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S
Calvinism goes beyond this, and says that God makes some people disbelieve. Therefore, it is an excuse for disbelief, and a heresy. God is not the author of confusion. Calvinism is confusion. It has been soundly condemned by all who know and who love the truth. Calvinism denies free will. But your view that regeneration comes first comes from Calvinism. You sound like a semi-Calvinist. Forgive me if I am misperceiving things. Everything I read about Calvinism is that the idea of regeneration preceding faith comes only from Calvinism. No other kind of Christianity preaches that.
The question is: Does the Scripture teach a man must be born again to believe; or does it teach that a man must believe to be born again? You sound like you believe the later, because you admit all people "have the free-will to believe, to seek, to knock and to ask. No one who asks will be denied." Exactly! Calvin and Luther taught otherwise. They taught theological determinism, that free will is not Biblical.
Go figure. PS The opposite error from Calvinism is Pelagianism. The Bible teaches neither. God's grace must come first, but He shows His grace to all, so anyone can believe.
He doesn't withhold His mercy; people withhold their belief. Not everyone believes, but everyone is a potential believer.
We cannot save ourselves. Salvation depends on God's sovereign grace. So Pelagianism is false too.
The question is: Does the Scripture teach a man must be born again to believe; or does it teach that a man must believe to be born again? You sound like you believe the later, because you admit all people "have the free-will to believe, to seek, to knock and to ask. No one who asks will be denied." Exactly! Calvin and Luther taught otherwise. They taught theological determinism, that free will is not Biblical.
Go figure. PS The opposite error from Calvinism is Pelagianism. The Bible teaches neither. God's grace must come first, but He shows His grace to all, so anyone can believe.
He doesn't withhold His mercy; people withhold their belief. Not everyone believes, but everyone is a potential believer.
We cannot save ourselves. Salvation depends on God's sovereign grace. So Pelagianism is false too.
S
The Bible says God Himself prepares (pre-ordains) the good works we are to do, that we should walk (live) in them. God gives us faith, and we receive good works, too, from God. God saves us. We don't save ourselves. But we must use our free will to cooperate with God's grace and mercy. It isn't forced upon us by God. Salvation is all up to God, and to us. It's all up to us. Receiving what God has for us is all up to us,it's something that requires our freely given cooperation. God makes this possible by His mercy (Titus 3), and not by works which we have done in righteousness.
E
yes, did you read what you posted?
NOT BY WORKS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS (good works) WE HAVE DONE.
works do not enter into the equation for salvation. or it is not of God it is of us.
we are saved, and empowered to do the works. If we are not saved, we do the works out of pridefull gain (look for something in return) when we are saved, we do it expecting nothing in return (humility) just like Christ did.
we can not co-operate with Grace, Grace is free. if we work for it, it is not free. thus it is no longer grace but works. Paul makes this VERY CLEAR
NOT BY WORKS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS (good works) WE HAVE DONE.
works do not enter into the equation for salvation. or it is not of God it is of us.
we are saved, and empowered to do the works. If we are not saved, we do the works out of pridefull gain (look for something in return) when we are saved, we do it expecting nothing in return (humility) just like Christ did.
we can not co-operate with Grace, Grace is free. if we work for it, it is not free. thus it is no longer grace but works. Paul makes this VERY CLEAR
J
Sorry the scripture says otherwise. Scripture says that all it takes is calling on Jesus's name and Belief because you can't call on someone who you don't believe in, therefore it takes belief and confession, without that it's useless. God gave us our ability to accept his gift but he also gave us the responsibility. Jesus shed his blood for the whole world but only few will accept, because of their free will. The thing about free will is that it's proven every day by the choices that we make.
According to the bible "For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed."
"Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding."
I may not understand the full deity of Christ perfectly but I know one thing, what the scripture says the scripture means and that is God sent his only son to be the penalty for our sins and anyone who believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.
According to the bible "For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed."
"Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding."
I may not understand the full deity of Christ perfectly but I know one thing, what the scripture says the scripture means and that is God sent his only son to be the penalty for our sins and anyone who believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.
E
yes.
whoever calls on the name of the lord will be saved (born again)
Rom 10 : 9 - 13 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, “?Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.?” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.?”
One will never confess, if they do not have faith. One can not be born again (regenerate) unless their sin is removed. and sin can not be removed until we are justified. Which clearly scripture states is done by faith.
I don abt u guys but I c ma self as a undone,not worthy to b saved cuz its not ba ma doing tha am saved,but by faith,i do not stand hea today as a child of God cuz I made an effort but by the merit of another,in knowing tha I have no input for ma salvation I will try everythin to glorify to the one who set me free from all my sins,he not only gave me life but in abundance, n power to b a son.
Yes am weak n do things at times I regreat,but the seed of righteos is there,one who has begun a good works in me he will finish it.
