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When were we Chosen?

canadyjd

Well-Known Member
What you are promoting is the calvinist version not the biblical version of salvation.

The only "elect One" prior to creation was Christ Jesus. We are only elect when we have been placed into Christ through faith.
I believe the biblical “version” of election. I have explained why. We don’t have to agree.

Have a nice day

Peace to you
 

Silverhair

Well-Known Member
I believe the biblical “version” of election. I have explained why. We don’t have to agree.

Have a nice day

Peace to you

God foreknowing who will freely trust in Him is not Him picking out who will trust in Him as your view would suggest.

If He picked out those to be saved then He also picked out those that would be lost. In both cases those picked had no option but to fulfill the choices of God. So we have to ask why would He then say His desire was for all to come to repentance? Also why judge men for rejecting Him when he determined that they would? They were just doing what He had determined that they do.
 

th1bill

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
Perhaps I was not deep enough in my comments. Yehovah God created this Rime/Space Continuum, placing Him into a Realm we cannot define. We know there is nothing but truth in Him. Therefore, there is no conflict in the Holy Scriptures, and it is impossible to understand any scripture without the light of all scripture shinning on it and this light is imposed, only by Ruah, (the Holy Spirit.) As per the whole of scripture, it is understood that Yehovah views the beginning and the end, a lesson learned from the Prophetic Writings contained in our Bibles.

All Scripture is truth, all mankind is called to repent and to live life serving Yehovah God, and He inscribed the Book of Life before He created the first man, meaning He is still issuing the call to repent, even today. The scriptures are not in conflict, but are found to be hand in hand,

I pray this is clear now.
 

canadyjd

Well-Known Member
God foreknowing who will freely trust in Him is not Him picking out who will trust in Him as your view would suggest.

If He picked out those to be saved then He also picked out those that would be lost. In both cases those picked had no option but to fulfill the choices of God. So we have to ask why would He then say His desire was for all to come to repentance? Also why judge men for rejecting Him when he determined that they would? They were just doing what He had determined that they do.
Romans 9 answers your questions.

Peace to you
 

canadyjd

Well-Known Member
God foreknowing who will freely trust in Him is not Him picking out who will trust in Him as your view would suggest.
Romans 8 refers to “those He foreknew…” are the ones He chose.

The context does not refer to knowing something about these folks (that they would believe), but rather knowing them in a personal relationship.

To suggest God looked through time, saw who would believe, and then predestined them to salvation, completely distorts the meaning of the word “predestined”.

Peace to you
 

Silverhair

Well-Known Member
Romans 8 refers to “those He foreknew…” are the ones He chose.

The context does not refer to knowing something about these folks (that they would believe), but rather knowing them in a personal relationship.

To suggest God looked through time, saw who would believe, and then predestined them to salvation, completely distorts the meaning of the word “predestined”.

Peace to you

God being Omniscient foreknows all those that will freely trust in Him. He does not have to look through time as you put it.

The bible is clear that "whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son" Does not say predestined them to be saved, that is just you misreading the text.

Knowing that they would freely believe is why He could predestine them to be conformed to the image of His son through the sanctification of the Spirit.
 

canadyjd

Well-Known Member
I do not have any questions as I know what the bible says.
Well, you did ask questions and you don’t know what the Bible teaches. These were the questions you asked
….

If He picked out those to be saved then He also picked out those that would be lost. In both cases those picked had no option but to fulfill the choices of God.
Answer in Romans 9. He has mercy on whom He chooses and He hardens whom He choses
So we have to ask why would He then say His desire was for all to come to repentance? Also why judge men for rejecting Him when he determined that they would? They were just doing what He had determined that they do.
Answer from Romans 9. You will say why does He still find fault? Who can resist His will? Who are you, oh man, who answers back to God.

You are in continuous error because you are ignorant of what scripture teaches, on the one hand, and determined to never allow the truth of scripture to get in the way of your man made philosophy that attempts to hold God to your secular understanding of what is fair.

God chooses individuals for salvation. He also chose the one and only method by which they would come into that right relationship with Himself.

Show me from Romans 9 how I am wrong. Remember, just because you say it doesn’t make it true.

Peace to you
 

Silverhair

Well-Known Member
Well, you did ask questions and you don’t know what the Bible teaches. These were the questions you asked

Answer in Romans 9. He has mercy on whom He chooses and He hardens whom He choses

Answer from Romans 9. You will say why does He still find fault? Who can resist His will? Who are you, oh man, who answers back to God.

