Understanding God’s election

  • Christian Chat is a moderated online Christian community allowing Christians around the world to fellowship with each other in real time chat via webcam, voice, and text, with the Christian Chat app. You can also start or participate in a Bible-based discussion here in the Christian Chat Forums, where members can also share with each other their own videos, pictures, or favorite Christian music.

    If you are a Christian and need encouragement and fellowship, we're here for you! If you are not a Christian but interested in knowing more about Jesus our Lord, you're also welcome! Want to know what the Bible says, and how you can apply it to your life? Join us!

    To make new Christian friends now around the world, click here to join Christian Chat.

Genez

Junior Member
Oct 12, 2017
2,928
419
83
Given that His elect were chosen by Him, then it was He alone who chose.

[Eph 1:4 KJV] 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:
They were chosen "IN HIM."

Just as the body of Eve was in Adam's body?
So are we now hidden in His body seated in heavenly places! Eph 2:6

And, as Eve's body was bone of ADAM'S BONE, and flesh of Adam's sinless flesh?... (before the fall)

So shall we be BONE OF HIS BONE...and, GLORIOUS FLESH OF HIS GLORIOUS FLESH when resurrected!

Only the Church was chosen IN HIM for that reason.

God did not mean God choose to save us.
For, He knew we would believe.
He simply made a choice, out of all souls He knew would believe, to become THE BRIDE OF CHRIST!

God chose a Bride for His Son.
That is why we have been predestined to be born during the Church age!

grace and peace .............
 

rogerg

Well-known member
Jul 13, 2021
3,672
570
113
The first law was spoken by God in Eden. Thou shalt not eat....
That wasn't a law, but a commandment, and one originally ordained and intended by God to protect life, not to bring death. Satan deceived Adam and Eve, twisting God's intended purpose for his own, which, through Satan, resulted in death for all. The law is holy, but it is through sin that we attempt to justify ourselves by the law that death, not life, emerges.

[Rom 7:8-10 KJV]
8 But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin [was] dead.
9 For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.
10 And the commandment, which [was ordained] to life, I found [to be] unto death.

[Rom 7:5 KJV]
5 For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.
 

cv5

Well-known member
Nov 20, 2018
22,993
8,368
113
They were chosen "IN HIM."

Just as the body of Eve was in Adam's body?
So are we now hidden in His body seated in heavenly places!

And, as Eve's body was bone of ADAM'S BONE, and flesh of Adam's sinless flesh?... (before the fall)

So shall we be BONE OF HIS BONE...and, GLORIOUS FLESH OF HIS GLORIOUS FLESH when resurrected!

Only the Church was chosen IN HIM for that reason.

God did not mean God choose to save us.
For, He knew we would believe.
He simply made a choice, out of all souls He knew would believe, to become THE BRIDE OF CHRIST!

God chose a Bride for His Son.
That is why we have been predestined to be born during the Church age!

grace and peace .............
Indeed every New Testament passage must have an Old Testament counterpart.
And if it does not........scrap your theory and start over.
Which is one of many reasons why Calvinism is heretical humbug.

Ancient Near East thought patterns and imagery MUST be in view to properly interpret the New Testament. A critical feature lost on the Church today.

Nowadays the supposed Bible experts are little more than one verse wonders.
 

rogerg

Well-known member
Jul 13, 2021
3,672
570
113
God did not mean God choose to save us.
For, He knew we would believe.
He simply made a choice, out of all souls He knew would believe, to become THE BRIDE OF CHRIST!
No, God chose specific individuals whom He would save and who would comprise His church.
It was the "who", that were chosen by God, not the "what". The 'what" came from being of the "who".
You've reversed the sequence.
 

Cameron143

Well-known member
Mar 1, 2022
19,184
6,605
113
62
That's a really good question. I started looking at Genesis to determine if Abraham would have been saved if he had disobeyed God, but got sidetracked
He would have. The one responsible for the terms of the covenant was God.
 

cv5

Well-known member
Nov 20, 2018
22,993
8,368
113
No decent Bible student whould ever say what you said.

Embarassing. And such statements give rise to heresies. Of which you have many.
 

cv5

Well-known member
Nov 20, 2018
22,993
8,368
113
No, God chose specific individuals whom He would save and who would comprise His church.
It was the "who", that were chosen by God, not the "what". The 'what" came from being of the "who".
You've reversed the sequence.
Lunatic Calvinites have a fetish for perverted shotgun weddings. Sick.
 

Cameron143

Well-known member
Mar 1, 2022
19,184
6,605
113
62
No decent Bible student whould ever say what you said.

Embarassing. And such statements give rise to heresies. Of which you have many.
It's only embarrassing for those who are prideful.
 

Genez

Junior Member
Oct 12, 2017
2,928
419
83
No, God chose specific individuals whom He would save and who would comprise His church.
It was the "who", that were chosen by God, not the "what". The 'what" came from being of the "who".
You've reversed the sequence.


CDS? Calvinism Deranged Syndrome?
God forces us to become saved?
 

Genez

Junior Member
Oct 12, 2017
2,928
419
83
Hey little Sunshine.

You take pride in what you do....
Its obvious.

It pleases the flesh of the proud, and gives you a sense of pride to find yourself having a natural gift to do so.
 

Cameron143

Well-known member
Mar 1, 2022
19,184
6,605
113
62
You take pride in what you do....
Its obvious.

It pleases the flesh of the proud, and gives you a sense of pride to find yourself having a natural gift to do so.
Blessings.
 