Oh hail the power of Jesus name
Let angels prostrate fall
Bring forth the royal diadom
N crown him Lord of all
N crown him Lord of all!
Yes am weak n do things at times I regreat,but the seed of righteos is there,one who has begun a good works in me he will finish it.
Oh hail the power of Jesus name
Let angels prostrate fall
Bring forth the royal diadom
N crown him Lord of all
N crown him Lord of all!
What you say is true, but then again, how did you hear to believe? Jesus said that no one comes to Him unless the Father draws him. When I was first convicted by tue Holy Spirit, I was 10 years old. He crew me to Jesus. I guess I could have resisted, but the drawing was very persuasive.
We love God because He first loved us.
In Christ
Yes, this is somewhat true, but His love is first apparent to us when we truly receive His mercy. I was so deep into sin and using His word to excuse it when He showed me Jesus on the cross, and how I had defiled even this act. I stared and was horrified at myself. He caused me to die with Him that night, a totally abject sinner worthy of nothing but His disdain and condemnation. But He did not do these things. No, He did not reject me as I so richly deserved. He did something so unexpected that I am still moved to tears after almost twenty years.
He loved me, made me to know His love for me. That hurt worse than seeing Jesus dying for me when I had so misused and abused His forgiveness and mercy.
He truly does love us, and all that I do is with the goal of seeing others experience this life giving love.
In Christ,
He loved me, made me to know His love for me. That hurt worse than seeing Jesus dying for me when I had so misused and abused His forgiveness and mercy.
He truly does love us, and all that I do is with the goal of seeing others experience this life giving love.
In Christ,
H
yes I have been saying that a lot in this thread, that there are those who think they have faith but have not been reborn. Your experience of dying with Jesus that night is a baptism which gave you true faith. Thanks for sharing. Even when we think we are saved we have not been saved through all our mighty works until we are reborn in Christ Jesus. That baptism comes before true faith.
In the love of Jesus,
H.
In the love of Jesus,
H.
The rebirth must come with death. So many miss this. For in truth the rebirth is actually becoming joined with Jesus in His death and resurrection.
But this is not to say that those who have faith alone are not saved. While Jesus was talking at the death of Lazarus, He said this:
"I am the resurrection and the life; everyone who believes in Me shall live, even if he dies; and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die."
There is life after death now, if we come to Him.
In Christ,
But this is not to say that those who have faith alone are not saved. While Jesus was talking at the death of Lazarus, He said this:
"I am the resurrection and the life; everyone who believes in Me shall live, even if he dies; and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die."
There is life after death now, if we come to Him.
In Christ,
H
I agree but when Jesus said "I am the resurrection and the life" he was talking about rebirth in that with us coming up out of death with Christ intot he resurrection we have life with him. Then we believe in a saving faith. Without resurrection there is no life. First resurrection through baptism into death and resurrection then life. Whoever believes has already been baptised into the death and resurrection unto life.
God bless, In Jesus
H.
God bless, In Jesus
H.
We are really saying the same thing. Those who believe shall life even if they die. Those who live and believe shall never die. We cannot live unless we die. But I believe that many have died while believing, a physical death without ever being joined to Him in His death. They too shall be saved.
But there is so much more of His life that we can live in now.
I truly hope that I do not offend you, just as Christ Jesus is our life.
In Christ, and His love,
Vic
But there is so much more of His life that we can live in now.
I truly hope that I do not offend you, just as Christ Jesus is our life.
In Christ, and His love,
Vic
H
baptism (rebirth) through the Holy Spirit and belief in Jesus are the two sides of the same coin. But if any try to have Jesus and even say they know him, without the Holy Spirit having baptised them into death and resurrection in flames and in water and by his blood then they are mistaken. That death does not come from mere professing Jesus nor doing mighty works. I think Spurgeon argued heavily against mere professors who have not been sanctified by regeneration.
This is absolutely not true and makes the work of Christ conditional. When we believed we have been joined to the Lord (1Cor 6:16) and hid with Christ in God (Eph 3:9, Col 3:3). This is positional truth that you do not seem to understand. It is also positionally true that we are crucified with Christ, buried with Him in baptism and have been raised with Him (Rom 6:6, Col 2:12). All this points to being fully justified and made perfect and complete (Col 2:10) as a new creature in Christ (2Cor 5:17), created in righteousness and true holiness (Eph 4:24). God has done this for us through the finished work when we believed.
With this being positionally true for the believer God has to work this into our experience through the word, the cross and with much grace and patience. God is making us become what He has already made us to be. To think otherwise is to discredit the work that was accomplished by Christ on our behalf when He died not only for us but as us when He took our place on the cross.
With this being positionally true for the believer God has to work this into our experience through the word, the cross and with much grace and patience. God is making us become what He has already made us to be. To think otherwise is to discredit the work that was accomplished by Christ on our behalf when He died not only for us but as us when He took our place on the cross.