Author	Thread: The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? JEREMIAH 17:9
dljrn04 View Profile History	The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? JEREMIAH 17:9 Posted : 3 Sep, 2011 04:59 PM Clear thought about the fallen human condition requires a distinction between what for the past two centuries has been called free agency and what since the start of Christianity has been called free will. Augustine, Luther, Calvin, and others spoke of free will in two senses, the first trivial, the second important; but this was confusing, and it is better always to use free agency for their first sense. Free agency is a mark of human beings as such. All humans are free agents in the sense that they make their own decisions as to what they will do, choosing as they please in the light of their sense of right and wrong and the inclinations they feel. Thus they are moral agents, answerable to God and each other for their voluntary choices. So was Adam, both before and after he sinned; so are we now, and so are the glorified saints who are confirmed in grace in such a sense that they no longer have it in them to sin. Inability to sin will be one of the delights and glories of heaven, but it will not terminate anyone�s humanness; glorified saints will still make choices in accordance with their nature, and those choices will not be any the less the product of human free agency just because they will always be good and right. Free will, however, has been defined by Christian teachers from the second century on as the ability to choose all the moral options that a situation offers, and Augustine affirmed against Pelagius and most of the Greek Fathers that original sin has robbed us of free will in this sense. We have no natural ability to discern and choose God�s way because we have no natural inclination Godward; our hearts are in bondage to sin, and only the grace of regeneration can free us from that slavery. This, for substance, was what Paul taught in Romans 6:16-23; only the freed will (Paul says, the freed person) freely and heartily chooses righteousness. A permanent love of righteousness�that is, an inclination of heart to the way of living that pleases God�is one aspect of the freedom that Christ gives (John 8:34-36; Gal. 5:1, 13). It is worth observing that will is an abstraction. My will is not a part of me which I choose to move or not to move, like my hand or my foot; it is precisely me choosing to act and then going into action. The truth about free agency, and about Christ freeing sin�s slave from sin�s dominion, can be expressed more clearly if the word will is dropped and each person says: I am the morally responsible free agency; I am the slave of sin whom Christ must liberate; I am the fallen being who only have it in me to choose against God till God renews my heart. by J.I. Packer Post Reply
View Profile History	The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? JEREMIAH 17:9 Posted : 3 Sep, 2011 05:24 PM Here we go again, like a broken record. Lu 8:15 But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience. You continually take scriptures out of context to make a doctrine, remember Mr. Justification. Lu 6:45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh. Post Reply
dljrn04 View Profile History	The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? JEREMIAH 17:9 Posted : 3 Sep, 2011 05:30 PM When we stubborn, unregenerate, measly, non repentant, and sinful humans believe we who have violated God�s Moral laws have the right, and a free will, to override God and choose Him and grant ourselves salvation, we make ourselves a God, because we believe we can checkmate God and that He doesn�t have the power to do anything about it. Nor would He be Sovereign with the power to choose whom He wants to save. When one believes he or she can checkmate God they are on VERY dangerous ground. Post Reply
View Profile History	The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? JEREMIAH 17:9 Posted : 3 Sep, 2011 05:33 PM I have the answer for you, repent of Calvinism and the lord will forgive you and create a new heart and renew a right spirit withing you. Post Reply
dljrn04 View Profile History	The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? JEREMIAH 17:9 Posted : 3 Sep, 2011 05:36 PM I have the answer for you, repent of finneyism and the lord will forgive you and create a new heart and renew a right spirit within you. Post Reply
View Profile History	The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? JEREMIAH 17:9 Posted : 3 Sep, 2011 05:42 PM Your to late i have never accpeted Calvin but none the less you are not the only and their is plenty of room in the family of God for more. A christian alive unto God would have a very hard time saying as you do. Besides how is a christian full of sin? Post Reply
dljrn04 View Profile History	The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? JEREMIAH 17:9 Posted : 3 Sep, 2011 05:45 PM Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.Psalm 51:5 Post Reply
View Profile History	The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? JEREMIAH 17:9 Posted : 3 Sep, 2011 05:52 PM Then do as the word says and divide the truth. Post Reply
dljrn04 View Profile History	The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? JEREMIAH 17:9 Posted : 3 Sep, 2011 05:54 PM how about getting away from your finney heresy and read the bible Post Reply
View Profile History	The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? JEREMIAH 17:9 Posted : 3 Sep, 2011 06:10 PM lol:applause: Post Reply
View Profile History	The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? JEREMIAH 17:9 Posted : 3 Sep, 2011 07:06 PM You insist on being in sin it is your choice, again the will is revealed. Post Reply

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