknown, not predestined not chosen before all worlds began NO-ONE would have survived God's wrath at man's sin.

Everything was worked out before He created.
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So if God controls everything, and doesn't allow freewill and wants all men to come to the knowledge of the truth; why don't they?

"Who desires all people to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth." 1Timothy 2:4
 
oatmeal

oatmeal

Well-known member
glassjester said:
Does God offer His grace to all people?
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God's grace is clearly given to all in the sense that God created the heavens and the earth without consulting humans, without human intervention,without humans earning that. Genesis 1:1

God causes it to rain on the just and the unjust alike, that is grace.

But that is not the limit of God's grace. When we choose to do Romans 10:9-10 God's grace again abounds to us in His giving to us the gift of salvation, we did nothing to earn it, we simply met the requirements to receive it.

After receiving the gift of salvation/eternal life/holy spirit we are to continue in God's grace.

We do not earn God's grace, but we can live in it and by it.
 
oatmeal

oatmeal

Well-known member
revpete said:
Ignoring man's part is not my intention, my point is that I believe that scripture teaches that man is totally dead in sin and is incapable of any spiritual act and is reliant on God until moves by His grace. God bless bro.
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I am sure that was not your intention.

Surely we want to conduct our lives focussing on God and His word as Isaiah 26:3, Joshua 1:6-9 and many other passages exhort us to do.

But God cannot do that for us, we must decide to do that. He gives us plenty to focus on and believe, but it is we that must focus and believe.

God's word is another act of God's grace. He did not leave us without instructions for living. But we must exert the effort to learn and live (not live and learn, then expect God to bail us out everytime)

God's grace cannot be made good use of until we believe and act on God's word
 
oatmeal

oatmeal

Well-known member
Puppet said:
I may have time to explain that to my friends but to you, you're too lost to waste my time repeating something I've already explained in my past posts. Sorry about that. In short, I believe the same as nang and amr and the rest of the traditional reformed beliefs. Others may be too hyper Calvinist and go too extreme. you go extreme in your theories and your denominational beliefs. No need for me to correct the lost that refuses to acknowledge God's power of them. I don't have time for that.
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Well, then, go away. Oh, that is not your choice, is it? Depends on what your puppetmaster decides?
 
oatmeal

oatmeal

Well-known member
Since Saul of Tarsus could chose salvation and learn scripture enough to become the great apostle Paul, anyone can choose to rise up above their past, good or bad.
 
glassjester

glassjester

Well-known member
oatmeal said:
Yes.

It is God's desire that all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.

God does what He can short of overstepping man's free will to enable others to receive that grace.
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I agree.

As for those that don't agree - don't blame them; they had no choice. :rolleyes:
 
Puppet

Puppet

BANNED
Banned
oatmeal said:
Well, then, go away. Oh, that is not your choice, is it? Depends on what your puppetmaster decides?
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I have natural desires inside a bubble. I can do anything inside a bubble but God controls the bubble. You can't choose what you can't see. You can't see God so you can't choose. How do you choose something You dont see?
 
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