Recent content by Hospes

Hi jerry63935. It is disappointing I cannot find a rational connection between your replies and what I post. I actually enjoy a dialog in which two or more people discuss a topic and respond to what one another writes. (On the other hand, I get no pleasure where there is not mutual and...

Oh well...I gave it my best effort. Somewhere along the way, I learned a general rule regarding relationships: If there is no trust, then there is no foundation to have any relationship. If you find that I am dishonest, then I strongly encourage you to stop engaging me. You should feel free to...

I am a big fan of emotions. I desire to fully experience the feelings of love, joy, peace, gratitude, etc. I have listened to a whole sermon on how joy is not a feeling. My response to such a sermon: "meh...you can keep it." And can you imagine explaining to a spouse how deeply you love them...

Let me step you through how to take into consideration context when understanding my reply to jerry63935: Context is everything. He wrote Note that his statement has no mention of total depravity, free will, man's inability to save himself, God's call, or any of the other things you somehow...

As far as I can tell, the words have an obvious meaning. They convey God's volition and disposition and gives reason for His patience. The word used conveys the desire on God's part is a strong desire. Where it used elsewhere in the scriptures it invariably is closely linked to potential or...

No. The way I see it is that God opened my eyes to the beauty of His glory and my need for His mercies. Given what He did, all my resistance to His grace melted away and He caused me to be born again. In that event, you could say that His grace became irresistible. :)

My questions were "If God wills that all come to repentance, then why don't they? Is it that He is incapable of carrying out His own will?" Your answer is "Free will". Can I assume your answer is to my first question? (If so, I'd love to also hear your answer to the second question.) Also, if...

Hmmm....wouldn't it fair to rather write you think you are saved by free will? How'd get the idea I think this? (Really struggling how you get what you get out of what I write.) I realize you believe this, but do understand that people of goodwill may disagree with you? Or is your understanding...

Agreed!. Did I write something that led you to think I did not agree? What a strange question! The last thing you should be concerned with is my view of your salvation! It is all in the hands of Christ and I am sure He is not concerned with what I think on the matter. Furthermore, I can assure...

I agree. In an earlier post, I assert that to love is to value. It seems to me that if a person greatly values something, they enjoy (emotion) it and delight (emotion) in it. Also, if a person greatly loves/values something, they are more than willing to let go of lesser loved/valued things...

Just to stir folks thinking: I've heard people say that love is not an emotion, but rather is a decision. Any thoughts on what is right/wrong on this assertion? (My question is not meant to stir up an argument. It is meant to encourage us to think deeply about the nature of love and encourage...

Usually, when we speak of a work, it is in the context where there is an implied agent doing the work. The article you pointed me to reads i part: To begin with, it helps to remember the definition of faith we learned earlier: Faith is being convinced or persuaded that something is true. As...

We can agree there is, at least in James' thinking, some category of faith called "dead faith" and it is not of any use for salvation. Can we assume there is a type of faith that may be called "live faith"? Is there anything in the Bible that is not consistent with obedience being the result of...

Ask Jesus: Mark 12:28–31 (ESV) And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is...

If it can be commanded, doesn't it have to be a work?