Why do some feel a tug towards God and others nothing?

ImAllLikeOkWaitWat

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This is true whether they are in a Christian family where both parents are religious and then you have the even more bizarre yet wonderful situation where both parents are staunch atheists and the child knows their parents would be upset if they end up believing in God yet the pull towards God is so strong they end up converting. Is this simply because God wants certain people with him and the rest he wants nothing to do with? I personally don't have a problem with this because God wants who he wants. Some might say well why would he create me if he wanted nothing to do with me? Thats a good question and a very deep one and I don't know how to answer that but I know there is an answer for it and it will be answered one day.
 

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...bizarre yet wonderful situation where both parents are staunch atheists and the child knows their parents would be upset if they end up believing in God yet the pull towards God is so strong they end up converting.

This was my situation, I was raised to be an atheist and it took a lot of courage to admit to my family I was a Christian. They never really accepted it. I don't know if it was because I was "called" rather I just kept an open mind and eventually anyone's honest seeking leads to God. They at some point stopped asking questions.
 
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St_Worm2

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Hello @ImAllLikeOkWaitWat, this could have something to do with it.

John 6
44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.

ἑλκύω/helkuo/draws - 1. to draw, drag off. 2. to draw by inward power, lead, impel
ἑλκύω NEVER means to woo or to entice, etc., Biblically ~or~ extra-Biblically, δελεάζω/deleazo does however .. e.g. James 1:14.

--David
 
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Friedrich Rubinstein

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the child knows their parents would be upset if they end up believing in God yet the pull towards God is so strong they end up converting
How do you know that "the pull is so strong"? Maybe the child is just not as stubborn as other people who resist God's calling. God draws everyone, but He doesn't force anyone.
If God forced some people to accept Him and didn't allow others to do the same then there is no need for the world we live in. God could've divided humanity into heaven and hell directly.
 
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Mark Quayle

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This is true whether they are in a Christian family where both parents are religious and then you have the even more bizarre yet wonderful situation where both parents are staunch atheists and the child knows their parents would be upset if they end up believing in God yet the pull towards God is so strong they end up converting. Is this simply because God wants certain people with him and the rest he wants nothing to do with? I personally don't have a problem with this because God wants who he wants. Some might say well why would he create me if he wanted nothing to do with me? Thats a good question and a very deep one and I don't know how to answer that but I know there is an answer for it and it will be answered one day.
I don't know why anyone would think Romans 9 doesn't answer that question, as well as many other passages and examples in Scripture as to how God uses people to accomplish his plans.
 
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Mark Quayle

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Hello @ImAllLikeOkWaitWat, this could have something to do with it.

John 6
44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.

ἑλκύω/helkuo/draws - 1. to draw, drag off. 2. to draw by inward power, lead, impel
ἑλκύω NEVER means to woo or to entice, etc., Biblically ~or~ extra-Biblically, δελεάζω/deleazo does however .. e.g. James 1:14.

--David
Agreed. That "the love of Christ compels us" may well mean a lot more than 'we respond to his love' --it may well be referencing the fact of the Holy Spirit's indwelling, to be that very compelling force.
 
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GOD Shines Forth!

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and then you have the even more bizarre yet wonderful situation where both parents are staunch atheists and the child knows their parents would be upset if they end up believing in God yet the pull towards God is so strong they end up converting.

Madelyn Murray O'Hare's son William immediately springs to mind. He announced his conversion to Christ on Mother's Day 1980 (!). She disowned William. Madelyn was a staunch atheist rebel to the end (she and her other son were murdered over money).
 
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ImAllLikeOkWaitWat

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I don't know why anyone would think Romans 9 doesn't answer that question, as well as many other passages and examples in Scripture as to how God uses people to accomplish his plans.

Which just comes down to God choosing who he wants and to hell with the rest of them?
 
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St_Worm2

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Agreed. That "the love of Christ compels us" may well mean a lot more than 'we respond to his love' --it may well be referencing the fact of the Holy Spirit's indwelling, to be that very compelling force.
Hi Mark, I can't say with certainty what the Father's "drawing" of His children to be actually entails, but I suspect that it has everything to do with the mighty work that He does in each of our hearts (prior to our justification) to quicken us/cause us to be born again/make us, who were dead (spiritually), alive in Christ .. e.g. Ezekiel 36:26-27; John 3:3; Ephesians 2:1-5.

God bless you!

--David
 
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St_Worm2

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Which just comes down to God choosing who he wants and to hell with the rest of them technically speaking?
Or perhaps, speaking even more "technically" ;), it all comes down to God allowing the vast majority of mankind the freedom to choose who ~they~ want (which is clearly not Him) but, at the same time, refusing to allow ~all~ of us to perish by interfering with the free will of His elect (the saints 'to be' in this case) such that a remnant is saved.

