Free Will - A More Exhaustive Look

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2ndTimothyGroup

Well-known member
Feb 20, 2021
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#62
So I apologize if I am being too harsh.
Instead of apologizing, why not just stop being harsh by calling others weird? What's weird is a "christian" doing such. Disappointing.
 

2ndTimothyGroup

Well-known member
Feb 20, 2021
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#63
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God's free will trumps everyone else's free will.
_
100% - There is no other way nor option. If humans were entirely free to do as they will, it would be impossible for God to fulfill His Eternal Plan. A nameless person, here, belittled me by saying that this isn't "rocket science." I agree. This requires very little intellect to understand. But what it does require is the Enabling of the Spirit to understand. Unless a person has been Enabled, they CAN NOT understand.

John 9:39 NLT - "Then Jesus told him, "I entered this world to render judgment--to give sight to the blind and to show those who think they see that they are blind."

And yes, today's modern-day "church" is the future reflection of yesterday's Pharisees, Sadducees, and teachers of the law.
 
Jan 31, 2021
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#64
FreeGrace2 said:
Free will is the freedom to choose between available options. That's all. And everyone therefore has free will.
As I have just posted from Romans 11, what you've taught cannot be True.
There is nothing in Romans 11 that teaches that man cannot choose between available options.

At bare minimum, the Jewish Nation has not been given eyes to see nor ears to hear. Please reconsider your teachings.
I explained that by quoting Paul in Acts 28:26,27, a translation from Isa 6:9,10.

God didn't "give" the nation faulty eyes or ears. They have closed them all by themselves. Please reconsider your own teachings.
 
Jan 31, 2021
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#65
FreeGrace2 said:
Free will means the freedom to choose between available options
Paul refutes your teaching clearly. Are you not familiar with the below teaching?

2 Timothy 2:26 NIV - 26 and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will."
Did you miss the key here? "come to their senses". That's a choice. One the person makes, just like the prodigal did.

Anyone who still has Satan as their Spiritual Father is unable to choose to do what is right.
I quoted Rom 6:16 and explained it. Address whatever you disagree with about my explanation, and then about the verse itself, which is clear enough for anyone to understand.

Are you not familiar with the Purpose, Work, and Effect of Christ? These three elements are the utter core of the entire Bible.
Of course I am. The problem is that you are a "hopeless Calvinist", unable to grasp basic Bible doctrines, because of your talking points.
 
Jan 31, 2021
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#66
This thread has nothing to do with Calvanism. It has to do with reading the Bible and interpreting it for ourselves. No one cares about Calvinism . . . and especially myself.
Interesting, since your talking points are exactly what they claim.
 

2ndTimothyGroup

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Feb 20, 2021
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#68
God didn't "give" the nation faulty eyes or ears. They have closed them all by themselves. Please reconsider your own teachings.
You are completely denying the Word of God. Unbelivable.

Deuteronomy 29:4 NLT - "But to this day the LORD has not given you minds that understand, nor eyes that see, nor ears that hear!"
 
Jan 31, 2021
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#69
FreeGrace2 said:
The sin nature is IN IN IN us.
Well, it may be in you, but it was removed by Jesus (from my heart).
Well, brother, you've been deceived if you really believe that. Paul clearly described his own struggles with his own sinful human nature in Romans 7. Read it and note the present tense verses. This ain't no "historical present" either. That's a cop-out to allow people to ignore what Paul was saying. He was speaking presently, not about the past, before he was saved. Don't kid yourself.

Are you saying that you have not had the Sinful Nature removed by Christ so that you would become Transformed?
You just don't understand what regeneration and transformation means. By all your comments, it seems you think that you no longer sin. Do you believe that?

Regeneration and being born again refers to the human spirit being made alive again. God created Adam and the woman with a body, soul and human spirit. Jesus explained to the Samaritan woman at a well that one needed a human spirit with which to worship God.

God's warning to Adam about the forbidden fruit was "in the day that you eat of it, dying, you shall die". You won't see that translation in any Enlish translation, but it IS in the original Hebrew. iow, the "dying" refers to eventual physical death, and the "die" refers to spiritual death.

So, on that "day" when Adam ate the fruit, his human spirit actually died, and he became separated from God. Which explains why he hid. So God sought him out. And provided the solution to his dead spirit: the gospel promise in the Messiah.

So, all believers are born physically alive and spiritually dead. iow, their human spirit is dead and in need of regeneration.

Regeneration, being born again, or being made alive, all the same thing, is the transformation. The human soul, where the sinful human nature STILL resides doesn't leave. So believers have both a human nature and a divine nature.

You probably haven't ever heard any of this before. Sad.

Colossians 2:11 NLT - "When you came to Christ, you were "circumcised," but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision--the cutting away of your sinful nature."[/QUOTE[
This has nothing to do with penises or removal of the sin nature. You are wrong. It has to do with regeneration. See above.

If you don't feel that you have been spared of the Sinful Nature, I am encouraging you to beg Christ that this Operation of Faith be completed to your heart. Without it, there is no hope.
I recommend that you beg Christ to open your eyes so you can see the truth.
 

2ndTimothyGroup

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Feb 20, 2021
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#70
FreeGrace2 said:
Free will means the freedom to choose between available options

Did you miss the key here? "come to their senses". That's a choice. One the person makes, just like the prodigal did.


I quoted Rom 6:16 and explained it. Address whatever you disagree with about my explanation, and then about the verse itself, which is clear enough for anyone to understand.


