What The BIBLE Says about Being CHOSEN....

[Matt22:37-39]

Look up in the dictionary these words. Chosen, Elect.

Websters Dictionary: SELECTED OR MARKED FOR FAVOR OR TO RECEIVE SPECIAL PRIVILEGE. ONE WHO IS THE OBJECT OF CHOICE OR OF DIVINE FAVOR: AN ELECTED PERSON

DEUTURONOMY 7:6, "For you are a holy people to the Lord your God, the Lord your God has CHOSEN you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth." Israel was elect.


MATTHEW 24: 22, "Unless those days be cut short, no life would have been saved. , But for the sake of the ELECT, THE CHOSEN, those days shall be cut short." Who are the elect? The believers. Verse 24, "False Christs, false prophets will arise, will show great signs and wonders so as to mislead if possible even the ELECT, THE CHOSEN, the believers." It is a term for believers, for Christians verse
31, "When He sends forth His angels with a great trumpet at the Second Coming, they will gather together HIS ELECT from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other."

LUKE 18:7 says, "Now shall not God bring about justice for HIS ELECT who cry to Him day and night and will He delay long over them?"

ROMANS 8:33 "Who shall bring a charge against GOD'S ELECT?"

COLOSSIANS 3:12, "And so as those who have been ELECT OF GOD, CHOSEN OF GOD, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion," and so forth. You've been CHOSEN OF GOD to be holy and beloved. He determined to set His love on you and me for no reason of ours at all, but strictly of His own free choice. The elect of God, that's who we are.

2 TIMOTHY 2:10, "For this reason, Paul says, I endure all things in my ministry for the sake of those who are CHOSEN that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus." I am doing my evangelistic ministry to bring the gospel to the ELECT...the chosen. Titus, when Paul writes that letter he couldn't say it anymore straight-forward. "Paul, a bond servant of God and an Apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of those CHOSEN OF GOD."

2 JOHN, describes the church as the chosen lady, the elect lady, 2 John 1; 2 John 13, the children of your CHOSEN sister greet you. Two churches, both elect.

PETER says, "You are a CHOSEN race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession." You are a chosen race. You are a Christian because you are chosen to be one by God.

ACTS 15:14, "Simeon, or Peter, has related how...this is the Council of Jerusalem...how God first concerned Himself about taking from among the Gentiles a PEOPLE FOR HIS NAME." God's whole plan is to take out a people, to choose a people.

MATTHEW chapter 20 You have a parable here, the Kingdom of Heaven, like a land owner, went out in the morning to hire labors for his vineyard. He agreed with the laborers for a denarius, he sent them into his vineyard. He went out the third hour, saw others standing idle in the marketplace, went through the process, hired them....hired them...hired them...hired them. Selected them, the whole parable all the way down to the bottom, he picked out who he wanted and he rewarded them with eternal life, that's the essence of the parable. Very simple. He selected them. Called them into his service. Sent them out to serve. Rewarded them fairly, faithfully, generously. That is a picture of election.

JOHN 15, Jesus said it to His disciples, "You did not choose Me but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give it you." You didn't choose Me, I chose you.

JOHN 17:9, He says of Christians, praying to the Father does our Lord, "I ask on their behalf," this is the high priestly prayer of Christ, "I do not ask on behalf of the world but of those whom Thou hast given Me." The Father chose us and gave us to Christ as a love gift, for they are Thine.

ACTS chapter 13: 48, "And when the Gentiles heard this, that is the gospel message, they began rejoicing and glorifying the Word of the Lord and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed." The chosen believed. Those appointed to eternal life believed.

ROMANS 9:14. God is talking about choosing. He says, "Jacob I loved, Esau I hated." God made His choice. Verse 14, "What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God is there? May it never be." Me gennetos, in the Greek, no, no, no. It's...it's not injustice, for He said to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion," which is to say I will do precisely what I want to do. Verse 16, look at this, "So then it, salvation, does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs but on God who has mercy." Sovereign mercy. And somebody in verse 19 says, "Well then how can He find fault, For who will resist his will?

ROMANS 11: 5, "In the same way then as in the case of the prophet Elijah and seven thousand men who didn't bow the knee to Baal, in the same way then there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God's choice." God's choice.