God bless you!

--David
 
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ImAllLikeOkWaitWat

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Or perhaps, speaking even more "technically" ;), it all comes down to God allowing the vast majority of mankind the freedom to choose who ~they~ want (which is clearly not Him) but, at the same time, refusing to allow ~all~ of mankind to perish by interfering with the free will of His elect (the saints 'to be' in this case) such that a remnant is saved.

God bless you!

--David

So you're saying no one would choose God(be saved) unless he willed them to?
 
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St_Worm2

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St_Worm2

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He wills all to be saved.
Truly! The One who tells us that He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked is the same One who tells us (through the pen of St. Paul) that He desires all men to be saved .. Ezekiel 33:11; 1 Timothy 2:4. Nevertheless, none of us come to the Lord Jesus for salvation on our own, apart from the Father's drawing us to Him, that is .. John 6:44.

We are also told that ~ALL~ who are so drawn (by the Father) will choose to come to the Lord Jesus and be saved, and that ~all~ of these (drawn ones) will also be raised up by the Lord Jesus Himself on the last day .. e.g. John 6:37-40.
Paul was almost forced.
Interesting! Please elaborate.

Thanks :)

--David
 
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Andrewn

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John 6
44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.

ἑλκύω/helkuo/draws - 1. to draw, drag off. 2. to draw by inward power, lead, impel
ἑλκύω NEVER means to woo or to entice, etc., Biblically ~or~ extra-Biblically,
The Lord draws all people, not only a few "predestined" or "elect."

"The word “draw” need not perplex us; and all the theories opposed to the width of divine love and influence, and to the freedom of human will and action, which have been built upon it, are at once seen to be without support, when we remember that the only other passage in the New Testament where it occurs in a moral sense is in the declaration: “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me” (John 12:32)."

Joh 12:32 And when I am lifted up from the earth, I shall draw all people to myself.'


Quotation from Ellicott's Commentary.
 
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TedT

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Is this simply because God wants certain people with him and the rest he wants nothing to do with? I personally don't have a problem with this because God wants who he wants. Some might say well why would he create me if he wanted nothing to do with me? Thats a good question and a very deep one and I don't know how to answer that but I know there is an answer for it and it will be answered one day.

The only problem with thinking this way is Calvin's theory that election is UNconditional (making reprobation or non-election also UNconditional) because of the doctrine of our being created on earth.

Please consider:
IF we were created before the creation of the physical universe and in that time we made a faith based decision to accept YHWH's claims to be our GOD OR a faith based decision to reject HIM as a liar about being god and therefore a false god then it is probable that our election or reprobation was based upon OUR decisions of faith (an unproven hope) and not arbitrary, ie, based upon nothing as Calvin suggested, based upon his knowledge that all are sinners from conception ie, creation, ie equal in sin and separation from GOD. We were elected, ie, chosen for salvation before the foundation of the world so if we were not there, Calvin was probably right but if we were there and making faith based decisions, then he was wrong and your instincts are correct.

Someone was there at the creation of the physical universe as Job 38:7 ...while the morning stars sang together and ALL the sons of God shouted for joy?* attests and Rom 1:18-20 can be properly read (if 'heretcally' interpreted) as suggesting it was everyone so no one had an excuse for their rebellion to HIM.

*Does ALL mean ALL or only some or even none, referring to angels ( a job description, not a race of beings and NOT in the quote at all) and not the legitimate human sons of GOD? Was the word angels chosen as a bias against our being there before the foundation of the world?
 
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TedT

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Or perhaps, speaking even more "technically" ;), it all comes down to God allowing the vast majority of mankind the freedom to choose who ~they~ want ...
Choosing by a heart filled with evil desires is not a true choice, James 1:14 But each one is tempted when by his own evil desires he is lured away and enticed.… as our decision making mechanism, our will, is enslaved to the addictive power of sin and all our decisions reflect that, all are imbued with some element of evil, there is no freedom in our choices.

Only by a choice arising from an ingenuously innocent person's deepest hope without proof and without any coercion or constraint of any kind can be called free - and the only time we might have had such an experience was before the foundation of the world, before we chose to rebel and became sinners, the sinful good seed, the sheep gone astray into sin, HIS sinful elect.
 
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TedT

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So you're saying no one would choose God(be saved) unless he willed them to?
YES - although I would phrase it : ...no sinner would choose God (be saved) unless he willed them to? And HE would not save them unless as innocents and by their free will (not the fake choice of choosing from an enslaved will filled with sinful desires) they asked HIM to save them if they should ever need to be saved before they became sinners, the reason for HIS electing some to salvation but not those who rejected HIS offer of salvation as the lies of a false god.
 
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