Featured Overfilling potholes

God rules everything:
*Psalm 135:6-7*
Whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps. He it is who makes the clouds rise at the end of the earth, who makes lightnings for the rain and brings forth the wind from his storehouses.

*Psalm 115:3*
Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.

*Ephesians 1:11-12*
In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.

*Psalm 103:19*
The Lord has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all.

*1 Chronicles 29:11-13*
Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name.

*Daniel 4:34-35*
At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever, for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation; all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?”

*Isaiah 46:8-11*
“Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’ calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it.

*Lamentations 3:37-38*
Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and bad come?

God rules over every iota of our lives.

 

No, I would love to put the responsibility for all my failures on Him, but I think it unfair.

If He tells me in Heaven everything I did was predestinated by Him, I will fall at His feet in thankfulness.

Today, I believe He will say, “You really messed up, you know that, right? But I brought you through in spite of the stupid things you did and the dumb choices you made.”

Then I will fall at His feet in thankfulness.

Yes, God rules, and in His rulership He allows people enough rope to booger up things.

And by the way, despite my failings, He has blessed me immeasurably. I love my Lord Jesus and am filled with gratitude for His goodness to me in this life!

 

All the responsibility for sin is on YOU! That is why you cannot "choose" God and be saved. You are so vile before God that you cannot choose God. God must choose YOU by His grace, and God must apply the ransomed blood of Christ Jesus on your behalf. Jesus must be your substitute in death.

Jesus promises the believer that if we confess our sins, God will forgive us our sins. But that is not true for the non-believer.

 

Why would He promise to do something that depends upon an "if", when He has already predetermined everything I will ever do? The robot does what the inventor programs it to do.

If the WCF is correct about God choosing unchangeably who would be lost and who would be saved and every act ever committed throughout the history of man is predetermined (and thus caused) by God, then NO SIR! I am NOT responsible for any of my sins, not even rejecting Christ. Were I responsible for "my" sins (not actually mine of my own free will--but only what God pre-appointed I must do), then I am also responsible for my goodness, which was not actually of my own free will, but if I'm responsible for sins I was predestined to commit then I am responsible for the good I was predestined to commit.

You can't have it both ways. God created mankind and almost the first thing He did was allow them to be tested so they would CHOOSE. Joshua told Israel to CHOOSE. Christ told us to CHOOSE Him or be lost. No, God did not predestine my sins--that's on me. IF He predestined every single act of mine, every thought, everything--then of course He predestined my sins and I am NOT responsible for them. 2+2 does not equal anything except 4.

 

Here you reveal your poor understanding of God's teaching regarding your inability to choose God. You create a fallacy and then attempt to force that fallacy upon those who take God at His word as the Supreme God who rules over all His creation.

Here you express the exact complaint that Paul so wonderfully destroys in Romans 9.
*Romans 9:14-29*
What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills. You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? As indeed he says in Hosea, “Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’ and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’” “And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’” And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved, for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay.” And as Isaiah predicted, “If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring, we would have been like Sodom and become like Gomorrah.”

It is not "both" ways. Paul tells you exactly how God works, and you seem to hate what God is doing in Romans 9.

God made a Covenant with Adam. God gave Adam the freedom to obey or disobey the Covenant. This resulted in a curse and corruption on all of Adam's offspring. Adam's rebellion brought God's justice so that man could not have fellowship with God by man choosing God. God placed an angel with a sword in front of the Garden and man could not enter...even if man willed to do so.
So it is. We have no ability to enter the Garden. God must graciously choose us and give us access to the Garden through the shed blood of Jesus, our Passover Lamb.

Israel was the chosen people of God. Graciously chosen despite Israel's natural wickedness.

Where does Jesus say those exact words? You are forcing your presupposition upon Jesus.

Again, Paul explains this to you in Romans 9.

God shows us throughout scripture how He appoints the history of men. Read Daniel 11. Also, re-read Romans 9.
Finally, it is your nature to sin an rebel against God. The curse upon Adam secured this reality. God could give you over to your own will and you would be just like the persons in Romans 1 whom God answers their prayers that He leaves them alone.
But, it is God's gracious choice to call you a son, one who receives an inheritance because God has adopted you through the blood of Christ Jesus.

MrW, you are here, complaining about God's gracious choice of you, in particular, and claiming that God makes you a robot if you are not free to do what you want and choose what you want. Do you not understand that you would, 100% of the time, choose rebellion against God if God did not graciously intervene on your behalf? Can you not comprehend how corrupt you are and how undeserving of God's grace you are? Do you really think God leaves salvation up to you?
It is clear that you don't fully understand God's grace and you still harbor goodness within yourself, apart from Christ Jesus.

 

I'm not complaining about anything--except for my own poor choices in life, which I believe I made and I do not believe God forced them onto me millennia ago, so I have nothing to complain about regarding God. How could I? He's God.

I do believe He chose me and called me as a child. I think it likely every Christian would say they believe God chose them.

Back to my first statement--no "if" is necessary (according to your belief system), since you believe God has already preordained that I will (or not) confess my sins. It's not up to me. It's always been up to Him--has been for thousands and thousands of years (according, again, to your belief system). I'm thinking you should rephrase it, "Jesus promises the believer that as we confess our sins, He forgives our sins." That would align with your belief system. When you instead state it the Bible way, with an "if", that indicates I have a choice in the matter.

 

God didn't force your choices upon you. You were a slave to sin (Read Romans and Galatians) and your very nature is bound to sin and to serve your master (Sin). You were under the rule of the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet (the unholy trinity) and you could not free yourself from them. You could only make decisions that fell within the confines of their rule over you. Therefore, you could not just "choose" God. You had no freedom to do so. You had to be set free by God. God had to choose to set you free. The question was whether God would choose to do so. Since God is Sovereign and He can decide to do anything that is within His character to do, God was not obligated to set any person, who is bound in sin, free. If He chose to do so, it would be a choice of amazing grace. And here you are today. You never chose God. God chose you, and you are indebted to God for having ransomed you from slavery to Sin and making you an adopted child of God who now has the capacity to worship God freely without Satan stopping you.

So, if God had not chose you, you would still, at this very moment, be bound in slavery to sin. Can you understand this fact and accept it?

 

No.

 

If I’m predestined in everything I do, yes, every bad choice was forced on me.

Do you blame Huckleberry Finn for his wrongdoing?

Or Mark Twain? Mr. Twain created Huck, then made him make every choice he made, good AND bad.

But you blame HUCK for the wrong and credit Mr. Twain for the good!?

 

Because of Adams sin, all humanity is predestined to hell. Is that what you want?

Or do you desire that God would ransom you by choosing to purchase your sin through the shed blood of Jesus and ensure you spend eternity in heaven with God?

Both Tom and Huck are in hell because they were born in sin and followed their rebellious nature.

MrW, what are you going to do with Romans 9, because right now you are openly arguing against what Paul tells us.