1 CORINTHIANS 1: 9, "God is faithful through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son." Your salvation was a direct work of God. He called you into fellowship with His Son.

EPHESIANS 1:3, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him, before the foundation of the world." When did it happen? When were we chosen? Before we were born. Before anybody was born. Before there was a world we were chosen.

1 THESSALONIANS 1:4. "We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayer, I look at your life and I see...in verse 3...your work of faith, your labor of love, your steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father, knowing, brethren, beloved by God His choice of you."

2 THESSALONIANS 2 :13, "We should always give thanks to God for you, we shouldn't thank you, we should thank God, "Brethren, beloved by the Lord." Isn't that good? "Because God has chosen you from the beginning."

2 TIMOTHY 1:9, "God who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to His own purpose and gace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity.”

2 TIMOTHY 2:10 , Paul says, "In my ministry I endure all things," "For the sake of those whose name has been written from the foundation of the world in the Book of Life of the Lamb who has been slain."

REVELATION 17: 8, "And those who dwell on the earth will wonder whose name has not been written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world." And again we are told in a backhanded way that Christians are those whose names have been written in the Book of Life from beginning, from eternity, from the foundation of the world.

REVELATION 17:14, "These will wage war against the Lamb, that is the host of the Antichrist, and the Lamb will overcome them because He is Lord of Lords and King of Kings and those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful." We're the chosen.

REVELATION 20, Final judgment, Great White Throne, "If anyone's name was not found written in the Book of Life he was...what?...thrown in the lake of fire." When were names put in the book? From before the foundation of the earth.

LUKE 4, Jesus in this marvelous synagogue event in Nazareth, opened the book of the prophet Isaiah, stood up in the synagogue, opened the book, read it. This is what He read, verse 18, and here was a prophecy that He was fulfilling right out of Isaiah 61. "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor, He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are downtrodden to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.


ISAIAH 55:8 and 9, the Scripture says of God, "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord, for as the heavens are higher than the earth so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts." We are in no position as fallen creatures to determine whether what God does is just, right or fair.

ROMANS 11:33 the Apostle writes, "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways for who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has become His counselor?" You've stepped out of bounds when you say that God does anything that isn't fair.

What is clear from scripture is that God CHOSE us.....He DRAWS us John 6:44.....He SAVES us......He KEEPS us. Our job and free will comes into play when we love him and obey him. What he has done for us and TO us has nothing to do with our FREE WILL but WHO he is and his CHARACTER. Not Us

 

[Yeshua1]

Look up in the dictionary these words. Chosen, Elect.

Websters Dictionary: SELECTED OR MARKED FOR FAVOR OR TO RECEIVE SPECIAL PRIVILEGE. ONE WHO IS THE OBJECT OF CHOICE OR OF DIVINE FAVOR: AN ELECTED PERSON

DEUTURONOMY 7:6, "For you are a holy people to the Lord your God, the Lord your God has CHOSEN you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth." Israel was elect.


MATTHEW 24: 22, "Unless those days be cut short, no life would have been saved. , But for the sake of the ELECT, THE CHOSEN, those days shall be cut short." Who are the elect? The believers. Verse 24, "False Christs, false prophets will arise, will show great signs and wonders so as to mislead if possible even the ELECT, THE CHOSEN, the believers." It is a term for believers, for Christians verse
31, "When He sends forth His angels with a great trumpet at the Second Coming, they will gather together HIS ELECT from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other."

LUKE 18:7 says, "Now shall not God bring about justice for HIS ELECT who cry to Him day and night and will He delay long over them?"

ROMANS 8:33 "Who shall bring a charge against GOD'S ELECT?"

COLOSSIANS 3:12, "And so as those who have been ELECT OF GOD, CHOSEN OF GOD, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion," and so forth. You've been CHOSEN OF GOD to be holy and beloved. He determined to set His love on you and me for no reason of ours at all, but strictly of His own free choice. The elect of God, that's who we are.

2 TIMOTHY 2:10, "For this reason, Paul says, I endure all things in my ministry for the sake of those who are CHOSEN that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus." I am doing my evangelistic ministry to bring the gospel to the ELECT...the chosen. Titus, when Paul writes that letter he couldn't say it anymore straight-forward. "Paul, a bond servant of God and an Apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of those CHOSEN OF GOD."

