Featured How do I do that?

Well, Luke 16 shows that men can refuse to believe even a miracle, Abraham said that if the rich man's brothers did not believe Moses and the prophets, neither will they believe if someone rose from the dead.

And Jesus showed in John chapter 20 that a person can believe even if they have not seen him as Thomas did.

This shows faith is a choice. It is a judgment, whether God is truthful or not. We are told that Sarah received strength, because she "judged him faithful who promised".

Heb 11:11 Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.

Now, if you remember, Sarah did not believe the first time she heard she would have a child, but laughed.

Gen 18:11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.
12 Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?
13 And the LORD said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old?
14 Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.
15 Then Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not; for she was afraid. And he said, Nay; but thou didst laugh.

Sarah did not believe when she first received the promise, but sometime after that was persuaded God is faithful and would fulfill his promise to her.

The point is, the scriptures could not rightfully command us to believe if we have no control over it. It would be unjust to punish a man for unbelief if he could not believe as some falsely teach.

No, the scriptures say God has shown all men enough evidence to believe, so all men are without excuse.

Rom 1:20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

Romans 1:20 says that though God be invisible, the evidence for God is "clearly seen" and is "understood" by the things that are made, so that all men are without excuse.

So, unbelief is a choice.

But what is belief? What does it mean to believe on Jesus? Did the men in Matthew 7 believe in Jesus?

Mat 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

Were these men atheists like those persons in Romans 1? NO, they believed in Jesus and called him "Lord, Lord".

So why weren't they saved?

 

OK.

Well, those verses are worded in such a way as to give an impression. Mark 16:16 does say that those that believe AND are baptized will be saved. Now, I do not believe you have to be baptized to be saved, but I can understand how some folks would believe that verse is saying that.

Now, if we all have to have perfect doctrine to be saved, we are ALL in big trouble. I believe the Lord will be understanding and lenient toward folks who interpret Mark 16:16 to be teaching that baptism is necessary.

I disagree. Abraham clearly says that if these five brothers do not believe Moses and the prophets, then neither will they believe if someone went to them from the dead. The problem is not that God has not provided enough evidence for them to believe, God clearly says ALL men are without excuse in Romans 1:20. No, the problem is the WILL, these men are not willing to believe no matter what.

I mean, what would you do with Pharaoh? Are you telling me he did not have enough evidence from Moses to be convinced and persuaded he was from God? How many people have you seen turn a rod of wood into a serpent? How many people have you seen strike the rivers with his rod and turn the rivers into blood?

I am pretty sure I would believe the very first miracle, but Pharaoh REFUSED to believe.

Ok, so your Mom made a mistake, that doesn't mean everybody else is always mistaken.

Sure you do, our whole justice system depends on this. The prosecution presents a case to try to convince you a person committed a crime, the defense presents a defense to prove the defendant did not commit the crime.

Lots of times the prosecution is very good and convinces the jury the defendant is guilty and the man goes to jail. Years later DNA proves the prosecution was wrong and the man innocent.

According to your view, no one would ever falsely go to jail, because a person can only be persuaded by reality.

No, when we decide if the defendant is guilty or not, we are making a choice of whose story we believe. We are TRUSTING that evidence presented to us.

And that is what faith is, it is a choice, it is a TRUSTING. We are taking God at his word and depending on him to fulfill his promises to us.

It most certainly is not, the scriptures themselves tell us to choose whom we serve. God says of evil men that they did not "choose the fear of the LORD".

Pro 1:29 For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:

God does not make mistakes, he knew exactly what he was saying when he said these evil men did not "choose" the fear of the LORD.

If we are responsible to believe, then we have control over whether we believe or not. This is why Calvinism is error, if unregenerate men CANNOT believe, then they are not guilty.

A judgment is a decision. And how did the jury find? "Guilty your honor."

And people change their opinion in a trial all the time. Why? Because they hear new evidence, or simply because someone will argue the evidence in another way. There was a famous movie called "12 Angry Men" that documents this. Fantastic movie.

Not necessarily. The man may think he is in some Hollywood movie simulator and he is being deceived.

In fact, that is what these flat earth folks believe about the moon landings. They think it was all done in a studio somewhere and is fake.

You see, you can decide whether you believe evidence or not. Abraham told the rich man that even if one went from the dead to his five brothers, they would not believe.

Luk 16:31 And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.

 

No, I didn't purposely leave out that scripture, but we can't always show everything here, I try to show only what is necessary to make my point, and leave out other scripture for brevity only. It is difficult to read long posts.

The Ethiopian eunuch was obviously a religious man who believed the OT scriptures he was reading. I get the impression he was a very good and very devout man. The fact that he struggled with scripture shows he truly and sincerely wanted to understand God's word. So, it is fairly safe to assume he had read the scriptures often, and had a pretty good grasp on the OT. It is easy for us to understand OT prophesy about Christ NOW, but this scripture was a mystery to believers at that time, kind of like the book of Revelation is to us now.

We can't say for certain how long Philip spent with him explaining the scriptures, perhaps it was several hours.

Still, the eunuch was able to put two and two together and understand the OT prophecies when they were explained to him by Philip. He understood these prophecies were about Jesus who came and died for our sins. And he believed Jesus truly was the promised Christ the Jews all knew about and expected.

But belief was instant. It is not some long drawn out process. Philip told the eunuch he must believe with all his heart to be baptized. When the eunuch confessed that Jesus was the Son of God, Philip was persuaded that he truly believed in Jesus and so took him down and baptized him.

The eunuch didn't have to prove his faith with long years or consistent service to God as many today demand. He didn't have to "endure to the end" as many falsely teach. He believed on the spot and that was good enough to Philip who was under the leadership of the Holy Spirit at the time. He baptized the Ethiopian eunuch and departed, and the eunuch continued on his way in joy.

Believing is instant, and it is EASY. It is easy for us, but Jesus had to give his life so that we might believe.

 

What does that even mean?

 

I never thought of this one, but this is a great argument. It seems a person would go from hating God and being in complete rebellion, at the same time not understanding spiritual matters, and then one second later you love God, understand the gospel, and believe. And you would not even know WHY!

Now, that is a DRAMATIC change, a person would certainly notice.

I have never heard any person give a testimony like this.

Have you?