Can You Create Faith?

[friend of]

So it's not dependent upon the soil. I wonder why Jesus got that wrong.

Ah no, I'm just going by what the Word says.

 

[friend of]

Is there any evidence in that text which proves your theory?

Do you believe that God can draw anyone to Himself, including those who rejected Him earlier on in life? Yes or no?

 

[bbbbbbb]

I once walked out of a church when the "worship leader" said something along those lines, giving God permission to join us in the worship service.

This reminds me of a wedding I attended. At the reception the bride's brother, a self-professed and very outspoken Calvinist, earnestly implored God to be sovereign over the reception. How can a sovereign God be persuaded to be more sovereign than He really is?

 

[jimmyjimmy]

Do you believe that God can draw anyone to Himself, including those who rejected Him earlier on in life? Yes or no?

Yes, I do. I believe that the only way that one can come to Him is by His work. He saves.

 

[jimmyjimmy]

This reminds me of a wedding I attend. At the receipt the bride's brother, a self-professed and very outspoken Calvinist, earnestly implored God to be sovereign over the reception. How can a sovereign God be persuaded to be more sovereign than He really is?

LOL! Yes! exactly!

That dude flunked out of Calvinist school, obviously.

 

[Hammster]

An example would be someone who who, earlier in life, heard the word but had no roots and the word didn't grow.

Later on in life, God can decide to make that person the type of soil that would retain the word and grow deep roots with it.

Do where do you see seeds being transplanted?

 

[friend of]

@Hamster + Jimmy

Guys look, when you apply the Socratic method inexhaustibly to every single thing, you can actually make the idea of gravity itself into a spurious proposition.

 

[Hammster]

Ah no, I'm just going by what the Word says.

No, you're not. It says nothing like that.

 

[Hammster]

@Hamster + Jimmy

Guys look, when you apply the Socratic method inexhaustibly to every single thing, you can actually make the idea of gravity itself into a spurious proposition.

When you make a statement, you should be more than willing to defend it.

 

[jimmyjimmy]

When you make a statement, you should be more than willing to defend it.

Seems reasonable.

 

[jimmyjimmy]

@Hamster + Jimmy

Guys look, when you apply the Socratic method inexhaustibly to every single thing, you can actually make the idea of gravity itself into a spurious proposition.

Do you think that we should read the Bible carefully, trying to ascertain the meaning God intended, or not? I ask that seriously, because this is serious business.

Satan quotes scripture, yet he twists its application. False teachers have Bibles, and they take things out out context, misleading many. . . We have to carefully look at God's Word to determine what it means.

Don't be angry at us for insisting that you/we don't add, subtract or twist the text. We only want to drive at the truth contained within for the good of all, and the glory of God.

 

[Philip_B]

Do you have anything to back up those assertions?

1. Ephesians 2:8
   For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God
2. Hebrews 11:1
   Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
3. Luke 22:67
   They said, ‘If you are the Messiah, tell us.’ He replied, ‘If I tell you, you will not believe;
4. John 20:25
   So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord.’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.’
5. John 12:37
   Although he had performed so many signs in their presence, they did not believe in him.
6. Proverbs 3:5-6
   Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight.
   In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
7. Matthew 4:19
   And he said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.’

Clearly salvation dependent of grace and faith is the work of God, however we are called to accept and trust that, and in that sense participate in our own salvation. To me that is much of the strength of the Annunciation passage in Luke's Gospel and Mary's response 'let it be to me according to your word'.

 

[jimmyjimmy]

1. Ephesians 2:8
   For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God
2. Hebrews 11:1
   Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
3. Luke 22:67
   They said, ‘If you are the Messiah, tell us.’ He replied, ‘If I tell you, you will not believe;
4. John 20:25
   So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord.’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.’
5. John 12:37
   Although he had performed so many signs in their presence, they did not believe in him.
6. Proverbs 3:5-6
   Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight.
   In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
7. Matthew 4:19
   And he said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.’

Clearly salvation dependent of grace and faith is the work of God, however we are called to accept and trust that, and in that sense participate in our own salvation. To me that is much of the strength of the Annunciation passage in Luke's Gospel and Mary's response 'let it be to me according to your word'.

This is off topic.

 

[Philip_B]

This is off topic.

Very sorry I was trying to answer the question you asked me. My contention if you recall was that Faith is both gift/grace and decision. You asked if I had any thing to support that. I have tried and failed - again it appears.

 

[com7fy8]

Good soil, not bad soil that made good choices, right?

Where do you see God changing the type of ground the seed is in?

There is "faith working through love" (in Galatians 5:6). If we are believing in Jesus, in a worldly way, we are not in the soil of God's love. But if God changes the soil to love, then we see God very differently, because of how love has us seeing

Can we get ourselves, then, to have faith which works through God's own love? God changes how we are rooted.

no

 

[jimmyjimmy]

Very sorry I was trying to answer the question you asked me. My contention if you recall was that Faith is both gift/grace and decision. You asked if I had any thing to support that. I have tried and failed - again it appears.

Yes. Faith is the subject, not salvation. We aren't discussing soteriology. Were are discussing faith, and its origins.

 

[jimmyjimmy]

There is "faith working through love" (in Galatians 5:6). If we are believing in Jesus, in a worldly way, we are not in the soil of God's love. But if God changes the soil to love, then we see God very differently, because of how love has us seeing

Can we get ourselves, then, to have faith which works through God's own love? God changes how we are rooted.

no

Thanks. Now where does it say that in the parable of the Sower?

 

[RC1970]

Very sorry I was trying to answer the question you asked me. My contention if you recall was that Faith is both gift/grace and decision. You asked if I had any thing to support that. I have tried and failed - again it appears.

You understand that faith is a gift from God and it is this faith that allows you to make the decision. So, if God is enabling you to make the decision, then God is the one who solely gets the credit for your salvation. Your activity comes after God has enabled you. Do you agree?

 

[Hammster]

There is "faith working through love" (in Galatians 5:6). If we are believing in Jesus, in a worldly way, we are not in the soil of God's love. But if God changes the soil to love, then we see God very differently, because of how love has us seeing

Can we get ourselves, then, to have faith which works through God's own love? God changes how we are rooted.

no

I'm still not seeing where God changes the soil.

 

[garee]

Can a person walk with the Spirit without faith? You have to have faith first right?

Without the faith of Christ the exclusive faith of God no man could believe God not seen .It is the work of Christ's faith as a labor of His love that we can believe