2 JOHN, describes the church as the chosen lady, the elect lady, 2 John 1; 2 John 13, the children of your CHOSEN sister greet you. Two churches, both elect.

PETER says, "You are a CHOSEN race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession." You are a chosen race. You are a Christian because you are chosen to be one by God.

ACTS 15:14, "Simeon, or Peter, has related how...this is the Council of Jerusalem...how God first concerned Himself about taking from among the Gentiles a PEOPLE FOR HIS NAME." God's whole plan is to take out a people, to choose a people.

MATTHEW chapter 20 You have a parable here, the Kingdom of Heaven, like a land owner, went out in the morning to hire labors for his vineyard. He agreed with the laborers for a denarius, he sent them into his vineyard. He went out the third hour, saw others standing idle in the marketplace, went through the process, hired them....hired them...hired them...hired them. Selected them, the whole parable all the way down to the bottom, he picked out who he wanted and he rewarded them with eternal life, that's the essence of the parable. Very simple. He selected them. Called them into his service. Sent them out to serve. Rewarded them fairly, faithfully, generously. That is a picture of election.

JOHN 15, Jesus said it to His disciples, "You did not choose Me but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give it you." You didn't choose Me, I chose you.

JOHN 17:9, He says of Christians, praying to the Father does our Lord, "I ask on their behalf," this is the high priestly prayer of Christ, "I do not ask on behalf of the world but of those whom Thou hast given Me." The Father chose us and gave us to Christ as a love gift, for they are Thine.

ACTS chapter 13: 48, "And when the Gentiles heard this, that is the gospel message, they began rejoicing and glorifying the Word of the Lord and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed." The chosen believed. Those appointed to eternal life believed.

ROMANS 9:14. God is talking about choosing. He says, "Jacob I loved, Esau I hated." God made His choice. Verse 14, "What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God is there? May it never be." Me gennetos, in the Greek, no, no, no. It's...it's not injustice, for He said to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion," which is to say I will do precisely what I want to do. Verse 16, look at this, "So then it, salvation, does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs but on God who has mercy." Sovereign mercy. And somebody in verse 19 says, "Well then how can He find fault, For who will resist his will?

ROMANS 11: 5, "In the same way then as in the case of the prophet Elijah and seven thousand men who didn't bow the knee to Baal, in the same way then there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God's choice." God's choice.

1 CORINTHIANS 1: 9, "God is faithful through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son." Your salvation was a direct work of God. He called you into fellowship with His Son.

EPHESIANS 1:3, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him, before the foundation of the world." When did it happen? When were we chosen? Before we were born. Before anybody was born. Before there was a world we were chosen.

1 THESSALONIANS 1:4. "We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayer, I look at your life and I see...in verse 3...your work of faith, your labor of love, your steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father, knowing, brethren, beloved by God His choice of you."

2 THESSALONIANS 2 :13, "We should always give thanks to God for you, we shouldn't thank you, we should thank God, "Brethren, beloved by the Lord." Isn't that good? "Because God has chosen you from the beginning."

2 TIMOTHY 1:9, "God who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to His own purpose and gace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity.”

2 TIMOTHY 2:10 , Paul says, "In my ministry I endure all things," "For the sake of those whose name has been written from the foundation of the world in the Book of Life of the Lamb who has been slain."

REVELATION 17: 8, "And those who dwell on the earth will wonder whose name has not been written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world." And again we are told in a backhanded way that Christians are those whose names have been written in the Book of Life from beginning, from eternity, from the foundation of the world.

REVELATION 17:14, "These will wage war against the Lamb, that is the host of the Antichrist, and the Lamb will overcome them because He is Lord of Lords and King of Kings and those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful." We're the chosen.

REVELATION 20, Final judgment, Great White Throne, "If anyone's name was not found written in the Book of Life he was...what?...thrown in the lake of fire." When were names put in the book? From before the foundation of the earth.

