Does "all" mean "all"?

Yelsew, you said "Yet, you want God to keep on giving that which is already yours. You don't want to take the responsibility for hearing the word of God and developing your own faith in the Christ which is the required faith in God. That is a cowardly way to look at it. "

Actually, Yelsew, Christ is "the author AND finisher" of our faith. Not only, as God, is He the creator, but there IS MORE.

You suggest I am a coward for recognizing my own condition and saying that my salvation must be all of grace. However, my position, in addition to being borne out in scripture, also recognizes God as the author and finisher of all that is good in my life.

I would much rather have this "cowardly" view than to foolishly turn my back on Scripture, see myself as greater and more capable than I am, and credit myself, not only for my own salvation, but also the maintanence of it!

 

OK, define what you mean by, and what all is included in "author and finisher".

Are you saying that I have nothing to do with the faith that if have?

Are you saying that I need do nothing in order to get, have, and keep faith in God?

Are you saying that my Faith is something over which I have no control?

Are you saying that if I chose to do so, and I never will, turn my back on my faith in God, rejecting it, that I am still saved in spite of my self?

If I am an "elect", I don't even need a bible do I? I don't need to hear the word of God because I am an elect and WILL BE Saved! Afterall for centuries after Christ, there were no bibles, only Christians and a collection of letters a few of which contained the only words we have that are attributed to Jesus.

So for the 1st millennium and 500 years after Christ, how did people know they were the elect? Those who had faith didn't get it from the Word of God that the Catholic church kept to its self. Wasn't it all word of mouth? Wasn't it one person telling another person about Jesus and the hearer coming to faith or not based upon what was told?

If the person being told was not an elect but believed anyway, isn't that "just as good as" being "an elect"?