Understanding God’s election

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Rufus

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Feb 17, 2024
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Where does sin originate in a person?

James 1:13-15

Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”;
for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.
But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires
and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin;
and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.
In the heart.
 

Rufus

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Feb 17, 2024
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You are a good driver?

Get that "meat" drunk, and you will not be able to drive the way you want to.
YES! That "meat" will affect what you think.

You do not understand the flesh.
You think its just a lump of matter, like a steak on a plate.
It sends wrong IMPULSES to your mind.
Your gut is sometimes called the second brain.
Why is the gut known as the second brain?

With more than 500 million neurons, it's the most complex neural network outside of your brain.
It's also unique in that it can operate somewhat independently from your brain and central nervous system.
This has led some scientists to refer to it as a “second brain” (online search)

Wrong bodily impulses can bully your volition.
Because? Its fallen.

Sinning can be an illegitimate means to satisfy a legitimate need.
In that case?
The act itself of sinning originates in your volition.

When you have a sin running for office in your heart?
Then you must vote. Yes, or no.
If it's yes?
Your mind will devise your own illegitimate means to satisfy that alleged need.
Or, righteousness will prevail, by standing on the Truth above it.

Does that explain it realistically?
Or, would you rather I simply give a retorical answer by citing some Scripture that you may not understand?
Prove everything you've said from the bible. It seems to me that if the brain of man plays such a big role in his moral/spiritual obligations to God, then scripture would command us to transform our brains. Yet, it instead it tells us to transform our MINDS which is the immaterial part of the brain. The mind being a component of the equally immaterial soul and heart.
 

Genez

Junior Member
Oct 12, 2017
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I don't know if we're on same page or not, because I still do understand your reply.
I don't understand what you mean by the "how I should approach my reply"? If you would, I
would appreciate a simple answer as to what you believe the meaning of those verses are - verses that you referenced.
IOW -do you believe the obtaining of a true faith, can/must only come from it being given to someone from/by God's work, as the verses that you referenced clearly state - is that the "work" you are referring to? And if so, are you then also saying you believe the possibility would still exist that, even after receiving faith from God, those who are given it might still never become saved, even with that faith?
Sorry, I'm lost regarding your reply.
OK....

Your question:

Out of curiosity, by quoting John 6:28-29, are you suggesting that true belief cannot originate from man himself, but is only given to someone through God's intervention and work?

My answer is as follows.

The Pharisees had turned the Jews into a mindset of works-mania. They became oriented to learning from religious leaders whatever
works that leader prescribed for gaining eternal life. Its one reason Jesus showed such hatred for the Pharisees like He did.

And, you will note in the Gospels, some asked "rabbi" Jesus for what work they must do to inherit eternal life.

The disciples wanted to know what works he (as a rabbi) would give them.

28 Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”

So then, Jesus told them:

29 “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”


Jesus was saying?

Do not seek the works of the Pharisees. Submit to the work of God!

Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

Jesus was replacing of the Pharisaical works, with God's one work onto eternal life!

grace and peace ..........
 

Genez

Junior Member
Oct 12, 2017
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Prove everything you've said from the bible. It seems to me that if the brain of man plays such a big role in his moral/spiritual obligations to God, then scripture would command us to transform our brains. Yet, it instead it tells us to transform our MINDS which is the immaterial part of the brain. The mind being a component of the equally immaterial soul and heart.
Oh...its' Rufus again.

2 Timothy 3:7​
"Always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth."
..........
 

MeowFlower

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Aug 25, 2024
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And there's a great reason behind what you just stated. The angels have empirical evidence for God's existence whereas humans do not, which is precisely why faith is the mode of man's salvation. The one exception to what I just said is Adam. Adam talked and communed with God in the Garden before he sinned. And this is another big reason for why God did not save him after he fell.
You believe Adam is doomed to Hell?
 

Rufus

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Feb 17, 2024
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OK....

Your question:

Out of curiosity, by quoting John 6:28-29, are you suggesting that true belief cannot originate from man himself, but is only given to someone through God's intervention and work?

My answer is as follows.

The Pharisees had turned the Jews into a mindset of works-mania. They became oriented to learning from religious leaders whatever
works that leader prescribed for gaining eternal life. Its one reason Jesus showed such hatred for the Pharisees like He did.