Of course I am. The problem is that you are a "hopeless Calvinist", unable to grasp basic Bible doctrines, because of your talking points.
Until you begin acknowledging God's Power and Holy Word, we have nothing further to discuss. I'm not trying to be rude, but to not waste either of our time. My time is extremely valuable.
 

2ndTimothyGroup

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Feb 20, 2021
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#71
Well, brother, you've been deceived if you really believe that.
You obviously have not read, nor understood, the entire Bible. And, you can say these belittling things as you wish . . . they bother me none.
 
Jan 31, 2021
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#72
FreeGrace2 said:
Excuse me, but all the verbs are in the present tense.
What I said is true. You can see for yourself.

Your teaching defies the entire Purpose, Work, and Effect of Christ.
Then that is what you are accusing Paul of doing. He wrote Rom 7. I didn't. I simply know what he was saying, unlike yourself.

To know the True Gospel, a person must know these three vital aspects of Christ. If we cannot define them, it is impossible to Know Him, or, be Known BY Him.
Have you ever read 1 Cor 15:1-11? If not, please do, and quote the verses that include these 3 vital aspects of Christ that are needed for saving faith.
 

2ndTimothyGroup

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Feb 20, 2021
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#74
Have you ever read 1 Cor 15:1-11? If not, please do, and quote the verses that include these 3 vital aspects of Christ that are needed for saving faith.
I'm not interested in your tests. You clearly do not understand the Gospel.
 

Amanuensis

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Jun 12, 2021
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#75
Instead of apologizing, why not just stop being harsh by calling others weird? What's weird is a "christian" doing such. Disappointing.
I did not call a person weird. I am saying that reading "that the reports will make them afraid" means they will be stripped of their free will is weird. It is weird as in not a normal way to read the sentence about "reports" as if this means nothing and does not come into play in their being afraid.

But I am going to bow out of the conversation. I am sensing too much emotions and I don't argue with strangers on the internet. That is not what I am here for. I try to focus on the correct meaning of a text but when it becomes an argument I bow out.
 

Amanuensis

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#76
Actually, it appears that you are not understanding their fear. They, perhaps, are afraid because they may have heard that God caused them to turn their swords upon each other. They are afraid because of how God will confuse their minds, causing them to kill each other. This is the Lord's Mind Control. Surely, your Bible contains these texts.
A different text than the one you started with. Yes, God can make a person do what He wants. I am in agreement with that. Your original verse did not support that but there are verses that do. We have Nebuchadnezzar as and example.
 

2ndTimothyGroup

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#77
But I am going to bow out of the conversation. I am sensing too much emotions and I don't argue with strangers on the internet. That is not what I am here for. I try to focus on the correct meaning of a text but when it becomes an argument I bow out.
You're kidding, right? You apologized for being harsh.

Unbelievable.
 

Beckie

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Feb 15, 2022
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#78
But without free will there would be no accountability, and there would also be no redemption according to God's plan of salvation. God already had the Second Adam in mind when he created the First Adam. Adam and Eve were a "type" of Christ and the Church (which is far higher and better).

But Adam had to freely choose to either love God and obey Him, or suffer the consequences. In practical terms neither Adam nor Eve had the slightest reason to go after forbidden fruit, when they had an entire glorious orchard to pick from. And Adam had no excuse for allowing Eve to dialogue with the devil when she should have been close by his side. Clearly he was negligent.
Asked a couple pages back did not get a reply so i will be more direct.

What Scripture/passages do you base your belief that there would not be accountability or redemption with out freewill .
 

Amanuensis

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Jun 12, 2021
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#79
You're kidding, right? You apologized for being harsh.

Unbelievable.

Instead of apologizing, why not just stop being harsh by calling others weird? What's weird is a "christian" doing such. Disappointing.
Try to be honest with me.... This is what I said:

Imagine what the neighboring nations in the path of Israel would think when they heard about the walls and the slaughter afterwards. "We don't stand a chance" is what they would think after such a report came to their ears. Free will is not taken from them. And not mentioned anywhere in the text. And this idea of yours does not enter the normal readers mind. It isn't a logical concept. Hearing about the reports of how God was fighting for them and knowing that you are next, and being afraid is logical. But saying that God would force them to be afraid by taking away their free will is not being communicated in the text. And it is a weird idea.

Just plain weird.

But I should be patient with people on CC. I don't know them and there could be reasons why they don't appear to have normal reading comprehension skills. So I apologize if I am being too harsh.
I called the IDEA weird not the Christian. If you don't think there is a difference I am not going to spend time explaining it. It would not do any good.

And if you do know the difference but have no qualms about saying I said something I did not say, then it is also a waste of time to explain what I said as I am doing now. Either way it is a waste of my time and I have better things to do. So have a nice day and I will catch up with you in one of your future threads.
 

Mem

Senior Member
Sep 23, 2014
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#80
Didn't the Lord have an Eternal Plan? Or, was the Eternal Plan overthrown by measly creations?

Ephesians 3:9-11 NLT - "I was chosen to explain to everyone this mysterious plan that God, the Creator of all things, had kept secret from the beginning. 10 God's purpose in all this was to use the church to display his wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. 11 This was his eternal plan, which he carried out through Christ Jesus our Lord."

From the middle of the Plan? No, there was a Plan from the beginning.
Providing man with an option to choose, freely, without restriction, but not without guidance on what we should choose, as choices are not without consequence.