Free will

[Zeena]

Ah, but we are forgiven under grace. (Zeena, Thread is starting to go off topic... Need to get back on.)

On topic.
What are things that can posssibly affect free will?

Which means, if you take my interpretation literally (which you seems to be quite practiced in)..

We are Jesus under Jesus
Mwa hahahaha

Ok.. All right!
I'ma cut that out now! haha

Free will is affected by that which we submit to..
There's free will for sure, but I prefer to think of it as "limited" free will-lol

God spoke

Romans 6:6
For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—

Romans 6:15
What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!

Romans 6:16
Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?

Romans 6:17
But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted.

Romans 6:18
You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

Luke 4:18-19
18"The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
19to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

Romans 8:20-22
20For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
22We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.

2 Corinthians 3:17
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

Galatians 5:1
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

 

[the_great_eskimo_pie]

Would you mind eleborating a bit further Zeena? In your own words a bit more. I love hearing the word of the Lord, but I also love hearing what you think about the words He spoke.

 

[Zeena]

Would you mind eleborating a bit further Zeena? In your own words a bit more. I love hearing the word of the Lord, but I also love hearing what you think about the words He spoke.

They are my words!

But to put my interpretation into words you mean?
You have the Holy Spirit within you Eskimo..
He came to give you His Life, which is more than an overcomer of indwelling sin! In fact, He anhialated it on the Cross
For He was made to be sin for us!
So that we might become the Righteousness of God in Him!

This means that Christ Jesus ALONE is the one from who issues forth SALVATION..

Remember when the woman with the issue of blood was healed after suffering sooo much for years and years? What happened when she touched Jesus?
Virtue came out of Him! This same VIRTUE is what Jesus gives to those who draw near by faith And what happened to her you ask? Why! She was made WHOLE!

Salvation is quite different from being forgiven..

You can forgive a murderer, and he may murder again!
Just becuase you've forgiven him doesn't mean he is reformed (I LOVE that word-haha)
But, if the forgiven person is Living in the Grace of God (found in Christ JESUS), he will not (or, at least, will not WANT to) commit murder again!

For God gives His children a NEW heart, and a NEW Spirit to follow Him!

And Jesus DID say, "Come, take up your cross and follow me!"
Where was He going you ask..
The answer is found in where He went..

He went to the cross
He went into the depths to preach to those in prison,
And He ascended on high to sit for eternity at the Right Hand of God the Father until His enemies should become His footstool

 

[Amicus Dei of [FoG]]

Would you mind eleborating a bit further Zeena? In your own words a bit more. I love hearing the word of the Lord, but I also love hearing what you think about the words He spoke.

that's basically why i attend church... otherwise i would just sit and study the Bible nightly as usual and not really see it from a non-textual perspective (then again i can think of about 5 creative interpretations for everything it says except maybe the shortest sentence: Jesus wept. ... maybe i'm too creative? )

i attended church by free will, nothing forced me. i was not strapped to a pew and supervised by ten guards with a shotgun to my head.

oh snap i made an offn-topic message! (off+on=offn) own that!

 

[dattaswami]

If everything is according to the will of the Lord, who is the overall controller, there is no independence for any human being in this world. In such case the human being should not receive the fruits of its actions. How do you justify this?


<edited for content - Gen>

 

[Zeena]

'Tis not dependant on mans will, not his effort, but on God;
For it is written, He will have Mercy on whom He will have Mercy

Romans 8:13-33
As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.

For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.

Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?

What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?

As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved. And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God. Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved:For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth. And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha.

What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith. But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone;As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.