We simply cannot "choose" to be saved!
Romans 1:16 reads:
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that
believes; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
"revealing that you are a letter of Christ, delivered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on stone tablets but on tablets of human hearts" 2Cor. 3:3
"So then, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; what is old has passed away—look, what is new has come!" 2 Cor. 5:17
There are many more verses, I just remember these off the top of my head.
But this happens
after one chooses to believe on Christ, is it not so?
Learn about context - both historical, and in the passage and chapter surrounding the verse.
This is not a wise way to understand scripture. After all, if I applied this same metric to Paul's writings, I'd have to question if he knew what he was talking about. For example (and there are others) in Acts 13:40 after preaching the gospel, Paul warns those who would reject the gospel by quoting Habakkuk 1:5:
Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvellously: for I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you.
Now if I were to learn about the context, both historical, and in the passage and chapter surrounding the scripture Paul was quoting from, I would wonder what was the meaning of his words after hearing the gospel he just preached if I did not believe what he just preached. After all, when you look up the scripture that Paul quoted from you read that the Chaldeans were going to be raised to march through the breadth of the land to possess the dwellings places that are not theirs. That they are coming for violence to gather the captivity. Huh?
Of course Paul was simply showing, by using that scripture, that this miracle of the Gospel of Christ and the resurrection of the dead,
and that all men would be justified by believing this good news, would not be believed by the despisers who will perish because of their unbelief. This is not indicated
anywhere in the book of Habakkuk.
Start to grow as a follower of Christ, and that means studying scholars and introductory theology books, and learning some basic hermeneutical rules for understanding Scripture.
This is a lie, with all due respect.
The scripture says:
Speaking the
truth in love, may
grow up into him in all things (Ephesians 4:15).
Thy
word is
truth (John 17:17).
As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the
word, that ye may
grow thereby (1 Peter 2:2).
What you are telling us we should do to grow as a follower of Christ is the perfect recipe for stopping growth and to lead into error. This brings to mind the scripture that says "after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth" (2 Timothy 4:3). This is how every false teaching survives, by people seeking to the scholars, theology books (philosophy), and hermeneutics. All sects have their teaching tools.
For the leaders of this people cause
them to err; and
they that are lead of them
are destroyed (Isaiah 9:16).
Should not a people seek unto their God...To the law and to the testimony:
if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. (Isaiah 8:19-20).
It is not simply a matter of copy and pasting a verse.
But isn't this the very thing Paul did (Romans 3:10-18)?
Would you attempt to question an inspired writer of God on his teaching techniques?