Featured How can a man “lose his soul”?

Your supposed free choice of which master to serve is not a free choice if you are obligated to choose.

 

I, with the help of Satan, resisted until the Holy Spirit enlightened me to my need for a Savior. I was compelled, by the condemning power of the Holy Spirit, to accept Jesus Christ as my savior.

It was not a result of my (non-existent) freewill.

 

Obligated! With out God we would not exist or, have a choice. To me it's a no brainer yet it's inescapable because it's still a choice. With out choice there would be no Love. It's the choosing.that is the act of love. We either love God or sin

I chose Christ, because of what He did for me. He died for me so that I might live. Yes I am obligated and my service is the least I can do.
MB

 

Wesley, I am not trying to be argumentative but I am stymied as to how do you not understand what I have written. I am going to give it one more try and then I am done.

When I use the phrase "we believe freely" it is based on clear biblical grounds. First, I understand the condition of man prior to regeneration. Man is dead in his trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1; Colossians 2:13). Because of the effects of sin, the sinner is unable to respond to the outward call of the gospel (Romans 3:9-12, 8:7; 1 Corinthians 2:14). God the Holy Spirit first quickens the heart of the sinner making it possible for him to believe. At that moment the will of man is set free from the bondage of sin. When this happens the individual is no longer an enemy of God that is unable and unwilling to come to Him. The individual is being drawn by the Holy Spirit. Mankind was created to have intimate fellowship with God. That fellowship was interrupted at the Fall through Adam's sin. Even though every human being born of Adam was born in a fallen state, they still remained a spiritual creature. Just look at unbelievers today. So many of them are looking for meaning in life. They are trying to fill that spiritual void that exists because of sin. They even try to fill it with religion but a religion that is without the power of God.

When the Holy Spirit illumines the mind of the sinner to understand the gospel, that person will always respond by believing (faith). This is the effectual call of the elect. Can sinners who are not called by the Holy Spirit understand the gospel? Yes. They can understand it intellectually but intellectual knowledge is not enough. This is where my Synergist friends and I disagree and given the temperature of some of these threads the disagreements are not for the fainthearted. So, if the sinner who is called by the Holy Spirit will always respond by believing, is that believing under compulsion or is it done freely? The now-former-sinner believes freely but this is not the same as the free will our Synergist brethren purport. The will of the former sinner has been set free. It wants nothing more than to set its affections on Christ. Yes. The effectual call is irresistible but that does not mean the former sinner is not coming to Christ expectantly, freely. The early Reformers understood this. So did Gill, Bunyan, Spurgeon, and Dagg.

Freely believing is not the same thing as the Synergist version of free will. Respectfully, I believe this is where your error lies. You seem to be so resistant to the idea of free will that you miss the liberating work of the Holy Spirit on the will of man and the resulting change of affection from self (sin) to God.

I will say no more on this because an endless back and forth will be unprofitable.