Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire "All things work together for Good".

Buona notte😴

I thought you guys dozed off.
Im getting ready to, but that's a good verse to meditate on. .....not like the hindus with mantras, but like Christians.

Jaguartx and anyone else who reads this.

Here's a blessing to discover that goes with your point.

Take a KJ Bible. The others leave some out unfortunately.

Read a chapter a day from the gospel of JOHN. I almost forgot to say that.
Underline every time you see a form of the word believe...th, s, ed.
Count them up in every chapter and circle the times its used in each.
At the end, add up the sum and tell me what you came up with.

This will doubtless become a faith building blessing.

Didnt John get taken on a trip to Heaven and then back to earth?

Paul said,
I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven.

I'm not sure if John could tell either. That's something I should look up. We do know that he must have been there in Spirit to say all that he wrote.

My challenge was just the gospel of John, concerning the word believe.

We know that God is for us because Jesus died for us...not because things always work out for us.

Dear Jaguar, you are absolutely 100% correct.

Dear efw, you are absolutely 100% correct.

God bless you both, my brothers.

The idea of predestination is not something that theologians pulled out of thin air. It is something that is written about in depth. Sitting on a couch pondering navel lint and predestination won’t give a man a good understanding of what it is. Assuming that predestination is single or double without reading the text of scripture isn’t gonna help a guy understand it at all.

Predestination is one of the hardest concepts to understand in scripture. We live downstream of many thinkers and it’s hard for us to wade through all of the logic. I few years ago I finally found a good place to start. It was helpful to contrast the views of Calvin and Luther on this subject. Platonic and Aristotelian logic also influences our modern understanding. This doesn’t come to a man while sitting on a couch gazing at his navel while having an esoteric experience.

Free will. Being born into sin, inheriting a sinful nature, committing sin, not seeking God (no one seeks God; Romans), dead in trespasses and sin, how can a man consider that he has a free will? What is that freedom? Do you mean a fully free will that had full knowledge of good and evil? Is a fallen man capable of making a pure moral choice? What are the confines and ability of a fallen sinful will? What binds it? What limits it? Is the human will capable of free fully informed moral agency? Is the human will limited by the fact that we are born sinful? How can a dead man know a thing?

Well, what I know about all of this is the Holy Spirit pursued me and convicted me of my sin, and of my need for forgiveness. Before I quit fighting that conviction (and guilt) and confessed my sin and submitted myself to God, I was a different person than I am now. I was not interested in hearing about God or the bible, and I was not interested in giving up the sinful habits and behaviors I was practicing. Things changed, and even though I still need to confess my sin and ask His forgiveness daily, I am a totally different person when it comes to matters of Christian brotherhood, love of others, and a desire for, and pleasure when, seeing others come to belief in Christ.

"We love because He first loved us". To us free will is real, but "God's ways are not our ways, and neither are His thoughts our thoughts". I just thank God, that I am one of His, and that Jesus' blood paid the debt I owed for my sin.

I pray that any reading this thread who don't know Jesus will listen to that part of you that knows you need to be honest with God, confess that you're a sinner, ask Him for forgiveness, and believe and receive eternal salvation in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ. .

May God bless you all.

bludog

Good morning good folks, I tried putting up a Norman Peale quote, no luck.

There were experts who were well versed in the particulars of and letter of the Law back in the days of Jesus, too.

Fifty some years ago, I tried my best to lead a young man to Jesus. He kept telling me, I don't want to pay the price. I kept telling him, The price has been paid.

Many years later, I do believe he did find Our Lord.

Bludog excellent description of being born again. Your words are just as I remember God dealing with me.
Happened in the Spring of 2010. My righteousness is as filthy rags before the Lord, but I have righteousness from God through faith in Christ.

Verse for today:

Humble yourself before the Lord and He will lift you up in honor.
James 4:10

bludog

My face was in the dirt. Sick, scared and tired. I saw and heard things like never before.

It was the best day of my new life. Thank you Jesus.

Amen



Amen

Why? You're destined to hell or heaven already. Noting you can do about it. Eat, drink and do Mary.

God bless you Jag.

In John 6:35-44 and John 10:25-30, the Lord told unbelievers that they will only believe if the Father has given them to Him and chosen them for His sheep. Unbelievers have no free choice to choose Jesus, BUT the Father’s choosing of them gives them that freedom.

Predestination is pure grace and the pure assurance of salvation. Freedom(of choice) is as much or more a gift as salvation itself. No one outside of Jesus is free or can choose salvation.

We are not free to obey until Jesus frees us in some way. If you are free in Jesus, you are free indeed.

God is “the hound of heaven”, and He pursues and chases those He chooses (because He is sovereign). When God finds you and confronts you with His amazing grace, you can’t say no. Paul the apostle is a great example.

We can only try to understand what scripture says and not put our feelings or mindset into it to twist it around and make it say something to make us feel better.

Free grace comes at God’s discretion and not ours. He is sovereign and in control.

With all due respect this argument is tired and tangent to the issue. I’ve heard this argument given during conversations, read it numerous times on the internet in such discussions and have been guilty of making the argument myself.

It was when I used it and still remains an argument out of ignorance of the topic at hand. Such arguments demonstrate a lack of study of both sides of the discussion and the respective supporting scriptures and defenses. As such, this and similar arguments represent one “what is wrong” instance in American Evangelicalism, an inability and/or unwillingness to take an honest look at personal views and actually wrestle with scripture.

Been there. Done that. Burned the tshirt and not gonna go back.