LUKE 4, Jesus in this marvelous synagogue event in Nazareth, opened the book of the prophet Isaiah, stood up in the synagogue, opened the book, read it. This is what He read, verse 18, and here was a prophecy that He was fulfilling right out of Isaiah 61. "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor, He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are downtrodden to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.


ISAIAH 55:8 and 9, the Scripture says of God, "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord, for as the heavens are higher than the earth so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts." We are in no position as fallen creatures to determine whether what God does is just, right or fair.

ROMANS 11:33 the Apostle writes, "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways for who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has become His counselor?" You've stepped out of bounds when you say that God does anything that isn't fair.

What is clear from scripture is that God CHOSE us.....He DRAWS us John 6:44.....He SAVES us......He KEEPS us. Our job and free will comes into play when we love him and obey him. What he has done for us and TO us has nothing to do with our FREE WILL but WHO he is and his CHARACTER. Not Us

by what basis though did he chose us? based upon His Will only, or upon seeing us making the right decision to accept jesus and become saved?

 

[Don]

Matt22:37-39 - you've now entered the arena of theology and biblical study. These people that are responding to you in this thread and in the other thread you started, will want to discuss scripture.

In other words, you have an opportunity to possibly increase understanding, both yours and theirs. "Iron sharpeneth iron."

Will you discuss it with them? Hear what they have to say?

Go as God leads.

 

[Matt22:37-39]

Of course been there done that before...I put that together 6 years ago

Bottom line is that the subject will ALWAYS be a PARADOX, for God's ways are not our ways, nor our thoughts His thoughts.

What I posted is pretty much what I believe....God has a PART and we have a PART and those parts must fit together to make a WHOLE...like many things God has ordained, there must always be BALANCE...this is my understanding of RIGHTLY DIVIDING God's word that Paul talk about.

So in the end as long as one holds an EXTREME view neither will be right.

:wavey:

 

[pinoybaptist]

by what basis though did he chose us? based upon His Will only, or upon seeing us making the right decision to accept jesus and become saved?

Titus 3:5 - not by works of righteousness which we have done, but ACCORDING TO HIS MERCY, he saved us.

 

[IAMWEAK_2007]

This is how I see it too as the OP. I did not choose God but God chosen me, see around us, plenty humans don't see God the way we see, that is why I had posted before here, the question "Is it my fault if I will go to hell if until now God did not reveal his greatness to me? Look at those dedicated Catholics, I was once like them, they also love God but one day I received the gift of salvation and learned that being a catholic is wrong.............

 

[MB]

Look up in the dictionary these words. Chosen, Elect.

Websters Dictionary: SELECTED OR MARKED FOR FAVOR OR TO RECEIVE SPECIAL PRIVILEGE. ONE WHO IS THE OBJECT OF CHOICE OR OF DIVINE FAVOR: AN ELECTED PERSON

DEUTURONOMY 7:6, "For you are a holy people to the Lord your God, the Lord your God has CHOSEN you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth." Israel was elect.


MATTHEW 24: 22, "Unless those days be cut short, no life would have been saved. , But for the sake of the ELECT, THE CHOSEN, those days shall be cut short." Who are the elect? The believers. Verse 24, "False Christs, false prophets will arise, will show great signs and wonders so as to mislead if possible even the ELECT, THE CHOSEN, the believers." It is a term for believers, for Christians verse
31, "When He sends forth His angels with a great trumpet at the Second Coming, they will gather together HIS ELECT from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other."

LUKE 18:7 says, "Now shall not God bring about justice for HIS ELECT who cry to Him day and night and will He delay long over them?"

ROMANS 8:33 "Who shall bring a charge against GOD'S ELECT?"

COLOSSIANS 3:12, "And so as those who have been ELECT OF GOD, CHOSEN OF GOD, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion," and so forth. You've been CHOSEN OF GOD to be holy and beloved. He determined to set His love on you and me for no reason of ours at all, but strictly of His own free choice. The elect of God, that's who we are.

2 TIMOTHY 2:10, "For this reason, Paul says, I endure all things in my ministry for the sake of those who are CHOSEN that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus." I am doing my evangelistic ministry to bring the gospel to the ELECT...the chosen. Titus, when Paul writes that letter he couldn't say it anymore straight-forward. "Paul, a bond servant of God and an Apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of those CHOSEN OF GOD."