You are in continuous error because you are ignorant of what scripture teaches, on the one hand, and determined to never allow the truth of scripture to get in the way of your man made philosophy that attempts to hold God to your secular understanding of what is fair.

God chooses individuals for salvation. He also chose the one and only method by which they would come into that right relationship with Himself.

Show me from Romans 9 how I am wrong. Remember, just because you say it doesn’t make it true.

Peace to you

Not questions but statements.

You have misunderstood Romans 9. But I do not expect much from you in regard too the truth of scripture. You give the calvinist story line as if it were the truth but it is a flawed version of the word of God.

Just because I do not accept your calvinist explanation of scripture does not mean I am ignorant of what scripture teaches rather it just means I am not willing to believe a philosophy based on pagan teaching from the 4th century.

Read Romans 9 without your calvinist glasses and you will see your errors.

The Romans 9 passage is Paul’s answer to the Jewish objections of, ‘Why must one believe in Jesus if one is physically descended from Abraham, given God’s blessings on Abraham?’ and also, ‘How can it be that God will show favour on the Gentiles?’ Rom. 9 accentuates that belief in God is for salvation, not physical, descended merit.

Rom 9:30 What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith;
Rom 9:31 but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law.
Rom 9:32 Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone,

You should take your own advise "Remember, just because you say it doesn’t make it true."
 

Tea

Active Member
God being Omniscient foreknows all those that will freely trust in Him.

God is omniscient and foreknew that unless He intervened, nobody ever would freely trust in Him by their own volition.

That’s why it’s necessary that He choose to save some so as not to allow the entirety of humanity to perish.
 

canadyjd

Well-Known Member
Not questions but statements.

You have misunderstood Romans 9. But I do not expect much from you in regard too the truth of scripture. You give the calvinist story line as if it were the truth but it is a flawed version of the word of God.

Just because I do not accept your calvinist explanation of scripture does not mean I am ignorant of what scripture teaches rather it just means I am not willing to believe a philosophy based on pagan teaching from the 4th century.

Read Romans 9 without your calvinist glasses and you will see your errors.

The Romans 9 passage is Paul’s answer to the Jewish objections of, ‘Why must one believe in Jesus if one is physically descended from Abraham, given God’s blessings on Abraham?’ and also, ‘How can it be that God will show favour on the Gentiles?’ Rom. 9 accentuates that belief in God is for salvation, not physical, descended merit.

Rom 9:30 What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith;
Rom 9:31 but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law.
Rom 9:32 Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone,

You should take your own advise "Remember, just because you say it doesn’t make it true."
But you didn’t address the answer to your question, which you did ask, not statements.

Why does He still find fault, who can resist His will? Who are you, oh man, that talks back to God.

Not surprising you cannot address these passages. They answer your questions and you don’t like the answer scripture very clearly gives, so you ignore these passages and deflect away.

That’s alright, we will always disagree. I will follow the teachings of scripture. You will follow scripture until it conflicts with your secular, man made philosophy of what is fair.

Peace to you
 

Silverhair

Well-Known Member
God is omniscient and foreknew that unless He intervened, nobody ever would freely trust in Him by their own volition.

That’s why it’s necessary that He choose to save some so as not to allow the entirety of humanity to perish.

Tea as I have said numerous times on this board God in omniscient and foreknows all those that will freely trust in Him for their salvation.

God has used various means to draw man to Himself creation, conviction of sin, the gospel message, etc. But it is still man that has to respond to those various means Tea. God does not force them to trust in Him as your DoG/TULIP suggests.

Calvinism requires that God force man to come to Him via Irresistible Grace. That is not a biblical view Tea.

The Calvinist/Reformed {C/R} theology has made the good faith offer of salvation moot. If, according to C/R, you are not part of this select group then you are doomed form the start. And on top of that God has even decreed just the way you will act out your sinful life and then condemns you for it.
 

Silverhair

Well-Known Member
But you didn’t address the answer to your question, which you did ask, not statements.

Why does He still find fault, who can resist His will? Who are you, oh man, that talks back to God.

Not surprising you cannot address these passages. They answer your questions and you don’t like the answer scripture very clearly gives, so you ignore these passages and deflect away.

That’s alright, we will always disagree. I will follow the teachings of scripture. You will follow scripture until it conflicts with your secular, man made philosophy of what is fair.