Rufus

Well-known member
Feb 17, 2024
2,429
263
83
Actually, I have a lot:

An issue frequently cited as a stumbling-blocks to belief in the NT God for some people is reconciling God’s power and love with the fact of evil and its consequence. A person—even a theist—might think that God would not permit evil, suffering and hell to exist. People who are mystified by evil and repulsed by its punishment do not realize that the essential aspect of being a human rather than a robot or subhuman creature is moral free will (MFW), which is what enables a person to experience love and meaning. This is what makes humans different from animals, whose behavior is governed mainly by instinct. This is what it means to be created in God’s image (GN 1:26-27; robot or responsible)?

God could not force people to return His love without abrogating their humanity. If God were to zap ungodly souls, it would be tantamount to forcing conversions at gunpoint, which would not be free and genuine. If God were to prevent people from behaving hatefully, then He would need to prevent them from thinking evilly, which would make human souls programmed automatons. Even if God were to prove Himself to skeptics by means of a miracle, they might believe for awhile and then as their memories began to fade they would probably think that God had died and revert to their former doubt—necessitating an endless string of miracles (recapitulating the story of the Israelites on the way to Canaan after the exodus from Egypt).

However, for reasons we may understand only sufficiently rather than completely, God designed reality so that experiencing His presence is less than compelling, so that even Jesus (God the Son) on the cross cried out “My God [the Father], why have you forsaken [taken God the Spirit from] me?” (MT 27:46, PS 51:11) This phenomenon is sometimes called “distanciation”, because we experience God as distant from us and “unknown” (ACTS 17:23), even though He is close or immanent, “for in Him we live and move and have our being” (ACTS 17:28). Distanciation is not forsaken.

MFW only exists when there is the possibility of choosing between two qualitatively opposite moral options that we call good and evil. These options are opposites because of essentially different consequences for choosing them. Choosing good results in blessing, life and heaven; and choosing evil results in cursing, death and hell (DT 30:19). This is why hell as well as heaven exists. It is the just consequence for choosing evil rather than God. The Spirit of God is good: love, peace and joy (GL 5:22-23). Therefore, whoever rejects the Lord is spiritually separated from Him (IS 59:2) and thereby chooses the evil or satanic spirit of hatred, strife and misery and reaps the just consequence called “hell” in the afterlife (GL 6:7-9, HB 9:27-28). These options were presented by Moses to the Israelites (DT 30:19), and Jesus referred to this fundamental choice in terms of a fish or egg versus a snake or scorpion (LK 11:11-13). Life… or Curse? (GN 3:24, RV 22:1-2)

God created theoretical evil or the possibility of rejecting Him as an option that actualizes free human personality. As such it is necessary and even good (GN 1:31). Of course, it was wrong for Satan (1JN 3:8) and humanity (RM 5:12) to make evil actual by choosing to Sin or reject Faith in God’s Lordship. Sin: ignoring God/God’s Word. God loves a cheerful giver (2CR 9:7), which means He desires people to cooperate with Him happily because of love and gratitude for His grace rather than to cower before Him because of fear of hell. Love must be evoked; it cannot be coerced. And again, when souls sin or do NOT choose to love God freely, it is perfectly just (loving and logical) for them to reap the appropriate consequence (GL 6:7-9) or hell.
Not sure how that all fits but as far as your "MFW" goes, man's will can only operate within the constraints of his nature -- and in the case of man, man's nature in Adam is evil. There is no one good, save for God alone. The Spiritually Dead have no more moral/spiritual ability than the physically dead have any physical ability. This makes man helpless and powerless and in dire need of being rescued -- all of which the scriptures teach. I'm not sure how an infinitely loving, kind, compassionate and merciful God saving helpless people makes those helpless people "robots" or God himself a malevolent tyrant.

I wonder if the Good Samaritan in Jesus' parable sought the "free will" permission from the helpless Jew before choosing to be merciful to him? If not, would you characterize the Jew as being a "robot"? Or the Good Samaritan as a tyrant for presuming to "impose" himself upon the man?
 

Rufus

Well-known member
Feb 17, 2024
2,429
263
83
Indeed every New Testament passage must have an Old Testament counterpart.
And if it does not........scrap your theory and start over.
Which is one of many reasons why Calvinism is heretical humbug.

Ancient Near East thought patterns and imagery MUST be in view to properly interpret the New Testament. A critical feature lost on the Church today.

Nowadays the supposed Bible experts are little more than one verse wonders.
You have it all backwards. In the scheme of progressive revelation, the NT is concealed in the Old and Old is revealed in the New. The NT sheds more light on the scriptures; therefore, the Old must be understood and interpreted in light of the New.
 

Cameron143

Well-known member
Mar 1, 2022
19,184
6,605
113
62
Now you think you are God, able to bestow blessings...

Amazing...
Romans 5:5...not because I'm God, but because God dwells within me, and because out of me flows rivers of living water...John 7:38.

But it's not difficult to see who is prideful. All you have to do is not respond. That will show your humility. I'm guessing that like last time, your pride will cause you to respond. Sure, you'll say that it is your duty to deliver truth, even rudely.
 

cv5

Well-known member
Nov 20, 2018
22,993
8,368
113
CDS? Calvinism Deranged Syndrome?
God forces us to become saved?
Oh it's worse than that. Most of the Calvinists around here say that Mary was impregnated by God without the need for her permission, bereft of any regard to her willingness whatsoever.

So not only do they believe in shotgun weddings, they likewise believe in shotgun impregnations.
By God Himself.

Yeah that's what they believe.