2 JOHN, describes the church as the chosen lady, the elect lady, 2 John 1; 2 John 13, the children of your CHOSEN sister greet you. Two churches, both elect.

PETER says, "You are a CHOSEN race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession." You are a chosen race. You are a Christian because you are chosen to be one by God.

ACTS 15:14, "Simeon, or Peter, has related how...this is the Council of Jerusalem...how God first concerned Himself about taking from among the Gentiles a PEOPLE FOR HIS NAME." God's whole plan is to take out a people, to choose a people.

MATTHEW chapter 20 You have a parable here, the Kingdom of Heaven, like a land owner, went out in the morning to hire labors for his vineyard. He agreed with the laborers for a denarius, he sent them into his vineyard. He went out the third hour, saw others standing idle in the marketplace, went through the process, hired them....hired them...hired them...hired them. Selected them, the whole parable all the way down to the bottom, he picked out who he wanted and he rewarded them with eternal life, that's the essence of the parable. Very simple. He selected them. Called them into his service. Sent them out to serve. Rewarded them fairly, faithfully, generously. That is a picture of election.

JOHN 15, Jesus said it to His disciples, "You did not choose Me but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give it you." You didn't choose Me, I chose you.

JOHN 17:9, He says of Christians, praying to the Father does our Lord, "I ask on their behalf," this is the high priestly prayer of Christ, "I do not ask on behalf of the world but of those whom Thou hast given Me." The Father chose us and gave us to Christ as a love gift, for they are Thine.

ACTS chapter 13: 48, "And when the Gentiles heard this, that is the gospel message, they began rejoicing and glorifying the Word of the Lord and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed." The chosen believed. Those appointed to eternal life believed.

ROMANS 9:14. God is talking about choosing. He says, "Jacob I loved, Esau I hated." God made His choice. Verse 14, "What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God is there? May it never be." Me gennetos, in the Greek, no, no, no. It's...it's not injustice, for He said to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion," which is to say I will do precisely what I want to do. Verse 16, look at this, "So then it, salvation, does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs but on God who has mercy." Sovereign mercy. And somebody in verse 19 says, "Well then how can He find fault, For who will resist his will?

ROMANS 11: 5, "In the same way then as in the case of the prophet Elijah and seven thousand men who didn't bow the knee to Baal, in the same way then there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God's choice." God's choice.

1 CORINTHIANS 1: 9, "God is faithful through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son." Your salvation was a direct work of God. He called you into fellowship with His Son.

EPHESIANS 1:3, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him, before the foundation of the world." When did it happen? When were we chosen? Before we were born. Before anybody was born. Before there was a world we were chosen.

1 THESSALONIANS 1:4. "We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayer, I look at your life and I see...in verse 3...your work of faith, your labor of love, your steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father, knowing, brethren, beloved by God His choice of you."

2 THESSALONIANS 2 :13, "We should always give thanks to God for you, we shouldn't thank you, we should thank God, "Brethren, beloved by the Lord." Isn't that good? "Because God has chosen you from the beginning."

2 TIMOTHY 1:9, "God who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to His own purpose and gace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity.”

2 TIMOTHY 2:10 , Paul says, "In my ministry I endure all things," "For the sake of those whose name has been written from the foundation of the world in the Book of Life of the Lamb who has been slain."

REVELATION 17: 8, "And those who dwell on the earth will wonder whose name has not been written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world." And again we are told in a backhanded way that Christians are those whose names have been written in the Book of Life from beginning, from eternity, from the foundation of the world.

REVELATION 17:14, "These will wage war against the Lamb, that is the host of the Antichrist, and the Lamb will overcome them because He is Lord of Lords and King of Kings and those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful." We're the chosen.

REVELATION 20, Final judgment, Great White Throne, "If anyone's name was not found written in the Book of Life he was...what?...thrown in the lake of fire." When were names put in the book? From before the foundation of the earth.

LUKE 4, Jesus in this marvelous synagogue event in Nazareth, opened the book of the prophet Isaiah, stood up in the synagogue, opened the book, read it. This is what He read, verse 18, and here was a prophecy that He was fulfilling right out of Isaiah 61. "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor, He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are downtrodden to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.


