Featured Spiritual Ability of the Lost

1) Why did Jesus speak in parables in Matthew 13, if the lost could not hear and understand the milk of the gospel?

Answer Matthew 13 "10 And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” 11 ]Jesus answered them, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. 12 For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. 13 Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.

Jesus spoke in parables without providing an explanation to prevent them from seeing, hearing and understanding. Thus they had some spiritual ability that had to be countered by using parables.

2) Why did God harden the hearts of the disbelieving Jews in Romans 11, if they were already unable to respond to the gospel.

Answer Romans 11 "
7 What then? What Israel is seeking, it has not obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it, and the rest were hardened;
8 just as it is written,
“God gave them a spirit of stupor,
Eyes to see not and ears to hear not,
Down to this very day.”

9 And David says,
“Let their table become a snare and a trap,
And a stumbling block and a retribution to them.
10 “Let their eyes be darkened to see not,
And bend their backs forever.”

Scripture says God prevented the unbelieving Jews from seeing, hearing and understanding, which means they had that capacity before God hardened them.

Again, IMHO, it is obvious that Jesus spoke in parables and God hardened hearts to prevent the lost from using their limited autonomous will to respond to the gospel.

Can the lost understand all spiritual things? Nope They can understand and respond affirmatively to spiritual milk, the fundamentals of the gospel, but cannot understand spiritual solid food (meat) because that is discerned only with the aid of our indwelt "helper."

 

Note how this poster rewrites 1 Corinthians 2:14 according to the agenda driven mistranslation of the NIV. Go figure.
And also how 1 Corinthians 3:1 is rewritten, with the phrase "as to men of flesh" expunged.
This is all they have, repeated efforts to rewrite scripture to avoid the obvious truth their doctrines are false.

 

Luke 13:24 NASB
“Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able."

Now put on your thinking caps, folks, and ask yourselves, how is it that many will seek to enter eternal life if they "cannot understand/accept things that come from the Spirit of God?"

According to the very words of Christ, many of the lost can understand and accept the spiritual milk of the gospel and seek to find salvation perhaps by works or by faith.

Once again it is obvious to anyone who actually reads scripture that the doctrine in total spiritual inability of all the lost is bogus.

 

Luke 10:2 NASB
And He was saying to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore plead with the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.

Now put on your thinking caps, folks, as ask yourselves, how is it that the harvest in plentiful, if the lost suffers from total spiritual inability? How would more "laborers" (witnesses for the gospel of Christ) increase the harvest? Do not deny the obvious.

 

Once again Calvinism's defense requires saying on one hand, no lost person ever seeks God at any time, and then because when they do seek God it is always by works.

 

LOL, yet another effort to derail actual discussion of biblical teachings.
Did I say RR was quoting? Nope, so FIB number one. Did I say according to the NIV translation? You bet.

1 Corinthians 2:14 NIV
The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.​

And what did RR post?

The unspiritual (those without the Spirit) cannot understand/accept things that come from the Spirit of God.

Note that the NIV mistranslates the verse by adding "that come" to alter the message and make it applicable to everything from the Spirit of God. Not how it actually reads...
​

 

Did I say RR quoted the NIV. Nope for the second time. Duh
Did RR use the same bogus phrase of the NIV? You bet
Does RR fib? You bet, twice is the snippet quoted above alone!
1) According does not mean "quote in full" or "amplified and explained." It means consistent with, and it was as the phrases were identical.
2) Did RR misrepresent 1 Corinthians 2:14 by adding "that come" to his presentation? You be
3) Special Note, the claim RR does not Fib obvious is also a fib.

 

I think you are avoiding the fact Jesus spoke in parables in order to fulfill prophecy. Duh

Note what Matthew 13 says would happen if he did not speak in parables! They would understand! So all this "they were in that condition (unable to understand) already" is nonsense and indicates you did not actually study that part of the chapter.

 

You be = you bet. Sorry that typo was so confusing for you.
I did not just say, I demonstrated the rewrite added "that come" which is not in the text. "the things" does not mean the same as the things that come.

Instead of "the things" of the Spirit of God, how about I do as the NIV does, without italics to identify the addition, and offer the spiritual solid food (meat) of the Spirit of God.

 

I think you are avoiding the fact Jesus spoke in parables in order to fulfill prophecy. Duh

Note what Matthew 13 says would happen if he did not speak in parables! They would understand! So all this "they were in that condition (unable to understand) already" is nonsense and indicates you did not actually study that part of the chapter.

Matthew 13:14-15
“And in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says,

‘YOU SHALL KEEP ON LISTENING, BUT SHALL NOT UNDERSTAND;
AND YOU SHALL KEEP ON LOOKING, BUT SHALL NOT PERCEIVE;
FOR THE HEART OF THIS PEOPLE HAS BECOME DULL,
WITH THEIR EARS THEY SCARCELY HEAR,
AND THEY HAVE CLOSED THEIR EYES,
OTHERWISE THEY MIGHT SEE WITH THEIR EYES,
HEAR WITH THEIR EARS,
UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEART, AND RETURN,
AND I WOULD HEAL THEM.’​