everything is predestined?
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Summarizing the prophetic:
1. Some things have to happen. Consider them written in the plan ahead in permanent ink. Ex. Jesus dying in the cross.
2. Other things are penciled in ahead but can be altered by people's choices. Ex. I know two people who God matched up for marriage, but due to one's bad choices, the other married someone else instead.
3. Some things have no destiny or pre-plan at all because, no, your choice of chocolate or strawberry ice cream isn't on the same level of importance as the crucifixion. Unless you are allergic to strawberries, God probably doesn't care.
1. Some things have to happen. Consider them written in the plan ahead in permanent ink. Ex. Jesus dying in the cross.
2. Other things are penciled in ahead but can be altered by people's choices. Ex. I know two people who God matched up for marriage, but due to one's bad choices, the other married someone else instead.
3. Some things have no destiny or pre-plan at all because, no, your choice of chocolate or strawberry ice cream isn't on the same level of importance as the crucifixion. Unless you are allergic to strawberries, God probably doesn't care.
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What "prophetic" are you summarizing, or is it your own thinking? Serious question. I ask because I know from experiences that God cares about all the little details like very short car trips. I used to pray just for the long trips but not the local ones. Then, I went across town to make a pastoral visit with praying. I got in a terrible car accident; the thought came to me that I should pray for the short ones too. I do now with no more accidents. That's why Paul called us to pray all the time (1 Thess. 5:17).
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Kindly supply the scripture that would indicate this to be a true statement.
The lake of fire was not created for humans but for the devil and his angels and I'll let you look that up....Jesus words...so you know it is found withint the gospels somewhere.
God does not deliberately decide who is going to keep the devil company. God does not force people to accept Jesus.
If you do not think people have free will, then you are stating that God forces to people to sin and has an inclination towards capriciousness.
and another resurrected thread has made an appearance
still appropriate tho and of course hatedfornoreason is still around
The lake of fire was not created for humans but for the devil and his angels and I'll let you look that up....Jesus words...so you know it is found withint the gospels somewhere.
God does not deliberately decide who is going to keep the devil company. God does not force people to accept Jesus.
If you do not think people have free will, then you are stating that God forces to people to sin and has an inclination towards capriciousness.
and another resurrected thread has made an appearance
still appropriate tho and of course hatedfornoreason is still around-
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6Each of us has become like something unclean,
and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags Isaiah 64
How, HOW you can construe that particular verse (half verse and badly ripped out of context as well) as meaning the faith of a human directed towards God as filthy rags, is beyond comprehension
further, the verse speaks of 'righteous acts' (a person's deeds they might construe as righteous/good etc) and NOT faith
however, because you seem to believe that faith is a work, you have destroyed the actual meaning of what Isaiah was saying
you have actually changed both the intent and the actual words of scripture in order to support your interpretation...that's quite a nerve you have
and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags Isaiah 64
How, HOW you can construe that particular verse (half verse and badly ripped out of context as well) as meaning the faith of a human directed towards God as filthy rags, is beyond comprehension
further, the verse speaks of 'righteous acts' (a person's deeds they might construe as righteous/good etc) and NOT faith
however, because you seem to believe that faith is a work, you have destroyed the actual meaning of what Isaiah was saying
you have actually changed both the intent and the actual words of scripture in order to support your interpretation...that's quite a nerve you have
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Kindly supply the scripture that would indicate this to be a true statement.
The lake of fire was not created for humans but for the devil and his angels and I'll let you look that up....Jesus words...so you know it is found withint the gospels somewhere.
God does not deliberately decide who is going to keep the devil company. God does not force people to accept Jesus.
If you do not think people have free will, then you are stating that God forces to people to sin and has an inclination towards capriciousness.
and another resurrected thread has made an appearance still appropriate tho and of course hatedfornoreason is still around
The lake of fire was not created for humans but for the devil and his angels and I'll let you look that up....Jesus words...so you know it is found withint the gospels somewhere.
God does not deliberately decide who is going to keep the devil company. God does not force people to accept Jesus.
If you do not think people have free will, then you are stating that God forces to people to sin and has an inclination towards capriciousness.
and another resurrected thread has made an appearance
still appropriate tho and of course hatedfornoreason is still around
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2 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh[a] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. Ephesians 2: 1-3
4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. v. 4-9
v. 1-3 do not say anywhere that we are born dead. it says we were dead in sin. v. 4-9 is not about our good works. those verses are about salvation in Christ and how that is a gift fro God.
sin separates from God....salvation is a gift and nothing we can do grants that salvation. It is all God
Calvinsim does not save. Jesus saves.
4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. v. 4-9
v. 1-3 do not say anywhere that we are born dead. it says we were dead in sin. v. 4-9 is not about our good works. those verses are about salvation in Christ and how that is a gift fro God.
sin separates from God....salvation is a gift and nothing we can do grants that salvation. It is all God
Calvinsim does not save. Jesus saves.
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A good question to be asking.
