Great response thanks mate. Very intellectual and polite. Now would you say all humans can ask God for this new heart and receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior? Or is it something where *POOF* God does it and then we just come to believe?
In scripture, salvation is offered to
whosoever desires it, so, yes, I do believe that all humans can ask God for this new heart and receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior. However, I also believe that God is the one who seeks to initiate the relationship. In other words, he strives with us by the Holy Spirit while seeking to draw us unto himself through Christ. Whether or not we favorably respond to such strivings is determined by our own free will choices. Here are a couple of portions of scripture which lend credence to what I am saying.
Mat 23:37
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under
her wings, and ye would not!
Here, we see a contrast between Christ's will
(how often would I have gathered your children together) and the will of the people
(and you would not!). Throughout Israel's history, Christ often initiated the preferred relationship of eternal salvation by seeking to gather them to himself, but they more often than not rejected his will for them while opposing him with their own free wills.
We see a very similar situation here.
Act 7:51
Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers
did, so
do ye.
Once again, we see a repeated resisting of the Holy Ghost throughout Israel's history. As their forefathers always resisted the Holy Ghost of their own free wills, so did they of their own free wills.
The Bible frequently compares God's desired union with people to a marital relationship. In the same way that a man proposes to his wife, God proposes marriage between us and his Son, and we can either choose to accept that proposal or to refuse it.
Mat 22:1
And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said,
Mat 22:2
The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son,
Mat 22:3
And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come.
Mat 22:4
Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and
my fatlings
are killed, and all things
are ready: come unto the marriage.
Mat 22:5
But they made light of
it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise:
Mat 22:6
And the remnant took his servants, and entreated
them spitefully, and slew
them.
Mat 22:7
But when the king heard
thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.
Mat 22:8
Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy.
Mat 22:9
Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.
Mat 22:10
So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.
Mat 22:11
And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:
Mat 22:12
And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.
Mat 22:13
Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast
him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Mat 22:14
For many are called, but few
are chosen.
Here we see a certain king, or God the Father, making a marriage for his Son which, of course, is Jesus. He sent forth his servants, the prophets, to bid people to the wedding, and they would not come. Not
they could not come, but
they would not come. Again, although God was doing the bidding, they refused his will for their lives, or they rejected his gracious offer of salvation, while clinging to their own free wills instead. God sent other servants, or more prophets, but the people made light of the call while making excuses for rejecting the invitation. Others went so far as to kill the prophets. God, in response to their continual rejections of his gracious offer of salvation, sent forth his armies against them, and he burned their city, Jerusalem, in his wrath. God then broadened the scope of his invitation, and, ultimately, the wedding was furnished with guests. However, there was a man there who was not clothed with the proper wedding garment or who was not
arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints (Rev. 19:8). Consequentially, that man was bound and cast into outer darkness where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Based upon this requirement for imputed righteousness, we see that many were called, but only few were chosen.
In the light of such truths as these, we see that God's will is for everybody to be saved, but the free will choices or responses of those whom God has called will determine who is ultimately saved.
