Results 1 - 6 of 6
|
|
|||||
Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | why would God withhold the gift of faith | John 3:16 | John Reformed | 89482 | ||
Dear Parable, "To confirm, are you saying that God creates unbelievers only to destroy them?" No, I do not believe that God is at all sadistic nor are any of His works less than perfect in their holiness. But we are not dealing with a race of victims. We are dealing with a race of rebels; By birth none seek God, none are righteous, all have gone astray seeking the fulfillment of their lusts and all are counted as children of God's wrath, being without hope and without God in the world. Salvation comes to those whom God shows mercy. The rest recieve His justice. Unless one understands the sink of depravity which is the heart of fallen mankind, one cannot fully appreciate how gracious God is, having sent His Son to die for us, and this while we were still actively seeking His downfall! "Do you mean to suggest that all will be saved on the last day? Isn't this universalism? Hasn't this doctrine been shown to be unbiblical?" No my statement does not support universalism and no, it is not unbiblical. John 6:40 "For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day." John 6:44,45 "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.It is written in the prophets, 'AND THEY SHALL ALL BE TAUGHT OF GOD.' Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me." "Isn't this faith an "assent from it's recipient"? Strictly speaking, assenting is a response to faith. If one believes something, they belive it. It is not a choice that one makes whether or not to believe. For instance, I'm sure you believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, did you believe this on your own, or did God reveal it to you? I you answer, "I believed it on my own (a choice I made after learning the facts of the bible) then, I suppose, you are liable to change your mind if you lose confidence in those facts. On the other hand, if it was a revelation from God, who not only informed but also transformed you by the work of the Holy Spirit, through the power of the Gospel, you now have the mind of the immutable God of the universe! "If not, is faith involuntary" becomes a mute question. I must get about my business for now. Til then I look forward to hearing your thoughts. God Bless, John |
||||||
2 | why would God withhold the gift of faith | John 3:16 | Parable | 89624 | ||
You argue well. It is a pleasure to explore God's truth with you. I'd like to followup on your comment "But we are not dealing with a race of victims. We are dealing with a race of rebels;" Doesn't this imply that we are accountable, i.e. "not victims", precisely because WE make the choice to rebel? I hold we are accountable for our choices and this requires that our choices be genuine. For our choices to be geniuine, we must have the ability to act on them in a meaningful way and this means we have some power and authority of our own, within the context God provides. Of course, those gifts come from God. You also said "Salvation comes to those whom God shows mercy." I totally agree, especially in light of "For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all." -- Romans 11:32 I take this to mean that God gives us over to our choices, i.e. He allows us to choose and reap the consequences, and His mercy is gracious precisely because we definitely don't deserve it. Then there is "he who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy. Blessed is the man who always fears the LORD , but he who hardens his heart falls into trouble." -- Proverbs 28:13-14 I take this to mean that it is WE who, in response to conviction by the Spirit, choose to confess or to harden our hearts. That is, it is possible to deny the conviction of the Spirit and thus harden our hearts. Along the same lines, "let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the LORD , and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon." -- Isiah 55:7 Again, I take this to mean that the choice to repent and accept God is ours, not God's. Finally, you said "strictly speaking, assenting is a response to faith. If one believes something, they belive it. It is not a choice that one makes whether or not to believe." I choose not to believe this ;) Let me illustrate. In mathematics, there are repeating non-terminating decimals such as 0.999999 where the 9's go on forever. The question is, does this equal 1.0 exactly or not? I can rigorously prove via standard methods that this number does in fact equal 1.0 exactly, but unless you understand and accept the methods of the proof, you probably will not be persuaded. If you are like most people, your intuition suggests that 0.9999 repeating falls short of unity. However, once you see that your assumptions about what this number means are false, you will change your mind, i.e. repent. A converse example involves the proof that 2 equals 1. However, this obviously incorrect conclusion can only be derived by a fallacious step in the proof, i.e. dividing by the equivalent of zero, which is not permitted. If you do not recognize the fallacious step, you might choose to believe that 2 does in fact equal 1. Once the flaw is revealed, you would then repent of your error. Granted, the ability to understand logic is a gift, but the application of that gift is ours. Otherwise, it is not a gift given freely, but rather a means by which to control your thinking. Based on the significance of our choices described in Scripture, I do not hold that God manipulates us in this way. |
||||||
3 | why would God withhold the gift of faith | John 3:16 | John Reformed | 89629 | ||
Dear Parable, Thanks for your kind words. Some think I argue to much. Perhaps their right. :-) "I'd like to followup on your comment "But we are not dealing with a race of victims. We are dealing with a race of rebels;" Doesn't this imply that we are accountable, i.e. "not victims", precisely because WE make the choice to rebel?" Absolutely right! We are responsible for every single rebellious sin we commit. I'm somewhat pressed for time right now, but intend to answer your post fully as God provides the opportunity. Til then, I would appreciate if you might consider answering a question that I believe is crucial to our current discussion: Is it possible for a person to choose something other than the strongest desire of his heart? Thank you brother, John |
||||||
4 | why would God withhold the gift of faith | John 3:16 | Parable | 89636 | ||
You asked "Is it possible for a person to choose something other than the strongest desire of his heart?" I believe the answer is yes. People choose between mundane options all the time. Or, we can choose to accept the best option available even though it is not ideal. Or, we can choose to compromise in order to work with others. Or, we can choose to avoid something we don't want. Perhaps more the issue at hand, what is the origin of our heart's desire? In Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis said "If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world." Parable |
||||||
5 | why would God withhold the gift of faith | John 3:16 | Morant61 | 89643 | ||
Greetings Parable! Excellent answer my friend! I have even debated this point with mechanical evolutionists. They take a mechanistic approach to human will. Every choice is simply a result of another prior choice. The end result is that I drank a Pepsi today because two atoms collided in a galaxy 30 million light years from here over 2 billion years ago. :-) Choices are complex things. People can choose things based upon their own self interests. People can choose things against their own self interests (just ask my oldest daughter). People can choose things with much thought and planning. People can choose things without any thought. To simply say that man has a sin nature, therefore man is incapable of choosing or desiring anything but sin is simplistic at best. If this were turn, we would be nothing more than animals who always acted out our sinful desires. But, even unbelievers don't actually live that way. My parents were very moral people, even though they were not Christians. Now, I know and you know that will not get them to Heaven. But, if fallen man could do nothing but sin all the time, there would be no moral sinners. In fact, there would not be a human race at all, for we would have killed each other off a long time ago. Your Brother in Christ, Tim Moran |
||||||
6 | why would God withhold the gift of faith | John 3:16 | Parable | 89645 | ||
Thanks for your kindness. Regarding naturalistic materialism, mechanical evolution, whatever you want to call it, those world views cannot explain such things as consciousness, imagination, creativity, language, remorse, joy and truth. Those who suggest we simply need more time to figure them out do so by faith in their worldview. Faith is perhaps the hardest thing to explain, second only to love, which is mutually exclusive to natural selection, which is the basis for evolutionary development. Parable |
||||||