Hi,
I want to ask a few questions about regeneration and belief from a calvinist/ reformed standpoint. I have some grasp of it from theology. But have always been unsure if I have understood this. What I think I understand is that from the reformed see regeneration as God's Work, by the Holy Spirit, and the Word and that it is monergistic. That it precedes faith and repentance. What I am unsure about the circumstances under which it takes place and whether faith and repentance always follow. Can for instance someone be regenerate for a short time, but then lose it, because they have not followed through?
Can a person prepare themselves for regeneration, by reading the Bible for example, or praying to be born again?
Must a person first believe that there is a God, before regeneration can occur. How then would someone who does not believe in God, become a christian? Is it by accepting rational arguments for God's existence, so that they move from the position of atheism to theism?
I want to ask a few questions about regeneration and belief from a calvinist/ reformed standpoint. I have some grasp of it from theology. But have always been unsure if I have understood this. What I think I understand is that from the reformed see regeneration as God's Work, by the Holy Spirit, and the Word and that it is monergistic. That it precedes faith and repentance. What I am unsure about the circumstances under which it takes place and whether faith and repentance always follow. Can for instance someone be regenerate for a short time, but then lose it, because they have not followed through?
Can a person prepare themselves for regeneration, by reading the Bible for example, or praying to be born again?
Must a person first believe that there is a God, before regeneration can occur. How then would someone who does not believe in God, become a christian? Is it by accepting rational arguments for God's existence, so that they move from the position of atheism to theism?