Understanding God’s election

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BillyBob

BillyBob

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Magenta said:

1 Corinthians 4:7b, John 3:27, Romans 9:15-16 ~ What do you have that you did not
receive? And if also you did receive it, why do you boast as not having received it? John replied, “A man
can receive only what is given him from heaven.” “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then, it does not depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.
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Sort or reminds me of the words from Rock of Ages.

Nothing in my hand I bring,
simply to the cross I cling;
naked, come to thee for dress;
helpless, look to thee for grace;
foul, I to the fountain fly;
wash me, Savior, or I die.

If you do not believe that all things come from God, then never sing this hymn!
 
Magenta

Magenta

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BillyBob said:
Sort or reminds me of the words from Rock of Ages.

Nothing in my hand I bring,
simply to the cross I cling;
naked, come to thee for dress;
helpless, look to thee for grace;
foul, I to the fountain fly;
wash me, Savior, or I die.

If you do not believe that all things come from God, then never sing this hymn!
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Reminds me also of the first Christmas card I designed, which said, as part of
the overall little drummer boy theme that it represented: I have no gift to bring...

 
Magenta

Magenta

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Cameron143 said:
The LORD could be my Shepherd if only I could get to Him...Psalm 23:1A.
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Yes. It would seem to some people who claim to be Christians that the Bible is not to be believed.

I say we not believe them. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. He says He is not far from any of us.


Psalm 23:1
:)
 
Magenta

Magenta

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Acts 17:26-27 ~ From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their lands. God intended that they would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.
 
R

Rufus

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Magenta said:

Romans 9:19-21 One of you will say to me, “Then why does God still find fault? For who can resist His will?” But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to Him who formed it, “Why did You make me like this?” Does not the potter have the right to make from the same lump of clay one vessel for special occasions and another for common use?
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Apparently, in FWT, God does not have that right to discriminate (to distinguish or differentiate between peoples by exposing His intended differences between them). Yet, this is precisely the thing He did when He chose Israel, to the exclusion of other nations, to be his inheritance. The naive among us think that such things as jealously or discrimination are always evil, when in fact they are not and can often be virtuous!
 
R

Rufus

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Before I forget, I made a grievous error last night in a post to PT, I believe. I attributed a very astute observation that Rogerg had made re the Bread of Life Discourse in John 6 when he pointed out basically that at the very beginning of Jesus' teaching he clearly had faith in mind, which he proved by citing v. 29. Poor Rog just can't get any respect :eek:! So, now I have to rob Peter (Billy Bob to whom I erroneously attributed this observation) to pay Paul (Rogerg, who in fact did point this fact out to us).

Sorry rogerg!
 
Magenta

Magenta

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Rufus said:
Apparently, in FWT, God does not have that right to discriminate (to distinguish or differentiate between peoples by exposing His intended differences between them). Yet, this is precisely the thing He did when He chose Israel, to the exclusion of other nations, to be his inheritance. The naive among us think that such things as jealously or discrimination are always evil, when in fact they are not and can often be virtuous!
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There is so much wrong in FWT it is hard to catalogue it all in one post. And I am not normally one to make long posts to begin with. Even so, I have many many many times listed quite a few of the things said of the natural man, and still some will ask, who is he? As if they have no knowledge of him at all! Despite all the Scriptures have to say of him, and all their bleating about how we should read and believe the Bible. Gosh. Sometimes it is enough to make one feel gobsmacked, to clearly delineate something over months, only to have someone come along and claim you have said something you most definitely have not, or to tell you they have no idea what you mean.
 
R

rogerg

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Rufus said:
Before I forget, I made a grievous error last night in a post to PT, I believe. I attributed a very astute observation that Rogerg had made re the Bread of Life Discourse in John 6 when he pointed out basically that at the very beginning of Jesus' teaching he clearly had faith in mind, which he proved by citing v. 29. Poor Rog just can't get any respect :eek:! So, now I have to rob Peter (Billy Bob to whom I erroneously attributed this observation) to pay Paul (Rogerg, who in fact did point this fact out to us).

Sorry rogerg!
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lol - oh no problem at all and no apology necessary, Rufus. I didn't even notice that - just glad if I contributed something useful.
Thanks.
 
R

Rufus

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GWH said:
TOP #263: Believers (the elect) may commit apostasy. [HB 3:6-4:11, 6:4-6, 10:19-39] Apostates will never repent, and thus it must be the unpardonable blasphemy against the Holy Spirit referred to by Jesus in MT 12:31-32.

The elect may choose to repudiate their saving faith and go to hell, just as they were free to have (non-meritorious) saving faith by the grace of God and be bound for heaven if they had endured to the end.

God initiates; souls may cooperate until they die--or not.
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Which would make Jesus a lousy Shepherd -- hardly worthy of being called "Good" since he utterly failed in his mission by disobeying God's will for his elect.
 
Cameron143

Cameron143

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PaulThomson said:
During the writing of Ps. 23, the Son was omnipresent. During the conversation and events of John 6, Jesus was localised in one place in a human body. Now Jesus is omnipresent. We can come to Jesus anywhere now.
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So all the verses Jesus actually spoke while on earth about coming to Him apply only to those present? How about other verses He spoke? Were they only for those within earshot?
 
G

GWH

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Rufus said:
Which would make Jesus a lousy Shepherd -- hardly worthy of being called "Good" since he utterly failed in his mission by disobeying God's will for his elect.
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Not at all because it is God’s will that the elect be those who do not commit apostasy. Jesus is our shepherd, not our jailer.
 
R

Rufus

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Magenta said:
There is so much wrong in FWT it is hard to catalogue it all in one post. And I am not normally one to make long posts to begin with. Even so, I have many many many times listed quite a few of the things said of the natural man, and still some will ask, who is he? As if they have no knowledge of him at all! Despite all the Scriptures have to say of him, and all their bleating about how we should read and believe the Bible. Gosh. Sometimes it is enough to make one feel gobsmacked, to clearly delineate something over months, only to have someone come along and claim you have said something you most definitely have not, or to tell you they have no idea what you mean.
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This is symptomatic of the world's primary spiritual problem: Everyone else is guilty of this, that or some other thing; but not me! I believe this is why FWs cannot personally relate to all the passages that speak to the severe limitations of the "natural man".
 
BillyBob

BillyBob

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GWH said:
TOP #263: Believers (the elect) may commit apostasy. [HB 3:6-4:11, 6:4-6, 10:19-39] Apostates will never repent, and thus it must be the unpardonable blasphemy against the Holy Spirit referred to by Jesus in MT 12:31-32.

The elect may choose to repudiate their saving faith and go to hell, just as they were free to have (non-meritorious) saving faith by the grace of God and be bound for heaven if they had endured to the end.

God initiates; souls may cooperate until they die--or not.
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Please clarify - are you claiming that saving faith isn't saving after all? And, since God provides/bestows that faith, - does He then do a uturn and take it back?
 
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