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Some believe that the human will is free to choose Jesus. Doesn't this belief betray one's trust in his will rather than the will of God in order to be saved?

Moreover, isn't the view that the human will is free leads one to trust in his/her works to be saved rather than trust only in the works of Jesus to be saved?

Are there any views in Christianity that address this issue apart from unconditional election, conditional election and the works-based salvation of Catholicism?

What does truth in the Bible say as to whether the human will is free or not?

"It appears ridiculous to the world, under their darkened and erroneous traditions, that God has once been a finite being" (Deseret News, 16 Nov. 1859, p. 290).
Search These Commandments, Melchizedek Priesthood Personal Study Guide, Copyright 1984, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, p. 153

1859 to 1984 sure is a long time.

There is only one God, who has no equal, identified as I AM, whose existence had no name before the beginning, since language had not yet been created for names to exist. Only he alone existed before the beginning, hence why he is also called "Father", because in relation to time, which began in the beginning, a father exists first, then a son is born after, which implies that anyone declared to be "son" came into existence in the beginning and onwards, but not before the beginning. A father is also greater than a son, which is why Jesus referred to the Father as "greater than I", for the Father alone is infinite, which relates to why he alone cannot be contained by what he created, which is finite. As such, any being declared to be a...

On another thread someone commented that Christians should be able to figure out the “evils of contraception.” I’m not going to post the quote because I’m not trying to call anyone out. And I decided to start a new thread so as to not derail the other. That being said...

Excluding contraception that terminates life (Plan B, for example), please discuss how contraception that prevents fertilization (condoms, for example) are evil.

Not at all.
Jesus gave us one Church, one Faith, one Baptism. We should all adhere to it.
I don't belong to a denomination. Jesus didn't create any denominations. He created His Church. No need for me to renounce anything when I'm already in adherence, in my own imperfect way, to His Call.The above quotes are from another thread which led me to start this thread.

Simple question: Is the RCC considered a Denomination?
Is so, why. If not, why not.
Thank you

I'll use Hitler since he is, for the most part, universally reviled.

And for this discussion, there will be an assumption that hell is where the unrepentant sinner ends up. This will NOT be as discussion on hell itself.

So for the sake of this discussion, are you happy that Hilter (or any reviled person in history) ended up in hell? If so, why? If not, why?

Hello,

I have a big question that's been bothering me the last couple of days. Are people who don't have doctrine 100% (or even 30% correct) saved? I mean, if that were the case Catholics would not be saved because they believe in a works based salvation. Not to mention all of the other crazy stuff that they believe and do that I'm not going to get into in this topic. Calvinists and Mormons would not be saved either because of their wrong beliefs. Not to mention the Seventh Day Adventists. But, this cannot be the case as we are not saved by getting doctrine 100% correct we are saved by faith in Christ. Also Jesus says in John 6:37-6:40

"All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For...

If you look up fear in the thesaurus you will find an amazing number of words that are synonyms. This suggests that this emotion is not only universal, but very complex and difficult to pin down.

At one level the emotion of fear is similar in purpose to pain, it is there in us to keep us alive. But we all know that there are huge differences in the nature and level of fear we experience - from being 'subconsciously anxious' to 'terrified.'

This morning I read this verse and it made me pause.
Exodus 20:20
Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.”

The usual explanation I have been told, of the phrase "fear God" is that it means we should...

The apostle Paul clearly taught that we receive the Holy Spirit the moment we receive Jesus Christ as our Savior. First Corinthians 12:13 declares, “For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.” Romans 8:9 tells us that if a person does not possess the Holy Spirit, he or she does not belong to Christ: “You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.” Ephesians 1:13-14 teaches us that the Holy Spirit is the seal of salvation for all those who believe: “Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the...

This seems like such a simple question and I think we would all say yes.

BUT, a big but. The Church is not each person's church. It is easy to say the Holy Spirit works in the church each has chosen or been born into, but what about the church you disagree with?

The Church is the collection of all Christians. It is an invisible church made up of many different denominations. Different churches have different doctrines. Each claim the Holy Spirit has inspired them to the truth. Scripture tells us that the Holy Spirit is of truth. How can we all be inspired by the Holy Spirit and still disagree?

To those that argue their church has special access to the Holy Spirit, read Jesus' words.
Matthew 18:20 For where two or three...