Is man restricted to his own Nature?

Not to turn this into a physics class, but Tom is 100% correct. In a microgravity environment, there is no up or down. When in orbit around a great enough mass, objects are in a perpetual state of free fall, not weightlessness.

 

We dichotomists remove one of those choices. Just trying to simplify things.

 

Only to a Pelagian.

 

You are correct about the Bible never failing. But the rest simply is not true.

Your eisegesis is showing.

 

The Bible teaches total depravity.


Ecclesiastes 7:29 - “See, this alone I found, that God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes.”

Romans 5:12,19 - sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned… by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners

Psalm 143:2 - Enter not into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you.

Romans 3:23 - for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God

Romans 3:9-12 - What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

1 John 1:8,10 - If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we say we have not sinned, we make [God] a liar, and his word is not in us

Mark 7:21-23 - “For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

Jeremiah 17:9 - “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”

Matthew 15:19 - “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.”

Genesis 6:5 & 8:21 - The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually… from his youth.

Ephesians 2:3 - we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

1 Corinthians 2:14 - The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

John 3:27 - John answered, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven.”

Romans 9:16 - So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.

Philippians 2:13 - for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure

 

very true indeed!

 

more rubbish!

 

John 5:25, (read in context)

"Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live"

Here we have the words of Jesus Christ, God Incarnate, the Highest Authority on ALL matters! Read very carefully what He says here. The "dead", which is here for the "entire human race", Jesus says, are capable of HEARING the spiritual "voice", through the preaching of the Gospel Message, of Jesus Himself. To be able to "hear", in the inner person, this Gospel, one has to have the capacity to respond, by either "accepting", or "rejecting" this Message. In verses 39-40 in this same chapter, Jesus tells the Jews, that they were "UNWILLING to come to Him" for ETERNAL LIFE, and this was when they were searching the Scriptures! Not, as some have twisted the meaning here, to mean "cannot" come, something that the Greek does NOT allow! For those who suppose that when Jesus says, "when the dead will hear the voice", it means only the "elect", they have a problem! Because what Jesus goes on to say, is "those who hear will live", which clearly says to the honest, open mind, that there are some, who will NOT "hear", or "accept" the Massage of salvation!

This passage from Paul's 2nd Epistle to the Thessalonians, will show what the Bible teaches man is capable of doing, spiritually, which would not be possible, if they were "totally depraved"!

"The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness." (2:9-12)

Notice very carefully. These people who are "perishing", which cannot be the "elect", and here said to do so, NOT because God does not want to save them, BUT, because they "refuse (or reject)" the Truth of the Gospel, "so that they may be saved"! This means that they would have to have a spiritual capacity within them, to "reject" this Gospel. It goes on to show why they will be condemned. "they did not BELIEVE the truth", something that is ONLY of the "spiritual" nature, again, if they were "totally depraved", they could not be guilty of! Not that we "could not believe", as some would corrupt it to mean, but "did not", where the Greek shows it was their CHOICE!

Jesus speaks of the Coming of the Holy Spirit, Who, when He has come, "He will convict the world of sin", that is, "the entire human race", BECAUSE..."they do not believe in Me" (John 16:8-9). Again, not "cannot believe", which is what some would have us believe, but "DO NOT believe", because the CHOOSE not to, which is what the Greek here says!

 

NO, because God created my in His IMAGE, which means that he has moral qualities! We are NOT a bunch of machines! Can you answer my Bible references?

So God gives them "new life" BEFORE they hear the Gospel and are born-again? and then they are "born again", which makes it TWICE, as NEW LIFE is born again!

 

Are you not able to have a discussion without rancor?

Ephesians 4:29English Standard Version (ESV)

29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

If it continues, I will report it.

 

No, I don't think so. I can't imagine Jesus speaking the way you do. Name calling and assaulting a person's character is uncharitable and violates scripture.

 

You can report it if you wish. When people distort the plain teachings of the Holy Bible, because of personal theological bias, and keep posting their "reasoning", then it is quite right to refer to such as "rubbish", as it has NO bearing on what the Bible actually teaches, but is for the promoting of one's "theology", if it can even be called that!

 

Did you read the conversations that Jesus had with the Jews? Where he called them "vipers", etc, etc? And Paul speaks of "doctrines of demons"? I am not alone! There is much heresy and utter nonsense being posted on places like this!

 

You missed all of that scripture I posted? Reformed theology is true.

You can disagree all you want, but I won't allow you to call either myself or the Bible rubbish. Count on it.

 

Show me ONE Scripture that teaches that God "rejects" any sinner, without first giving them the opportunity to repent? If you were to read the Bible without your "reformed theology" understanding, you will see MANY places where God encourages sinners to repent and live, rather than die. He very clearly says in Ezekiel, "Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord GOD, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live?" (18:23). This, my friend is the heart of God, which the "reformed" have distorted by their warped "theology"! Where in this passage, do we read of God simple "rejecting" these sinners? Or, as the Hebrew scholar, Gesenius puts it in his lexicon, "not willing"! God does not WILL the death of the sinful wicked! Ponder on this!

 

Yes. Jesus came for that very purpose.

16And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. 17And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,

18“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
19to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”