ISAIAH 55:8 and 9, the Scripture says of God, "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord, for as the heavens are higher than the earth so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts." We are in no position as fallen creatures to determine whether what God does is just, right or fair.

ROMANS 11:33 the Apostle writes, "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways for who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has become His counselor?" You've stepped out of bounds when you say that God does anything that isn't fair.

What is clear from scripture is that God CHOSE us.....He DRAWS us John 6:44.....He SAVES us......He KEEPS us. Our job and free will comes into play when we love him and obey him. What he has done for us and TO us has nothing to do with our FREE WILL but WHO he is and his CHARACTER. Not Us

You add to scripture and this post is positive proof that you do. You have made a lie out of the Bible.
MB

 

[Matt22:37-39]

This is how I see it too as the OP. I did not choose God but God chosen me, see around us, plenty humans don't see God the way we see, that is why I had posted before here, the question "Is it my fault if I will go to hell if until now God did not reveal his greatness to me? Look at those dedicated Catholics, I was once like them, they also love God but one day I received the gift of salvation and learned that being a catholic is wrong.............

hmmmm, there are saved Catholics. They may be taught false doctrine, but if they made Jesus Lord and I know many who have, then they are saved.

 

[Yeshua1]

Of course been there done that before...I put that together 6 years ago

Bottom line is that the subject will ALWAYS be a PARADOX, for God's ways are not our ways, nor our thoughts His thoughts.

What I posted is pretty much what I believe....God has a PART and we have a PART and those parts must fit together to make a WHOLE...like many things God has ordained, there must always be BALANCE...this is my understanding of RIGHTLY DIVIDING God's word that Paul talk about.

So in the end as long as one holds an EXTREME view neither will be right.

:wavey:

What do you consider to be an "extreme view?"

 

[Matt22:37-39]

Seems to me if one takes God's Holiness, Righteousness, Justice and only focus on that then they negate His love, Mercy and kindness...and visa versa.

Churches today who only focus on one side of God character without looking at the others, become LEGALISTIC or LIBERAL, same with any institution.

Legalistic type churches hurt people like the Pharisees did, by adding to God's laws...for one we are no longer under the law but grace. So we need to see and treat people as God sees them...Jesus said to His disciples..."By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

Liberal church negate ACCOUNTABILITY....and anything goes, this isn't right either. because God desires a HOLY CHURCH SET APART to be a witness and testimony to Him.

 

[Matt22:37-39]

I wrote this a few weeks back


The importance of balance in ones life:

I HAVE A THING FOR THIS SHOW ON TV CALLED “WIFE SWAP”….I use to have my son Aaron watch it with me, to say “see I’m not that bad, you don’t understand you could have an EXTREME mom like that”…If he hasn’t already, he’ll get it one day. I do not know if these people are for real, because they are so “out there extreme”….but I do know people in my own life, especially living up here that are EXTREME. This just got me thinking today, on where most of my frustrations lie within the “CHURCH” and with people in general….too many people walking around are too extreme and I really don’t think that is the way God intended us to be or how we should live. As much as I try not to be, I am TURNED OFF to any kind of extremes and it has been said about me by many (I have 5 character letters from people who know me well) that I am very concerned that things should be “FAIR”…”I quickly see right fro wrong”…..to me it is all about BALANCE!...God is balanced…He is Holy, Righteous and Just, yet He is also Loving, Merciful and Kind. His word is the same and so shall we be….Anyway….

Let’s look at what extremes have cost within the 3 institutions God has established.

EXTREME PARENTING…..Boy can that mess a person up. After watching a very unbelievable, extreme episode on WIFE SWAP today, I thank God I didn’t do that to my boys and is one reason I wanted Aaron to watch this show with me years back, as he kept comparing me to his father and his friends permissive parents…yet I knew deep down my parenting was what was best for them and I think they both can now say I did a good job, cause they are the RESULTS of applying both LOVE and DISCIPLINE into their lives.

