Continued from
post 2,169
God does not force His will on anyone.
A true friend is a friend freely, not because I have the ability to impose it on him.
In the following Scripture, we find the Apostle Paul proclaiming that God does force His will on anyone - the exact opposite of what you wrote. A true friend of God acknowledges the exclusive Power of God.
The Bondage Of A Man's Will
Free-willians, in a respect, are correct that "there's no difference between self will and free will", and that respect is that both self will and free will lead to hell.
Now, instead of listening to themselves lie with things like "Free will is all through the scriptures", they need to listen to Apostolic testimony as shown below.
Peter the Apostle wrote that prior to being saved, people have a self will that brings such people under damnation with the devil according to the Apostle Peter (2 Peter 2:9-10).
Paul the Apostle wrote that after being saved, people have a will that is bound under the loving control of God according to the Apostle Paul (Philippians 2:13).
Here's Paul from the Bible, again. Overall, Paul uses free will as illusory instead of concrete in Philemon 1:14 - and this is the only occurrence of "free will" that I am aware of in the New American Standard Bible New Testament.
Free-willians do not have a free will, as described by Paul.
Free-willians do have a self will, as described by Peter.
Free-willians gleefully separate themselves from God's will and the Christ of us Christians Who says "you did not choose Me, but I chose you" (John 15:16) and "I chose you out of the world" (John 15:19). We Christians in God's Spirit have a will bound enthusiastically in joy and love to God by God for God through God, as described by Paul.
The above mentioned Apostolic testimony verbatim:
- "the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority; daring, self-willed, they do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties" (2 Peter 2:9-10).
]*]"it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13).
- "but without your consent I did not want to do anything, so that your goodness would not be, in effect, by compulsion but of your own free will" (Philemon 1:14).
We Christians are saved by God's grace, for God's glory, and we joyfully engage in embrace with our Friend Jesus!
What an insult to an almighty and sovereign God that anyone would believe that HE must choose us and force His will upon us to love Him and obey Him !
What an insult toward God by a person to reject the Lord God Almighty's precious Word of God:
- "you did not choose Me, but I chose you" (Lord Jesus Christ, John 15:16), so God chooses people to be friends (John 15:15, the prior verse) and to believe (John 6:29) and to be born again (John 3:3-8) and for righteous works (John 3:21, John 15:5) and to repent (Matthew 11:25) and to love (John 13:34) and unto salvation (John 15:19 the same passage).
- "I chose you out of the world" (Lord Jesus Christ, John 15:19, includes salvation), so God exclusively chooses people unto salvation.
- "What I say to you I say to all" (Lord Jesus Christ, Mark 13:37 - Jesus had taken the Apostles Peter, Andrew, James, and John aside in private and said this), so all the blessings of God mentioned above are to all believers in all time.
No Scripture states man was imparted the ability to free-will choose God.
The only way for free-willian philosophers to acheive free-will is for free-willians to add to the Word of God, and it is written "do not add to His words or He will reprove you, and you will be proved a liar" (
Proverbs 30:6).
What a sinful insult against Christ for the creature to declare that the Grand Creator God is less than the Word of God declaration of the Lord God Almighty being the absolute loving Sovereign, even Sovereign in every aspect of man's salvation (John 1:3, Daniel 4:34-35, Psalm 27:1).[/b}