Just what are you?

David the king had free will. What did he chose? Murder, lying, coveted his neighbors wife and idolatry for sure, yet it is written; I have found David the [son] of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will.

I guess deep down in his heart David must have had a heart for God or was God saying here that you chose Saul to be king over you and he would not do what I told him to do therefore it is in my heart to choose David and he will do what I tell him to do. Along with some of the things he has his heart set on IMHO.

 

So, in other words, man is more free as lost than as saved? When lost, man is still able to "choose" between God and not-God. However, once man chooses God, he is stuck?

I thought we were in the greater bondage before salvation.

Rom 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Rom 5:9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
Rom 5:10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
Rom 5:11 And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.

 

I really don't know if you can put a label on what I believe. I believe that the blood of Christ is the only thing that makes us clean.

I believe that through His death, burial, and resurrection, it gives us all a right back to the Tree of Life(Jesus).

I believe that repentance is necessary prior to salvation.

I believe that those who are truly saved, will not turn back.

I believe that He will offer salvation to all mankind, but only those who accept, will be saved.

I believe that we are born alive, and only after God imputes sin unto us, that we die spiritually, and then we are Totally Depraved and unable to save ourselves.

I believe that faith precedes salvation.

I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

I believe that Jesus died for my sins.

I know I am saved, and when He calls me, I am going home!!

i am I am's!!

Willis

PS In the FWIW category, I do hold to four points of the "A" theology, if I can remember them correctly. I don't believe anyone of His can fall once He has saved them!!

 

:thumbsup::thumbsup:

Thanks for sharing Willis

 

My words were plain enough without your commentary.

Yes, man is dead in sin until the Holy Spirit enlightens him through the preaching of the Gospel; then man either accepts or rejects salvation found in Jesus Christ.

 

Brother you may have your Soteriology in pretty good order but you miss the boat totally here. Gomer represents Israel as the adulterous wife of Jehovah and the loving kindness that her Husband has had for her irregardless. Gomer is one of several such allegories given in the OT that depicts Israel as a harlot wife leading up to the GREAT HARLOT of Rev 17 (same thing, the adulterous OT wife of Jehovah).

 

I thought in the end the husband took Gomer back?

 

In the end (of the Old Covenant) the adulterous wife of Jehovah kills Him.

 

Interesting. I do believe you see much truth in this, although it may not be the main plot.

I wish to, gonna try to, come back to this. My time is consumed with other things right now. Sorry it took me so long to reply with this.

 

It is good to ask a question like this but I would say that this one is insufficient in its choices. It only deals with one aspect of how we believe the Bible, and that is: Where do we stand in the free-will & sovereignty debate.

But what is almost untouched upon is our belief of the nature of God's time, as well as the timing of it. Preterism vs. Futurism vs. (fill in the blank).

This issue is not just one of eschatology but deeply effects all the rest of how we believe the Bible.

For the record: I am a Preterist who would be called "Reformed" or "Calvinist" - though I dislike both of those labels for diffferent reasons.

 

I spend almost all of my time with people I meet with each week to spend their time focusing on Jesus the author and perfecter of faith. Scripture does nto say to focus on your theology. The point is that we are to become like Christ not a theology.

 

Scripture says this in Mark 12:29-31

"Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one.
And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment.
And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Just focusing on Jesus is not enough if we do not have the right Jesus. Or, if we do have the right Jesus, but refuse to get to know Him better in the way He has revealed Himself. If we do all of what these verses say we will assure ourselves that we will more likely have a proper balance. Especially if we love our neighbors as ourselves.

Part of that balance ("with all your mind") is learning more and more about Jesus, His Word, His nature, His person, Trinity, etc. This necessarily will teach us certain truths. Those truths are bound to be named as some type of "ism" or another. This is theology. It cannot be avoided. It is actually a good thing - in its place.

We consent to certain labels as a courtesy to others, and as a shorthand way of describing those things we have learned. The labels in themselves are not bad, though they are almost always inadequate.

I always roll my eyes when someone plays the "Well, I just love Jesus" or the "You can have your man's theology. Just give me the Bible" cards.

Please.

 

Greetings brother Tom!

Just for the record (you don't have to respond) isn't this what each of us says in our heart believing our own view to be the correct view?

HankD

 

Greetings to you too, brother.

Yes, most of us do this to some degree. The above response is only bad when it is employed as an end-of-discussion discussion terminator.

 

Agreed.

HankD