A Balanced/Authoritative parent (hopefully both are and in agreement, I didn’t have that privilege) knows how to balance love, affection, nurturing, respect, and overall tries and see the child through their eyes….LOVE at the same time motivates a parent to do what is best for that child in the LONG RUN…KNOWING by doing so, that child can be all God wants Him to be. The parent/s teaches Discipline, Ethics, Morals, Boundaries, and Pride in a job well done; to be Others Centered…this is the best parenting style that often reaps the best results.

Authoritarian/Aggressive, parenting, doesn’t think of the emotional or physical needs of the child, in fact they may not think of the child at all (those are the kind I had) because emotionally they themselves are NOT able to give it. They often are angry all the time; nothing is ever good enough and very abusive. Everything is about APPEARANCES…therefore there is a facade that must be maintained to keep certain forces real or imaginary out, all the while hurting those around them. Or they may be so goal oriented that the END JUSTIFY THE MEANS. Anyway, while this type of parent has a much better chance of raising a pretty good person like ME, (probably as long their child is prone to perfection or is drive) but for most it can be devastating and lead to more abusive behavior.

Permissive/Passive, these parents anything goes…often times because these parents have NO DRIVE themselves that is the same way they parent…to them it takes too much work to do the right thing. Or they never grew up themselves and sill wants to have just fun. This parent leaves kids not prepared for the real world, nor do they teach them self respect and respect of others, as they often have ENTITLEMENT ISSUES and are narcissistic. Anyway, I could write a lot about my thoughts on this subject, but let’s look at a few other areas where extremism has its effects.

EXTREME RELIGION….One of the biggest things that turn me off about most churches is they too are extreme, probably because extreme people are in them and run them, so like attracts like. You’ve got the legalistic (extreme) churches that focus on Old Testament law, everything to them is sin, they do not see how their legalistic ways DO NOT draw others to Christ, they actually repeal them…not only they often become ABUSIVE, without even realizing it…they do not understand GRACE and God’s true CHARACTER of love, in everything He does (had to learn this the hard way myself) revolves around His love for us. He isn’t so narcissistic, that He needs it all to Himself….lol. Jesus said we are to only fulfill 2 commandments….LOVE the Lord your God with all your Heart, Soul and Mind and OTHERS as yourself’…But then you have those churches on the other extreme…I call them “BARNEY CHURCHES’…you know, “I Love You, You Love Me, We’re A Happy Family”….again another dysfunctional family….where there is NO ACCOUNTABILITY, nor the importance of being a good ambassador and witness of Christ. They are often just as selfish as the other extreme, especially in their pleasures and relying too much on GRACE…neither is good, for neither reflex’s GOD’S TRUE NATURE OF WHO HE IS AND WHAT HE DESIRES for His church. He wants a church/bride who LOVES Him, because He first LOVED them and because of that LOVE, they are obedient to their Fathers will and out of that LOVING obedience produce good works and in producing “good” works through Christ, they are bringing others to Him, thus fulfilling the “Great Commission”…Matt 28….that is what it is all about….and personally I do not see EITHER EXTREME DOING A VERY EFFECTIVE JOB of producing Healthy Sheep than the Authoritative or Authoritarian parent does raising loving, respectful, responsible, accountable, hard working, humanitarians for this world. Of course as in anything you will have your exceptions…I’m not into exceptions..I’m more into a sure thing.

EXTREME JUSTICE SYSTEM….Oh boy, do I know this one. If I had my way it wouldn’t be so black and white. I think applying more of the “SPIRIT of the law” to those who deserve it…do the circumstances and history show what kind of person they really are, let’s say someone shows true remorse, let’s see if they can be rehabilitated? Showing a humane side of the justice system I would think would reap better results, plus it could help the REHABILITATION PROCESS along much quicker. This person can now be put back into society for the benefit of it…but, if ones spirit is broken it is of NO use. Now for the one who is defiant, and who is obviously guilty and they show NO remorse and actually mock the system, punishment that FITS the crime should be carried out and swiftly! (I do believe in the death penalty.) It’s all about what is the best for that person, but more importantly what is best for SOCIETY!...Our Government, is no longer about balancing the two extremes together, it too is much like all the other organizations. That is probably why I am a moderate or libertarian type….cause I feel neither side has it quit right…Probably the RIGHT more than the left, that is for. So I am sure each side can learn from the other. Ok that is all I want write on this subject….thanks for listening.