Daily Devotional, Year 4 – JULY 20 (Free-will? What Free-will? Part 6: “That One Unanswerable Question!”)
By admin On February 4th, 2023.
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Daily Devotional, Year 4 – JULY 20
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Free-will? What Free-will?
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Part 6:
“That One Unanswerable Question!”
To read Part 1, click here…March 9th (“Free-will? What free-will!?”)
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“As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
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There is none that understandeth,
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there is none that seeketh after God.
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They are all gone out of the way,
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they are together become unprofitable;
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there is none that doeth good, no, not one”
Romans 3:10-12
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There has been a 400+ year debate between those who follow John Calvin’s teachings on Election/Predestination, and those who follow Jacobus Arminius’ teaching on Free-Will. This has been perhaps, the most controversial theological question in the history of the Church.
(Actually, no “Bible-only Christian” should ever be giving himself or herself such unbiblical labels as “Calvinist”, or “Arminian”!)
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LEFT: Jacobus Arminius – by Hieronymus van der Mij – Wikimedia – Public Domain
RIGHT: John Calvin – by Holbein – Wikipedia – US Public Domain
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BIBLE IS AMBIGUOUS
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The reason that the controversy continues is because there are many Bible verses which seem to support one or the other viewpoint.
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For instance, the Calvinists point to such verses as this one…“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” Ephesians 2:8, 9
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The Arminians, on the other hand, use such verses as this one… “choose you this day whom ye will serve;” Joshua 24:15
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And so, as you can see, there is enough ammunition for either side to use in this longstanding, 400-year debate.
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AN EMOTIONAL ISSUE!
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Now for some reason, the debates over this issue can get very lively, to say the least! And there have actually been fistfights which have resulted from heated debates over this subject! Certainly, many friendships have ended because of this question.
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Clenched human fist – Wikimedia – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
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THAT ONE UNANSWERABLE QUESTION!
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But there is one question which no “Free-Will Salvation” advocate can answer.
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And just what unanswerable question completely befuddles all those who insist that “Well, God looked down the corridors of time and chose all those whom He knew would be looking for and desiring Salvation”.
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And that one unanswerable question is this: “Why do some people desire Salvation, while most others do not?”
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This question cannot be answered according to the Bible! And so, Free-Will advocates must avoid this question at all costs!
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This is because there are only three possibilities:
1: Some people have some tiny spark of goodness which others do not possess…
2: or perhaps they just were smarter…
3: or they heard a much better sermon.
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So, which is it?
Question Mark – Wikimedia – Public Domain
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THE GOODIES AND THE BADDIES
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Most definitely, Salvation is not the result of some people having some little spark of goodness while others do not. It can’t be! Just look at such verses as this one from Psalm 14…“The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.” Psalm 14:2, 3
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Here we see that there is nobody that seeks God…“no, not one”. But those who believe in free-will salvation believe that there are some who do “seek God”.
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And all such must engage in a wrestling match with these passages in attempt to make them say something other than the obvious meaning!
Black sheep – Wikipedia & Jesus Solana – share-alike license
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JUDGMENT DAY WILL REVEAL
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For those who remain undecided about this question, can rest confident, that all such baffling questions will undoubtedly be answered on the Last Day, when standing before the Judgment Throne.
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In the meanwhile, let’s not get caught up in human reason and simply put our trust in what the Bible says, not going beyond.
Christ Returns – Triumph of Christianity – by G. Dore – cropped image – www.christimages.org – Limited-use-license – see their website for restrictions (2)
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TODAY’S PRAYER…
“Dear Lord, graciously grant me the privilege of studying the Bible for my own self, and not put my trust in mere mortals to tell me what to believe…
Pray for Our Nation sign – Wikimedia – Share-alike-lic.
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READ MORE…
To explore deeper into this subject, please read…FEBRUARY 8 (Free-will? What Free-will? Part 2: Little Jack Horner Christianity), or you can also read this article…FEBRUARY 9 (Free-will? What Free-will? Part 3: Little Jack Horner Christianity, Continued)
Question book magnify svg – Wikimedia – GNU license
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THE END
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TODAY’S FEATURED HEAVENLY SIGN
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REVELATION 12 WOMAN ON ALTAR AND FLOWER OF HEAVEN
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This constellation almost appears as a vine, as it projects out from the Altar/Ark Constellation .
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This constellation appears in mid-winter through late spring. As you can see in this sketch, the Altar/Ark
Constellation is also known as Leo Major, and the stem or vine of the flower is made of stars of the Virgo Constellation, and the flower itself is made of the Corvus Constellation.
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ABOVE STAR-CHART – late winter – Woman on the altar & Flower of Heaven Constellation w/leaves
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READ MORE…
To explore deeper into this subject, please read… “The Flower of Heaven Constellation”
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TOMORROW…
July 21 (Come Out of Her, My People, Part 62: “Teachers of Babylon”)
Headsets – France in XXI Century School – Wikimedia – Public Domain
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