by Bitter Almonds » Thu Jun 15, 2006 9:57 am
[quote][i]Originally posted by Quite Life[/i]
<br>XXX,
I totally believe in Predestination, because I am a Calvinist.
We do have Free-Will in choosing regular worldly things.
You see we can choose Coke or Pepsi, Giants or Dodgers, Toyota or Nissan, ABC or NBC, T-Bone or New York, The Clash or The Jam, Rum or Tequila, and so on…
But what we don’t have the ability to do and can’t do is Choose God for salvation. We all are morally unable to choose the things of God. God has to choose us first. And Choose us apart from anything we do.
You may disagree and that’s fine, but this is where I get the information for my belief.
Total Inability Romans 3:10-11 (NKJV)
10 As it is written:
“ There is none righteous, no, not one;
11 There is none who understands;
There is none who seeks after God.
God Choosing and enabling man by giving man the gift of faith to believe in Jesus.
John 1:12-13 (NKJV)
2 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
Eph 1:3-5 (ESV)
3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
Eph 2:1-5 (ESV)
1And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience-- 3among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved—
Roman 9:6-18 (ESV)
6But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, 7and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but "Through Isaac shall your offspring be named." 8This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. 9For this is what the promise said: "About this time next year I will return and Sarah shall have a son." 10And not only so, but also when Rebecca had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, 11though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad--in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of his call-- 12she was told, "The older will serve the younger." 13As it is written, "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."
14What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! 15For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." 16So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. 17For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, "For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth." 18So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.
At this point I would like to chill on the religious discussion on this thread if you have any questions please e-mail me. I would like to continue our fun on other posts talking about our music and fun times we had.
lots of love,
ql
[/quote]
This is very interesting. Would you say God has free will, too?
Even if God can only do good?
Or has God ever chosen to do evil of its own free will?
If God cannot do evil because God can only do what is innately good, then how can that be free will? I suppose God's own accord is to only do good, but I always had the impression that in order to exercise free will one would not have to know the outcome of every decision one decides to make. God is outside of time. God should know what we refer to as "past", "present", and "future". If God knows every outcome of every decision placed upon it and it will only choose to do what is right every time without fail, can that still be free will? Now, putting that on the level of us humans, the fact that we choose to go to a Dodgers' game, choose Coke or Pepsi, choose right from wrong - that really doesn't matter, does it? We're not the ones judging our own life decisions on the day of judgment? Who or what does the judging? God! But... didn't God already know (i.e. foreordained/predestined) some of us to live a life of sin? I mean, really. What would be the point of [i]judging[/i] someone whom you know they are guilty - even before the crimes are committed?[}:)]