Scripture also shows that the unsaved man can seek God.
Matt 5:6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
This has to be the unsaved, because Jesus said those that come to him will never hunger or thirst.
John 6:35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.
Horrible exegesis. Where does the hunger and thirst come from? From God. Notice he says they are "blessed" (by God).
Also: you cannot put two different parables, sayings, or analolgies together from different parts of scripture. The context of Matthew 5:6, is to the saved: Jesus is explaining how to "live out" the Christian life, NOT telling them how to be saved: THAT IS WORKS RIGHTEOUSNESS!
The second, in John, is referring to the eternal reward of the believer. It is a direct allusion to Isaiah 49:10, which is specifically speaking of Heaven.
Paul said that unsaved men seek God.
Acts 17:24 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
25 Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;
26 And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;
27 That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:
"the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him" is set in the realm of Natural Revelation. In context, Paul is referring to their idol worship: just keep reading:
"we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man.
Act 17:30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.."
This "groping around" or "feeling around" (actually, the Greek word means to manipulate) is an innaproprate search for God: a Pagan thing. Scripture does not contradict scripture: and scripture firmly declares:
Rom 3:10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
Rom 3:11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
You do know what "none" means, right? So
Apparently only for those who have English as a second language..:laugh:It's amazing, every single point of TULIP is unscriptural.