@pbcmike98@brianfreytag@ronhenzel I know that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, because when I heard/read the gospel, the Holy Spirit bore witness to my spirit that Jesus is the Son of God …and I believed. That’s how God draws us to him …by the witness of the Holy Soirit
We’re not going to agree on free will vs predestination without the Holy Spirit intervening, but I’ll say this. God loved the entire world and sent his Son to die for all men. Obviously many will reject Jesus. But the Bible is clear that God does not predestine people to faith or no faith.
When taken at it’s clear and plain meaning, 1 Tim 2:4 and 2 Pet 3:9 tell us God wants all people to be saved.
@ICHTHUS33@RevReads289 Hey Garret. Keep in mind that God can (and does) know everything whether he decrees something or not. In other words, God could decree nothing and still have complete omniscience
@pbcmike98@brianfreytag@ronhenzel But the Holy Spirit doesn’t say what you’re saying. He says: “to them that have obtained like precious faith.” HAVE obtained.
So why would the Holy Spirit say God wants those who have believed to come to repentance?
@pbcmike98@brianfreytag@ronhenzel “Beloved” is an endearing term for “them that have obtained like precious faith with us”. That is who Peter was writing to (see 2 Pet 1:1)
@ICHTHUS33@RevReads289 Garret, I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt and believe you are serious when you ask those questions.
And the answer is: Free will has no conflict with God’s omniscience. In fact, God’s omniscience is a pillar of the free will doctrine.
No and here's why. Peter is writing to "them that have obtained like precious faith with us" (2 Pet 1:1). So if we paraphrase the end of 3:3, we get:
It is God's will that all them that have obtained like precious faith with us should come to repentance.
But they've already repented and believed. He's talking about unbelievers ...all unbelievers ...coming to repentance
No and here's why. Peter is writing to "them that have obtained like precious faith with us" (2 Pet 1:1). So if we paraphrase the end of 3:3, we get:
It is God's will that all them that have obtained like precious faith with us should come to repentance.
But they've already repented and believed. He's talking about unbelievers ...all unbelievers ...coming to repentance
@RisingDisciples So Calvinism orders it like this?
Born again
Faith
Righteousness
Which would mean, our spirit is crucified and raised to life (born again) in unrighteousness?
I’d like to see the biblical support for that!
@Barney02073101@HarryNockz@AiG It seems to me there are two fundamental options: Either matter formed itself out of nothing or an eternal all powerful being formed it out of nothing. I guess a third option is that matter has always existed from eternity past.
Do you see other options?
Got blocked by @soothkeep
He believes the church is in heaven in Rev 4. Further, he stated that every believer in the church is promised a throne in heaven.
So I asked: If every believer is promised a throne, why aren't there millions of believers sitting on thrones? (...instead of just the 24 elders)
He wouldn't answer but my answer is: Because the church is not in heaven in Rev 4
There are too many verses that simply say, Believe and be saved ...with no mention of water baptism or any other requirement.
Mark 1:15, Luke 8:12, John 1:12, 3:15-18, 3:36, 5:24, 6:40, 6:47, 11:25, 20:31, Acts 10:43, 1 Jo 5:10-13, etc, etc
Lastly, in Acts 10:44-48:
1st: The people believed
2nd: They were saved (received the Holy Ghost)
3rd: They were baptized
Salvation came before baptism
@Barney02073101@HarryNockz@AiG I'm saying that if you're interested in understanding the origin of matter, one thing you might consider is an eternal, all powerful God ...simply because the laws of science argue against the origin of matter (given the laws of conservation of mass and energy)