Trinity Broadcasting Network

[lmorovan]

NJMARK50, this is getting really interesting.

You say that it is not against God's nature to forget. I disagree for the simple reason that if He forgets anything, he is not All knowing. He forgives all repented sins, past present and future, but He cannot forget them, because that would be a weakness. Furthermore, the sins we have committed in our lives are recorded in the Books in Heaven just as everything we ever say, do, think or feel. And those Books will be opened in the Final Judgment, and each will be judged according to what has done.

"The thought of God sinning is contrary to His nature & to His Word."

"Therefore, He could not sin."

Agree. But no where did I say that God sins.

Say, are you capable of killing a little child? Of course you are, just as anyone is. But just because you have that capacity doesn't mean that you will actually do it. Yet, because you don't do it doesn't mean you don't have the capacity to do it.

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About the "firestorm", LOL. No need for it. Indeed, the Holy Spirit must be addressed as He, and I do so. Perhaps i did not express myself in a clear manner, but that doesn't mean that I will ever disrespect God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit by not capitalizing.

"When the Holy Spirit approaches a human being it causes one of two possible reactions: acceptance or rejection. It is not our choice to reject Him or accept Him. That has been preordained even before Creation. The Grace of God is indeed irresistible, but only the chosen ones are able to "feel" or "react" to it."

In the first instance I was referring to the Holy Spirit's approach, therefore I wrote "it", the approach. In he second instance I was talking about God's Grace, not God. That's why I wrote "it".

Then why did Christ Himself rebuke the Pharisees for not repenting?

Jesus never rebuked the Pharisees for not repenting. He rebuked them for doing wicked things. We must always remember that every time Christ speaks to someone in the Bible, He speaks to us too. When He criticize them for doing wicked things, He criticizes us for doing wicked things. The fact that they may not be part of the elect (we don't know that, and will not know that until we are present in the Final Judgment, considering that at least one of them, Nicodemus, may have repented of his sins and be saved) doesn't mean that Jesus didn't have to rebuke them. He rebukes everyone who sins, elect or not.

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Response: Agreed, but as I stated, faith came before regeneration, not vice versa, which is what you are claiming.

Never did I claim that regeneration comes before faith, to the contrary.

Paul did not proclaim, nor did any of the other Apostles at any time for that matter, that if and only if one were elected He could be saved.

Of course they didn't use those words. But it was them who developed the doctrine of election, first spoke by Jesus in Matthew 24:30,31 and also in Mark and Luke: "At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other."

As a parentheses notice that in the verse the Son of Man is capitalized while further is referred as "he".

One might ask why don't those who share the Gospel w/ the lost say that the unsaved can be saved only if they are part of the Elect?

They should indeed. But you cannot state that, before teaching them what is the Gospel, who are the lost, who are the saved, why did God elected some for Salvation and some for eternal damnation and so on.

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"Salvation begins with God enabling us to hear His call and receive the Holy Spirit who begins the process of regeneration"

Response: Can you support that w/ Scripture?

Of course.

"No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day." John 6:44.

"In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people." Acts 2:17

"And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." Acts 2:21

The Father draws them. The Father will pour His Spirit (the Holy Spirit). Only those who call on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Now, if God's will is for all men to be saved, what could possibly prevent Him from doing so? Paul tells us about it in Ephesians 1:4,5:

"For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will".

Have a good day(s) and come back soon.

Blessings to you and yours!