Author	Thread: dead men tell no tales
Admin	dead men tell no tales Posted : 19 Apr, 2010 05:31 AM Many might argue that being awakened spiritually is as easy as asking Jesus into our hearts.A dead person cant,wont or wouldnt want to ask Jesus into their heart.A dead person is dead.Jesus does the work first.Order matters.Jesus regenerates our hearts so that we want to ask him into our lives.He replaces our heart of stone witha heart that wants to know him.ezekial 36;26-27 says exactly that "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you.I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh."Jesus does the work first.We respond but he initiates.We are saved because we accept Jesus,but he did all the work.Thats why Paul writes in ephesians 2;8-9"by grace you are saved through faith,and that is not of yourself,it is a gift of god,not of works,lest anyone boast"If getting saved was dependent on us doing something,we might have reason to boast.Some say that Jesus does the calling,but we still answer the door,to that I say"nonesense"If Jesus wants us alive,we will be alive.We have no more choice than Lazarus.besides,if it is we who make the decision to answer the doorbell.then we did something.we would be able to boast.some could argue that they were smarter than others because they got up an answered the door.Some would say others are just lazy.But thats not what the bible says.the bible says that life is a gift and we have no room to boast.In Pauls second letter to Timothy,he further writes that it was God."who has saved us and called us with a holy calling,not according to our works,but according to his own purpose and grace wich was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began" Post Reply
View Profile History	dead men tell no tales Posted : 19 Apr, 2010 08:07 AM Will you told on yourself, Gifts always need to be received. Post Reply
View Profile History	dead men tell no tales Posted : 19 Apr, 2010 08:52 AM I think you both have valid points. I was not saved because I wanted to be saved. I was saved because Jesus came to me and touched me and took me. Paul said that he wanted to get hold of the purpose for whih he was taken hold of. Salvation is an odd thing to try to figure out at times. We might think the decision is ours because a gift is presented to us and we must decide whether or not we will take it. On the other hand, the gift is already ours, it is here for us to live in and it is not a concious chioce we make to live in it but rather a spiritual one. That spiritual choice can only be mad for us through the power of the Holy Spirit. Yet it appears to us that we made the choice to receive. So who is responsible for the response to the call? The one who calls or the one who responds? The events are simultaneous and the result is also simultaneous. Do we say that ithout the call there is no response and without the response there is no call? I say that all have sinned and all have been given salvation but not all are walking in the awareness of it and therefore they are not responding to the evidence of their salvation that is there for the knowing. People don't go to hell because they never heard the Gospel. They go to hell for not obeying the Truth. The evidence of Truth is everywhere around us and according to our Father there is no excuse for not knowing it. Thunder Post Reply
DontHitThatMark View Profile History	dead men tell no tales Posted : 19 Apr, 2010 11:41 AM Very nice, Thunder. I believe in a certain form of "predestination". I think God gives the gift to everyone even though He already knows who is going to be saved...I just don't think He forces it on us. There's a big difference. I believe God's sovereign will is shown through His plan for salvation. Prophecies in the bible that have come true. God didn't force His prophecies. He planned them. God doesn't force us to be saved. He plans for it. So...in essence He is choosing who will be saved...but without removing our choice. Does that make any sense? :peace::peace: Post Reply
View Profile History	dead men tell no tales Posted : 19 Apr, 2010 01:46 PM @Mark: I think I get the idea of what you mean. When I was in 1st or second semester, I had a prof lecturing about something similar, but I cannot recall and didn't fully understand back then. Anyway, I also never felt like I was forced to a thing, but it was pure grace, although I do not know anything about me deciding a thing. It's like being alive, here on this planet. Basically we like it but it wasn't our choice either. So we were forced in a way, but not that it was against what we want. Finally we like to be here and don't really wanna go soon... God bless you De Benny Post Reply