I was hanging out with Jacob the other night, and after a grueling match of racquetball we began to talk about our church and how we think home-groups were intended to be. I'm not sure how this conversation lead to the subject of election...but it did. We began to search the scriptures to prove certain sides of the debate. I landed on a more Armenian view while he leaned closer to a Calvinist view.
My biggest concern was the fact that most of the Bible God was either pleading with the people of the bible to do life right, or disciplining them when they did it wrong. There is a ton of "if" statements generously sprinkled throughout the New Testament in regards to those are saved and those who aren't. "If" sounds an awful lot like a choice to me.
Then we found out an interesting fact. We proved through scripture that God was outside of time. Only a being not confined by time can enter it, leave, and watch it all at the same instant. Which proves that He is Omnipresent.
That fact set me up for the most important discovery of the evening. The word According used in the New Testament in regards to salvation, (John and Romans) in the Greek translates to **to cause**. Which in the texts of the Sacred Scripture, it is seemingly clear that those did not have a choice. The "If" statements were not "If you choose..." They were simply, "If you have the Spirit...or If you don't have the Spirit..."
WOW! How did I miss this?
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Interesting stuff. I'm glad you're searching for the truth. These are two of my fav quotes. I lean more Armenian. :)
"A world of automata-of creatures that worked like machines- would hardly be worth creating. The happiness which God designs for His higher creatures is the happiness of being freely, voluntarily united to Him and to each other in an ectasy of love and delight compared with which the most rapturous love between a man and a woman on this earth is mere milk and water. And for that they must be free" ~C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity
"I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity. This is good and pleases God our Savior, who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth. For there is only one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus. He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone. This is the message God gave to the world at just the right time."
~1 Timothy 2:1-6
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