Spotlite
Resident Homesteader
Let's use Paul for an example using Thessalonians.
Paul received not the love of the truth, that would save him.
So God will cause Paul to be greatly deceived, and he will believe these lies.
Now did God do this to Paul because he looked into the future and saw that Paul would never accept Him? Was at any point Paul turned over to a reprobate mind? Would God be just if he looked into the future and saw that Paul would never accept Him on his on and turn him over to a reprobate mine or did God open Paul's eyes so that he could see?
It's almost like you are saying that God looks into our futures and turns us all over to reprobates because he sees the we will never be His and he looks into the future and sees which ones of us will be His and then opens the eyes of only those.
Again if that is your definition of free will, how is that any better or more just than God choosing by some other plan?
I’m only saying that a just God isn’t going to leave a man choice-less. We question that as fairness because we were created in his image.Would God be just if he looked into the future and saw that Paul would never accept Him on his on and turn him over to a reprobate mine or did God open Paul's eyes so that he could see?
It's almost like you are saying that God looks into our futures and turns us all over to reprobates because he sees the we will never be His and he looks into the future and sees which ones of us will be His and then opens the eyes of only those.
Again if that is your definition of free will, how is that any better or more just than God choosing by some other plan?
But what you’re asking is part of having mercy / compassion on whom he will have mercy on. I don’t know if he turns every man over to a reprobate mind or not. I know scripture says it happens.
I think he saw that Paul could do a mighty work for him. I do think Paul could have turned a deaf ear. Just like David could have stayed and been handed over. I don’t believe Esau was a reprobate, I believe Esau still had a choice to serve God in righteousness. I believe Judas could have repented. Jonah ran at first.
It’s my understanding that the continuous refusal of God’s calling is what iands you in the reprobate mind situation - not just I didn’t listen this time. And it’s my belief that if my unrighteousness can be used by God to demonstrate his power, it could still affect me enough that I might hear his voice.
I think we are thinking more alike than you think. I just see that for God himself to show he’s not unjust, his all knowing allows him to know who’s not going to give him their life under any circumstances. I think he knows who needs a Damascus road experience to believe. I think he knows there are those that if he revealed himself face to face to, they still wouldn’t believe. He knows those that only need a few verses, he knows those that need years of struggling alcohol in order to hear that one message.