And, you will note in the Gospels, some asked "rabbi" Jesus for what work they must do to inherit eternal life.

The disciples wanted to know what works he (as a rabbi) would give them.

28 Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”

So then, Jesus told them:

29 “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

Jesus was saying?

Do not seek the works of the Pharisees. Submit to the work of God!

Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

Jesus was replacing of the Pharisaical works, with God's one work onto eternal life!

grace and peace ..........
So...is it God's work, the believers' work or both?

Also, Jesus did not answer them telling them the "work of God" is that you work faith into yourself.
 

Genez

Junior Member
Oct 12, 2017
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You believe Adam is doomed to Hell?
The Lord had blood shed on behalf of Adam after he fell.

The Bible does not say it directly.
It takes insight to understand.
The very thing someone here seems to hate when everything is not spelled out "ABC", so we do not have to think.

Atonement for Adam?
Yes....
Animal blood was shed after Adam fell.

How can we know?

Blood was shed to provide Adam and the woman the animal skins to cover themselves with!

Sad to say... Insight is the bane of non-analytical minds.
Minds that keep refusing to learn because they did not think it for themself.
 

Rufus

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Feb 17, 2024
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You believe Adam is doomed to Hell?
Yes, I do for about 15 different reasons that I unearthed from scripture. The fact that he had empirical proof of God's existence is only one of those reasons. Another is that Adam must fall into one of the two seeds in Gen 3:15; and it sure isn't the Woman's seed since he did not proceed from Eve. Therefore, this leaves two options. Adam is either the serpent's spiritual seed or he's simply left out in the cold. The latter, doesn't seem like a very tenable option, since the Woman's seed is the godly seed and the serpent's spiritual seed is the ungodly. Can there be anything in between the godly and ungodly? It would appear the Law of the Excluded Middle applies here.

Animal blood was shed -- but does that mean Adam had faith in God's work? There's evidence that Eve had faith, but Adam? ZERO evidence.
 

Genez

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Oct 12, 2017
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Yes, I do for about 15 different reasons that I unearthed from scripture. The fact that he had empirical proof of God's existence is only one of those reasons. Another is that Adam must fall into one of the two seeds in Gen 3:15; and it sure isn't the Woman's seed since he did not proceed from Eve. Therefore, this leaves two options. Adam is either the serpent's spiritual seed or he's simply left out in the cold. The latter, doesn't seem like a very tenable option, since the Woman's seed is the godly seed and the serpent's spiritual seed is the ungodly. Can there be anything in between the godly and ungodly? It would appear the Law of the Excluded Middle applies here.

Animal blood was shed -- but does that mean Adam had faith in God's work? There's evidence that Eve had faith, but Adam? ZERO evidence.
Zero evidence for Rufus, does not mean by any means, that there is no evidence....
 

Rufus

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Feb 17, 2024
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Zero evidence for Rufus, does not mean by any means, that there is no evidence....
On the other hand, you and others have to hang your hat on one verse (3:21) whereas I cam up with a large number of verses that form the preponderance of evidence to the effect that God did not redeem Adam. And it wasn't until years later that I expanded my argument to show how Adam was also type of Satan. (Not surprising either when we consider that Adam has the very dubious distinction in scripture of being a type of Christ by contrasts.) So that brought the argument up to about 20 points. I think common sense dictates to go with the weightier argument.
 

Genez

Junior Member
Oct 12, 2017
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On the other hand, you and others have to hang your hat on one verse (3:21) whereas I cam up with a large number of verses that form the preponderance of evidence to the effect that God did not redeem Adam. And it wasn't until years later that I expanded my argument to show how Adam was also type of Satan. (Not surprising either when we consider that Adam has the very dubious distinction in scripture of being a type of Christ by contrasts.) So that brought the argument up to about 20 points. I think common sense dictates to go with the weightier argument.
You are challenging me and thinking in a very worldly way...
 

Rufus

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Feb 17, 2024
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Talk about God's providence. I'm having my evening devotional in the Psalms, and Ps 4:5 jumped out at me and is pertinent to what I've been questioning all along about Gen 3:21 with regards to the assumption made by many (if not most) that Adam received the animal coverings from God by faith. There is absolutely no evidence in scripture that Adam did. Now to Ps 4:5:

Ps 4:5
5 Offer right sacrifices
and trust in the LORD.

