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Originally Posted by libby  So we do not have free will? This will surely open another can of worms, but how do you reconcile free will with predestination?
If God has determined your path, and you cannot lose it, then He has also determined the path for the damned. God does not will that anyone perish. Can you please explain this theology? |
How can you keep confusing the 2???
Libby, why do you keep bringing this up after I've explained it to you many times before? Your church teaches salvation by working for it and working to keep it. Christianity doesn't.
First off, God knows everything! Psalm 94 v11, Psalm 139 v4 & John 16 v30. He knew who would CHOOSE to be saved and who wouldn't before anything was ever created. To those who would choose salvation, He coordinater their lives so that nothing would happen to prevent it. To those who would REFUSE salvation, He didn't have to, even though some things in their lives are.
Predestination simply means that God used whatever was going to happen in my life to work for the benefit of His plan. It doesn't mean that I am forced to do anything. I can still do what I want. Predestination is not an evil form of mind control. The difference, now, is that I WANT to do things that please Him. This is called a change of heart. I used to want to be the drunken life of the party and I was for 17 years. Now I've grown out of it because I'm saved.
It's like me dating a bunch of women and having the time of my life while single. Then I find one who I want to settle down with and so I give up my entire "playboy" lifestyle for her. That's called committment but it's a choice I made out of love. No one forced me.
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Originally Posted by Nucklesack But Jesus was God, he has that power to condemn, where does your power come from? |
His words.
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Originally Posted by citizen_fear Jesus is not God......He is the son of God, seated at the right hand of the father. |
Extremely wrong! He is 100% God and 100% man. He had 2 natures just as we all do. One is human and one is Divine (Our other nature is spiritual too but not Divine). This is why He could speak of God, on one hand, as His equal and, on the other hand, as His superior.
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Originally Posted by twinoaks207 Food for thought:[*]The bible (or other holy book) is oral tradition written down.
As it was "oral" it changed a bit with each person telling it. Early books were handwritten individually which meant that there may have been changes with each "writer". They were written in different languages and then translated -- again, changes with each translation.
Arguing over whose "way" is "right" has only caused much pain and suffering over the centuries and shows no sign of stopping. God's Word is simple: love. |
The Bible is God's Word's spoken to men who wrote it down for later generations to follow. Very little has changed from the original writings, otherwise we'd have NO basis for absolute truth. God is too powerful to let His words change meaning regardless of time and regardless of language differences. The dead sea scrolls proved that and so do the almost 6,000 copies of the Scriptures. No other book in all of humanity can compare to or disprove the Bible.
As long as the Devil has a say on this earth, there will be counterfit gospels and teachings. There is only one truth and one God. We HAVE to argue over "whose way is right" or you people will (already have) fall for any teaching that comes down the pike.