Peace to you

You do need to learn how to read @canadyjd.

When you take of those calvinist glasses and read all of Romans 9 you will find that your cherry picking of verses or words does not support the flawed view you hold.

Rom_9:6-29 does not teach unconditional election. When studied in its context, the passage clearly is seen to deal with the question of the circumstance of Israel, rather than the personal salvation of the individual. Paul's argument affirms only that God as sovereign Creator is free to order all things as He pleases and to bestow or deny favors as He chooses without becoming answerable to men.
The extended passage shows that the basis of Israel's fall (and thus of election of some and hardening of others) is unbelief; but that the fall is not final, that there is a remnant, that they are not beyond recovery if they will turn from unbelief (Rom_9:30 - Rom_11:36).

Paul tells us that no one is truly Israel unless he is governed by God. Although the Jews were God's chosen people, we see that for now He has chosen others on the basis of Grace - not race. We have a parallel situation with the word ‘Christian.’ Not everyone who is called a Christian is truly a follower of Christ.

@canadyjd as long as you continue to ignore context you will continue to misunderstand the word of God. You will continue to hold to your 4th century philosophy and I will hold to the word of God.

So you are correct in that we will not agree.
 

Tea

Active Member
@Silverhair

You still seem to be missing the biblical concept of free will. Prior to regeneration, a person is only free to persist in rebelling against God. Once regeneration occurs, a person is free to choose to follow God.

That’s biblical.

You continue to insist that man possesses a morally neutral free will to choose to follow or reject God independently.

That’s not biblical.

I’ve asked you before to show me verses to support your view. You’ve mentioned many, such as Acts 16:31, Romans 10:9, etc…

You’re not putting that together with the fact that God must first change a person’s nature so that they can respond favorably to the call to repent and believe.

Acts 16:14 (ESV)
One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.

It’s so clear, and it’s a shame that you can’t see what’s right in front of your eyes.
 

Silverhair

Well-Known Member
@Silverhair

You still seem to be missing the biblical concept of free will. Prior to regeneration, a person is only free to persist in rebelling against God. Once regeneration occurs, a person is free to choose to follow God.

That’s biblical.

You continue to insist that man possesses a morally neutral free will to choose to follow or reject God independently.

That’s not biblical.

I’ve asked you before to show me verses to support your view. You’ve mentioned many, such as Acts 16:31, Romans 10:9, etc…

You’re not putting that together with the fact that God must first change a person’s nature so that they can respond favorably to the call to repent and believe.

Acts 16:14 (ESV)
One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.

It’s so clear, and it’s a shame that you can’t see what’s right in front of your eyes.

@Tea You still seem to be missing the biblical concept of free will.

Either man has a free will or all his choices are determined.

You continue to ignore the flaws in that calvinist theory Tea.

Jos 24:15 "If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve:

Joh 7:16 “My teaching is not My own,” Jesus replied. “It comes from Him who sent Me.
Joh 7:17 If anyone desires to do His will, he will know whether My teaching is from God or whether I speak on My own.

Deu 4:29 But if from there you will seek the LORD your God, you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.

Heb 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.

Sure looks like free will to trust in God prior to being saved.

Calvinists have it backwards
"A man is not saved because he believes in Christ, he believes in Christ because he is saved" Calvinist Loraine Boettner

So you have just decided to ignore the verses that support a man's free will and then point to Act 16:14 as support. But did you not notice that it says she was "a worshiper of God". When she listened to Paul she came to know of Christ Jesus.

Look at the text for yourself. It does NOT say that God opened her heart to believe. “To believe” is an assumption, added by Calvinists. What it does say is that she already worshiped G4576 God.


Lydia had become a believer in Israel's God and, as a Gentile, was classified as a God-fearer as was Cornelius Act_10:1-2
(Act_13:16, Act_13:26, Act_13:50). That is, the Jews had not fully accepted her as a convert.

It’s so clear, and it’s a shame that you can’t see what’s right in front of your eyes. You are letting a 4th century philosophy distort the word of God.
 

Tea

Active Member
Either man has a free will or all his choices are determined.

The natural person has the freedom to make choices that align with their own desires, and God has the authority to determine how He will utilize those choices to align with His own desires.

Sure looks like free will to trust in God prior to being saved.

Man can only choose for themselves to seek and believe in God after they have been given a desire to do so.