I was actually putting into my own words the teaching of a prophetic elder that I tested over a significant period of time even though God very quicky started confirming the authenticity of this man's gift and calling to me. There is no way for me or anyone else to confirm him (or anyone) to you, but rather it is on each individual to test for themself. Having since come into my own gifts, I now get this because if a prophet had to somehow prove himself to everyone who came along, he/she could never get anywhere. It is also just something that can only be done by seeking God/the truth for one's self.
I was actually putting into my own words the teaching of a prophetic elder that I tested over a significant period of time even though God very quicky started confirming the authenticity of this man's gift and calling to me. There is no way for me or anyone else to confirm him (or anyone) to you, but rather it is on each individual to test for themself. Having since come into my own gifts, I now get this because if a prophet had to somehow prove himself to everyone who came along, he/she could never get anywhere. It is also just something that can only be done by seeking God/the truth for one's self.
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You are mistaken, my friend. When the question of if I am a Christian was asked, I put 'unsure' not because I do not know my spiritual status, but because definitions vary. Just like early 'Christians' were once considered Jews, I am a Christian in some senses of the word, but my following Christ anywhere has taken me away from much Christian tradition and to new beliefs that the Christian establishment may not agree with. Like the apostles in Acts 5:29, though, I must obey God rather than any human authority.
To say it another way, if someone asked you if the apostle Peter was a Jew, would it not make sense to answer 'unsure' if you didn't know what the asker meant by this and the only other options were 'Jewish' and 'Not Jewish?'
As for your other questions, I mean an elder at my church with a gift and office of Prophet. God used him to plant the church that God very clearly sent me to, and has used him for much teaching of the body of our fellowship, though all members are expected to have important contributions, even down to children at times. An 'elder' by the way, is just a spiritually mature follower of Christ.
As for my gifts, my primary gifts are teaching and Prophecy, though others have been granted as well (ex. Tongues when my prayer group beseeched God on my behalf). Examples of these are that in teaching, I often have sort of a sixth sense about what someone understands or doesn't. Prophet is harder to explain, and more private. I will say that it isn't primarily about predicting the future, though it can include that at times. It is much like the Prophets in the Bible though it looks a little different under a different covenant and age.
To say it another way, if someone asked you if the apostle Peter was a Jew, would it not make sense to answer 'unsure' if you didn't know what the asker meant by this and the only other options were 'Jewish' and 'Not Jewish?'
As for your other questions, I mean an elder at my church with a gift and office of Prophet. God used him to plant the church that God very clearly sent me to, and has used him for much teaching of the body of our fellowship, though all members are expected to have important contributions, even down to children at times. An 'elder' by the way, is just a spiritually mature follower of Christ.
As for my gifts, my primary gifts are teaching and Prophecy, though others have been granted as well (ex. Tongues when my prayer group beseeched God on my behalf). Examples of these are that in teaching, I often have sort of a sixth sense about what someone understands or doesn't. Prophet is harder to explain, and more private. I will say that it isn't primarily about predicting the future, though it can include that at times. It is much like the Prophets in the Bible though it looks a little different under a different covenant and age.
So, if we were dead in sin before we were alive with God's gift of the new birth, as Paul says, was there a time between our conception and our coming alive to God that we were alive and then died again?? Of course, Paul says that we were all dead to God before he made us alive. Apparently, Jeremiah and John the Baptist came alive in their mother's wombs. God can do that too, but most of us were born dead, as I was, since God didn't save me until I was 16, 65 years ago.
I agree with the rest of your response. You're right that Calvinism doesn't save us, but as much as it agrees with the inspired Scriptures, it is biblical. It was the most-correct biblical interpretation I had found when I joined the Christian Reformed Church in 1962 when I was 20.
Before then, I was christened a Methodist, became a member of a church that preached neo-Orthodox or liberal sermons at the age of 12, and attended a cult for 1 1/2 years that dismissed biblical doctrines like the Trinity until I encountered Calvinism's best interpretation at college. Now, I'm a member of an independent church that preaches the Good News and is growing abundantly.
You did notice that as you say, salvation is God's gift of grace through faith. I agree completely, and so does Calvinism. But the result is God-empowered good works that God has always prepared for us to do (verse 10). Mine in my old-age retirement from church ministry is to spread God's gospel-seeds on Facebook, X, and with my books (growingtoknowGod.org). May God bless your ministry for him.
I agree with the rest of your response. You're right that Calvinism doesn't save us, but as much as it agrees with the inspired Scriptures, it is biblical. It was the most-correct biblical interpretation I had found when I joined the Christian Reformed Church in 1962 when I was 20.
Before then, I was christened a Methodist, became a member of a church that preached neo-Orthodox or liberal sermons at the age of 12, and attended a cult for 1 1/2 years that dismissed biblical doctrines like the Trinity until I encountered Calvinism's best interpretation at college. Now, I'm a member of an independent church that preaches the Good News and is growing abundantly.
You did notice that as you say, salvation is God's gift of grace through faith. I agree completely, and so does Calvinism. But the result is God-empowered good works that God has always prepared for us to do (verse 10). Mine in my old-age retirement from church ministry is to spread God's gospel-seeds on Facebook, X, and with my books (growingtoknowGod.org). May God bless your ministry for him.
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