well I didn't post your entire op because of the length of it, but I just wanted to direct a response to this portion of it anyway
in your bio, when asked if you are a Christian, you have responded with this: That was in God's hands and in HIs timing, not mine.
are you a true believer then or just examining others to see if they are?
your response as to whether or not you are actually saved, or a Christian, sounds more than a little fatalistic
if you propose a saved person should act like it, according to scripture, then how can you begin that life without seeming to know when you were saved or even if you are saved?
I haven't read the thread yet and will probably skim over some of the posts, but your response in the bio section needs further explanation
Hello Sophie and thanks for your question. I can start with further explaining my bio which I was asked to answer when I first created an account here. It said, "
When did you become saved?" To which I replied as you pointed out, "
That was in God's hands and in HIs timing, not mine". So, to begin with, I realized that whoever created the account sign up form, must either believe in free will unto salvation (which allows people to know the very time of day in which they "accepted" Christ, or must have felt like they needed to make that a necessary provision for others to answer. I don't know, but I went ahead and answered it anyway. I don't believe I had to, but anytime there is an opportunity to share the true gospel, I should take it. Who knows who will read it and ask me about it. And, so here we are.
God never saved by the will of man. The problem is that so many have been taught the exact opposite, that they have never had the need to dig deeper. The Bible has so many things to say about so many things, that I can pick a few verses that seem to say exactly what I want it to say, because it agrees with what I think is true. This is the mentality of so many people who preach/teach the Bible, and it's wrong. God wrote the Bible in a way that
forces us to examine
everything the Bible has to say regarding that subject before we can arrive at a whole cohesive truth. So, when someone says to me that I accepted Christ on such and such a day, I immediately know that they are trusting in work they have done to become saved, which in effect, didn't save them at all.
Only when we are willing to humble ourselves before God and examine all the scriptures regarding how someone becomes saved and find agreement between all those scriptures, then we can be certain that we have arrived at a true doctrine. So, I'm going to go over some scriptures with you to show you what I mean and see how these scriptures agree with the free will doctrine that teaches anyone could have become saved whenever they wanted.
#1: God is the one who has predestinated a people for himself to become sons of God, he calls them the elect. And how were these people predestinated, by what merit? Simply by the good pleasure of God's will.
Ephesians 1:3–5 (KJV 1900)
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: 4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: 5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
#2: Some will say that our predestination was based on God looking down and knowing who was going to choose him and who was going to reject him. But God covers this base also.
Psalm 53:2–3 (KJV 1900)
God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, To see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God.
3 Every one of them is gone back: they are altogether become filthy; There is none that doeth good, no, not one.
So now we can understand that the foreknowledge of God, as spoken in 1 Peter 1:2, had nothing to with what God saw as he looked upon mankind, but it had to do with God intimately
knowing, before he created the world, whom he would save and so he placed their sins upon the Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 1:2 (KJV 1900)
Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.
#3: God predestined, God called, God justified and God glorified everyone he chose to save. Every elect. God has done all the work of salvation from beginning to end.
Romans 8:29–33 (KJV 1900)
For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. 31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? 32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.
#4: And this is how difficult it is to know if we are truly saved.
John 3:6–8 (KJV 1900)
That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. 8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: SO (IN LIKE MANNER) is every one that is born of the Spirit.
When we search out all the scriptures concerning our assurance of salvation (which we
can have), the Bible reveal to us that it is not something we can put a date on, it is a
process before we even know what God has already done in our life. This is why we were to wait upon God for his salvation.
Lamentations 3:24–26 (KJV 1900)
The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.
25 The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.
26 It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.
Psalm 35:3 (KJV 1900)
Draw out also the spear, and stop the way against them that persecute me: Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation.
The passages above show us that being able to be sure of our salvation is not something that occurs at the drop of a hat, but rather it is something we had to patiently wait on God to confirm for us through his word. This is why salvation is so intimate a thing between God and the one he has saved. This is also why we are told to examine ourselves to make sure we are truly saved. Now, the churches don't teach this because once you made the choice to believe, it was set in stone and you never had to question your salvation ever again. But what does the Bible say?
2 Corinthians 13:5 (KJV 1900)
Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates (outcasts)?
Notice this wasn't something the pastor did for us, which they often assured their members that they were saved. But this is something that each one of us does for ourselves.
How one became saved is a very good topic of discussion and there are tons of passages that deal with this very issue. But, free will unto salvation is no where near the true gospel of God's salvation. This gospel has so many faults within it that they have had to come up with many other non biblical doctrines to fill in their doctrinal gaps. Here are a few more for you to consider and see how they
agree (because agreement is the key) with the doctrine of free will.
John 1:12 (KJV 1900)
But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: (This is the free will doctrine position, but it's incomplete. Here is the rest of the verse).
John 1:13 (KJV 1900)
Which were born (meaning, born again),
not of blood (not of bloodline),
nor of the will of the flesh (not born again by the will of our flesh)
nor of the will of man (not born again by man's own will),
but of God (but we
are born again by the will of God).
James 1:18 (KJV 1900)
Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
So, I hope I answered your request to further explain my profile answer. If you have any more questions, please feel free to continue the dialogue. For the record, I am sure that God has saved me, but I have no idea at what moment that took place.