canadyjd said:
Who is able to know the mind of God in such matters? "His good pleasure", rejects any notion of human comprehension concerning "why" He elects some and not others.
Not why, how... And his good pleasure does not say that he did it this way or the other. God spoke to us in the language of men, the word "choice/ selection / election are dependent upon criteria for its fulfillment. You proclaim a mystery here, yet you proclaim to know that mystery when you say that God's good pleasure included nothing in us. You pull this information (out of context) from passages that describe God's selection of Jacob over Esau. But clearly the criteria that fulfilled God's pleasure in this scenario is that the elder shall serve the younger. God chose this criterion to exhibit his sovereignty in that he had already claimed the first born as consecrated unto him. Not that one was better than the other; being first born is the criteria that appeased god's pleasure...
All we can do is agree with what God has revealed in His Word. It is according to His good pleasure, His will. God does not answer to you or to me.
Good enough....
1 John 2:2
And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
Do you agree, or do you need to tweak this one a tad?
If we find out that the good pleasure of God is "random selection" (I don't believe it is), then who are you to question the motives of God? "His good pleasure" reveals to us the reasons are hidden in the wisdom of God, unknown to men.
If hidden, based on what criteria do you eliminate random selection? On what criteria do you eliminate faith as the criteria that God chose faith as the attribute that appeased his pleasure, and then said whosoever will, let him come. {Not my faith... "Faith". My faith is corrupted, but faith as presented by God is uncorrupted.} Remember, it's a mystery, you can neither affirm nor deny either concept...
The question becomes, "do you trust scripture". If you trust scripture, you will believe what it says, and not ignore passages that contradict the things you want to believe.
Again, OK...
John 3:16 (King James Version)
16For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Again do you believe, or do you first need to tweak this to fit what you want to believe....
The volitional expression of one's will as being enslaved to sin, and therefore unable to seek God without God's intervention is prevalent throughout scripture.
Perhaps you forgot:
Luke 4:18
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
Luke 4:17-19 (in Context) Luke 4 (Whole Chapter)
raying:
