Y
Yelsew
Guest
Samuel,
God gave man faith as an attribute similar to God's own faithfulness. God's attribute of Faithfulness is the condition of always being true. Man's faith is a condition of dependency upon that which is true. What is true to man is dependent upon what man believes. That is where intellect, another attribute given to man by God, comes in. Intellect is the mechanism whereby man arrives at what is or is not believable, and thus establishes what man will have faith in. Each man, using his own intellect, determines what is believable to him. That is why these discussions on this BBS indicate the diversity of beliefs among "Christians". If God caused all of our beliefs, there would be no diversity, we would all believe exactly alike.
That is where the Holy Scriptures come in. They contain the Word of God. My intellect has convinced me that is true. God's Holy Spirit does not 'control' the spirit of man, that simply is not God's plan. The Holy Spirit does however influence, by affirmation, what a man, who is inclined toward spiritual matters, intellectually determines to be true. If it is true, man accepts it into his faith. If not true, man does not accept it. So long is man's spirit is inclined away from depravity and sin, the Holy Spirit remains to "guide" the man in his affairs. However, while man is inclined to sin, the Holy Spirit being Holy cannot co-abide with sin, so man is "given over" to his sinful inclinations, many to depravity and a few to total depravity, (as Paul told the Roman church about Romans. It is not true that as the Romans were, all man are).
What a man believes, that is "has faith in", determines his salvific state, because it marks his spirit by what he has faith in. If the man, as Jesus says, believes in Jesus, even in his name, and confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, the Messiah, the 'mark of Jesus' upon his spirit is indelible, and the greater is the affirmation by the Holy Spirit to the man that his belief is true.
Does God cause man to believe one way or the other? I believe that God place his indelible mark into the essence of man, after all He created man in his own image, even so, I do not believe that God determines what man will believe beyond the influencing power of the Holy Spirit.
I believe that God has done all the work to persuade man, including an already established eternity and all that implies. God has already accomplished all the work, and has made the facts of the work available to all mankind. So, there is nothing for man to do to be redeemed except mentally and spiritually weigh the facts and arrive at belief in Jesus. No work to do, and works is not a possible route to belief, which is the only means of Salvation available to man.
Does this render God powerless? Absolutely not! God is in every aspect of man's salvation. Without God there would be no redemption or salvation! But it remains man's choice to believe or not believe. Thus man determines his eternal destiny. Example:
[ January 24, 2003, 02:05 PM: Message edited by: Yelsew ]
EXCUSE me Sam, you misstate me! If God created me with faith as an attribute, which he did, then Faith is of God! I believe that in the creation, man was given all of the non-eternal attributes that are also true of God. What man did not receive are the omni-attributes. Typical of what man received as attributes are love, grace, mercy, justice (at least a sense of), faith, intellect, and free will. With all of that, man was deceived into trying for more...godhood! Man sinned and that sin (disobedience of God) became part of man's essence too! Thus separating created man from creator God. That sin did not strip man of any of the attributes that God gave him in the creation, but did remove the state of holiness that Adam and Eve enjoyed with God. Sin taints how man uses his attributes. Since man no longer has a holiness state, the attributes God gave him cannot be used in holiness. The lack of a holiness state is not Total Depravity, but rather a "lost" state, a state where what was, is no longer.My brother answered this sufficently. BTW, where do you find support of that in scripture? And you need to talk with Yelsew, he still thinks faith is from man, not God. At least you recongize it's from God--That's good.
God gave man faith as an attribute similar to God's own faithfulness. God's attribute of Faithfulness is the condition of always being true. Man's faith is a condition of dependency upon that which is true. What is true to man is dependent upon what man believes. That is where intellect, another attribute given to man by God, comes in. Intellect is the mechanism whereby man arrives at what is or is not believable, and thus establishes what man will have faith in. Each man, using his own intellect, determines what is believable to him. That is why these discussions on this BBS indicate the diversity of beliefs among "Christians". If God caused all of our beliefs, there would be no diversity, we would all believe exactly alike.
That is where the Holy Scriptures come in. They contain the Word of God. My intellect has convinced me that is true. God's Holy Spirit does not 'control' the spirit of man, that simply is not God's plan. The Holy Spirit does however influence, by affirmation, what a man, who is inclined toward spiritual matters, intellectually determines to be true. If it is true, man accepts it into his faith. If not true, man does not accept it. So long is man's spirit is inclined away from depravity and sin, the Holy Spirit remains to "guide" the man in his affairs. However, while man is inclined to sin, the Holy Spirit being Holy cannot co-abide with sin, so man is "given over" to his sinful inclinations, many to depravity and a few to total depravity, (as Paul told the Roman church about Romans. It is not true that as the Romans were, all man are).
What a man believes, that is "has faith in", determines his salvific state, because it marks his spirit by what he has faith in. If the man, as Jesus says, believes in Jesus, even in his name, and confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, the Messiah, the 'mark of Jesus' upon his spirit is indelible, and the greater is the affirmation by the Holy Spirit to the man that his belief is true.
Does God cause man to believe one way or the other? I believe that God place his indelible mark into the essence of man, after all He created man in his own image, even so, I do not believe that God determines what man will believe beyond the influencing power of the Holy Spirit.
I believe that God has done all the work to persuade man, including an already established eternity and all that implies. God has already accomplished all the work, and has made the facts of the work available to all mankind. So, there is nothing for man to do to be redeemed except mentally and spiritually weigh the facts and arrive at belief in Jesus. No work to do, and works is not a possible route to belief, which is the only means of Salvation available to man.
Does this render God powerless? Absolutely not! God is in every aspect of man's salvation. Without God there would be no redemption or salvation! But it remains man's choice to believe or not believe. Thus man determines his eternal destiny. Example:
With tongue in cheek, I guess that Agrippa, whom God appointed to be the king, was simply not 'elected' to be a believer.[Acts 26:28] Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.
[ January 24, 2003, 02:05 PM: Message edited by: Yelsew ]