NIV

Here we can see the very close and mandatory connection between commanded sacrifices and faith on the part of the one making the sacrifices. Offering sacrifices apart from genuine faith is an abomination to God, which we learn from other OT passages. Well, since this was the case under the Law, why wouldn't the same principle apply to Gen 3:21? God prescribed specific sacrifices under the Law, so does it make any material difference if God graciously provided the sacrifice but the recipient didn't receive it by faith? Again, since there is absolutely no biblical proof that Adam did, then to make the assumption to the contrary is made from an argument of silence, and this stands in sharp contrast to Eve where there is biblical evidence that Eve had faith.,
 

rogerg

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Jul 13, 2021
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Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

Jesus was replacing of the Pharisaical works, with God's one work onto eternal life!
So, you concur that the obtaining of salvation is solely the work of God, not of man, correct?
 

rogerg

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Jul 13, 2021
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How can that be????????

Explain to me how that is possible?

Make sense, please.
Huh??? Did you not say this" with God's one work onto eternal life!"? God's one work unto eternal life: eternal life is by God's one work, not man's!

Eternal life is not obtained through one's own efforts; rather, it is a complete gift bestowed freely by a gracious and merciful God through Jesus Christ unto those He had chosen for such.

[Eph 2:8 KJV] 8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God:
 

MeowFlower

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Aug 25, 2024
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Yes, I do for about 15 different reasons that I unearthed from scripture. The fact that he had empirical proof of God's existence is only one of those reasons. Another is that Adam must fall into one of the two seeds in Gen 3:15; and it sure isn't the Woman's seed since he did not proceed from Eve. Therefore, this leaves two options. Adam is either the serpent's spiritual seed or he's simply left out in the cold. The latter, doesn't seem like a very tenable option, since the Woman's seed is the godly seed and the serpent's spiritual seed is the ungodly. Can there be anything in between the godly and ungodly? It would appear the Law of the Excluded Middle applies here.

Animal blood was shed -- but does that mean Adam had faith in God's work? There's evidence that Eve had faith, but Adam? ZERO evidence.
You're wrong.
 

Rufus

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Feb 17, 2024
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You are challenging me and thinking in a very worldly way...
There's nothing illogical or worldly in what I wrote. It's common sense!

Suppose someone gets arrested for a crime and the only evidence the police have is from one eyewitness who claims he saw the suspect run from the scene of the crime. The case goes to court and the defense provides NUMEROUS evidence that places the suspect many miles from the crime. Let's say the defense comes up with 15 witnesses that can corroborate the suspect's testimony and after hearing all the witnesses the defense rests its case and the jury deliberates. Who do you think the jury is going to believe: 1 eyewitness or 15 of them?

You come up with one piece of evidence of God providing animal coverings to cover BOTH A&E's sins; yet all you do is ASSUME that Adam appropriated God's gift by faith; whereas with Eve, we have multiple pieces of evidence that she was in fact reconciled to God AND manifested faith afterward. But where is that kind of evidence for Adam? And if Adam was reconciled to God along with Eve, why isn't Adam's seed the godly seed instead of Eve's? In fact, why isn't Adam the spiritual father of all who have faith like his, instead of Abraham!?

Try using your head for something other than a hat rack.
 

Rufus

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Feb 17, 2024
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I'm wrong because......???? I'm wrong because I refuse to make assumptions or read my personal biased presuppositions into passages? If that's case: I happily plead guilty as charged!

When you guys can come up with one piece of BIBLICAL evidence that Adam received God's gift by faith, by all means get back to me. I stand by the rock solid principle taught in Ps 4:5 -- Sacrifices must be made or received by FAITH. All we know from scripture is that God made a provision but we have no evidence that Adam received it by faith. In fact to the contrary if we are to believe Job's inspired commentary on Adam in 31:33.
 

Rufus

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Feb 17, 2024
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How can that be????????

Explain to me how that is possible?

Make sense, please.
That's easy. God raises the dead. Once they're raised they become his NEW CREATION. Now that they have spiritual life "coursing through their veins" or their skin or whatever, they become free to be able to positively respond to the gospel.