Calvinists have it backwards
"A man is not saved because he believes in Christ, he believes in Christ because he is saved"

I disagree with whoever said that. Being chosen will inevitably result in salvation, but salvation doesn’t happen until a person believes in Christ.

So you have just decided to ignore the verses that support a man's free will and then point to Act 16:14 as support.

It is actually you who ignores verses when you skip ahead to the Philippian jailer, assuming he had the freedom to choose to believe, even though it was established earlier in the chapter that God must open the heart.

It does NOT say that God opened her heart to believe. “To believe” is an assumption, added by Calvinists. What it does say is that she already worshiped G4576 God.

Nobody is asserting that because God opened her heart, that atomically caused her to believe. But He did give her a new nature, and with that, a desire to believe.

Are you suggesting that she had some kind of special revelation because she was worshipping through the law?

You are letting a 4th century philosophy distort the word of God.

You continue to harp on 4th-century philosophy when I’ve already provided evidence in another thread that Christians understood unconditional election to be true well before Augustine.
 

Silverhair

Well-Known Member
You still seem to be missing the biblical concept of free will. Prior to regeneration, a person is only free to persist in rebelling against God. Once regeneration occurs, a person is free to choose to follow God.
You seem to be confused as to what regeneration means Tea.
In theology, new birth by the grace of God Webster

The new birth and "regeneration" do not represent successive stages in spiritual experience, they refer to the same event Vine NT

So you have people saved prior them knowing God and choosing to follow Him.

But the bible does not agree with your view
Eph 2:8 For it is by grace you have been saved through faith
The natural person has the freedom to make choices that align with their own desires, and God has the authority to determine how He will utilize those choices to align with His own desires.
Under your calvinist view God determines all the choices that man will make. The man has no ability to make independent choices.

You keep forgetting your LBCF
"God hath decreed in himself, from all eternity, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely and unchangeably, all things, whatsoever comes to pass;"

So your comment does not hold water Tea.
Man can only choose for themselves to seek and believe in God after they have been given a desire to do so.
Well since God desires all men to turn and trust in Him then it would seem that God has given all men the ability to turn and trust in Him. That is unless God is just being less than honest or perhaps He did not get the calvinist memo.

Your version of God even judges those that do not turn and trust in Him which if they can only do so if God gives them that desire really calls into question the character of the God you are referring to.

Yopu are presenting an unbiblical view Tea.
I disagree with whoever said that. Being chosen will inevitably result in salvation, but salvation doesn’t happen until a person believes in Christ.
Then you cannot be a calvinist Tea. If you say you are then you are a really confused one.

There you go falling back to that errant view again Tea. We can be chosen for service but we are only saved when we have freely trusted in God not before. When we are in the "Elect One" then we are one of the elect not before.

It is actually you who ignores verses when you skip ahead to the Philippian jailer, assuming he had the freedom to choose to believe, even though it was established earlier in the chapter that God must open the heart.
Tea nothing has been established except that the jailer responded to the gospel message and freely asked “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” He responded to one of the various means that God used to draw man to Himself.

The calvinist's want to ignore what God does to draw all men. Do you think Christ was wrong when He said he would draw "All Men"? Or are you going to tell me that All actually means Some?

Nobody is asserting that because God opened her heart, that atomically caused her to believe. But He did give her a new nature, and with that, a desire to believe.

Are you suggesting that she had some kind of special revelation because she was worshipping through the law?
Act 16:14 Among those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message.

Excuse me but where do you see "He did give her a new nature" in that text. You are reading your preconceived views into the text Tea. Lydia was already a worshiper of God and what Paul did was point here to the reality of Christ Jesus.

So were Paul, John, Peter and all the other Jews. Not all that hear the message will accept it, they did not then and they do not now. But according to the calvinist view the only reason that any reject it is because God has determined that they would.

That is not a biblical view but calvinists seem to be quite comfortable with it.

You continue to harp on 4th-century philosophy when I’ve already provided evidence in another thread that Christians understood unconditional election to be true well before Augustine.
Actually you have not Tea. Clement, according to the text you provided did not support your view.

I keep pointing all you calvinists back to Augustine and the pagan philosophy that he brought into the church and which Calvin and later calvinists have just carried forward to today.

Why anyone would support a philosophy that has pagan teaching in it is a puzzle to me. You are casting away the word of God.

God destroyed the pagan cultures and now calvinism has brought those teachings into the church.
 
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