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Rescued One

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He allows freedom-because He wants us to choose to use it rightly instead of abusing it. And He gives us the grace, by the Holy Spirit, to do just that without coverting us into automatons who couldn't do otherwise. That's how He's dealt with man since the beginning. It's only because He values that freedom so highly that sin/evil is even possible.
You have given your opinion, not scripture.
 
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Rescued One

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Sorry-not sure what you're meaning to say here. The standard for what constitutes sin is God's justice, His love to put it best. And that's exactly what He means to cultivate in us as He transforms us into His image. Jesus didn't come just so we could remain as we are-in our sins.
I never said that. Ephesians 2.

God allows evil, but He nevertheless chooses to save some not because they earn it.
 
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fhansen

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You have given your opinion, not scripture.
You've given your opinion. Scripture, from the beginning to end is a giant beckoning, an "if":

If you eat of the tree, if you obey my commandments and live in my ways, if you open the door when I knock, if you remain in Me, if you remain in His kindness, if you hear my words and put them into practice, if you hear my voice do not harden your hearts, if you refrain from sin, if you put to death the deeds of the flesh, if you wash your robes, if you forgive other’s their sins, for the victorious, all with eternal life at stake. Come to Me all who are weary, make every effort to be holy, to do good, If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. The Cross, itself, is a dramatic yet gentle beckoning, to draw near and know the love that put Jesus on it, if we will. In that way, as we're enticed by and turn to that love, that light, God triumphs over sin and death, over that darkness in us, not by force but by showing and drawing us to it.
 
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fhansen

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I never said that. Ephesians 2.

God allows evil, but He nevertheless chooses to save some not because they earn it.
He saves them unto righteousness: justification, salvation, and walking in the light cannot be separated. The reason there's no more condemnation in Christ (Rom 8:1) is because His sacrifice accomplishes reconciliation/union with God, the Vine, so that now "the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit (Rom 8:4). How does this work?

"Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God." Rom 8:12-14
 
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BibleBeliever1611

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If God loved the WHOLE world, we'd all be Univesalists, but He hates the workers of iniquity. He allows sin and He allowed Satan to tempt Eve. He allows wickedness. He allows child abuse, etc.
So you think there is contradiction in the Bible then? Because the Bible does say God loved the world meaning the whole world. "The world" is not just some part of it.
 
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David Lamb

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So you think there is contradiction in the Bible then? Because the Bible does say God loved the world meaning the whole world. "The world" is not just some part of it.
John 3:16 tells us how God loves the world (the word "so" in that verse means "thus","in this way."):

“"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (Joh 3:16 NKJV)

So that is part, the part of the inhabitants of the world who believe in His only begotten Son.
 
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Rescued One

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So you think there is contradiction in the Bible then? Because the Bible does say God loved the world meaning the whole world. "The world" is not just some part of it.
Why do you think there's a contradiction?

If God loved the WHOLE world, we'd all be Univesalists, but He hates the workers of iniquity. He allows sin and He allowed Satan to tempt Eve. He allows wickedness. He allows child abuse, etc.
 
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Rescued One

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I understand that that's how its meant to be. I also understand that no believer is forced to remain in Him and that walking in the darkness is still a possibility. And that's exactly why believers continue to sin. To the extent that they don't sin, they're walking fully and only in the light. To the extent that they do sin, they're walking away from it. To the extent that they never sin, they would be perfected in love: that's a one-to-one "equation", so to speak: to love God and neighbor perfectly would be to exclude sin completely and absolutely. And that's a work of God's in us that He's patient in achievng as He intends to draw us more and more on board with His work, with His love.

Anyway, probably the best understanding of this is to be found in the 1st letter of John.
Who said anything about force? No one! We are being sanctified --- that is a God given fact. We are saved, we've been purchased by Christ, we've passed from death to life...

John 6:39
And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day.

John 10:28
I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them out of My hand.

Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.


The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God.
 
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fhansen

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Who said anything about force? No one! We are being sanctified --- that is a God given fact. We are saved, we've been purchased by Christ, we've passed from death to life...
If one is made holy without regard to their will, such that they cannot do otherwise, then coercion is the only alternative to cooperation. In truth, God, by His grace, seeks, draws, coaxes, and covets your cooperation but refuses to outright cause it.
 
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Rescued One

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If one is made holy without regard to their will, such that they cannot do otherwise, then coercion is the only alternative to cooperation. In truth, God, by His grace, seeks, draws, coaxes, and covets your cooperation but refuses to outright cause it.
If Christ makes me free, I am free indeed. My greatest joy is to do His will! You definitely need to study your Bible!

Ephesians 2
4But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our trespasses. It is by grace you have been saved! 6And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7in order that in the coming ages He might display the surpassing riches of His grace, demonstrated by His kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

8For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our way of life.

You have such a dreary view of God. :(
 
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Rescued One

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If one is made holy without regard to their will, such that they cannot do otherwise, then coercion is the only alternative to cooperation. In truth, God, by His grace, seeks, draws, coaxes, and covets your cooperation but refuses to outright cause it.
NO bible verses! :(
 
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fhansen

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If Christ makes me free, I am free indeed. My greated joy is to do His will! You definitely need to study your Bible!

Ephesians 2
4But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our trespasses. It is by grace you have been saved! 6And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7in order that in the coming ages He might display the surpassing riches of His grace, demonstrated by His kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

8For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our way of life.

You have such a dreary view of God. :(
You need to study all of your bible. You focus on the carrots only and ignore the sticks. I have a healthy view of God, certainly as one who is sane-not saving some, for no reason other than the mere act of believing a few truths and without regard to what they do and choose, while damning the rest to eternal torment likewise without regard to their choice. My God loves all, died for all, wants none to perish but even that love allows us to go our own way if we so choose by the end of the day. The most concise yet profound teachuing on this bears repeating:
"At the evening of life we shall be judged on our love."

And this kind of love, His kind of love, if we have any understanding, is necessarily both a gift of grace-and a human choice to accept and act upon or express that gift. -only possible as we're connected to the Vine. That's your justice/righteousness defined.
 
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BibleBeliever1611

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John 3:16 tells us how God loves the world (the word "so" in that verse means "thus","in this way."):

“"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (Joh 3:16 NKJV)

So that is part, the part of the inhabitants of the world who believe in His only begotten Son.
No because God also loved the people who are not saved. The Bible even says that Jesus is not only the savior of the elect but also the savior of the non-elect.

"For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe." - 1. Timothy 4 10

So in that verse it's crystal clear that "all men" is actually all men, not just the elect. He's the savior of all men specially of those that believe meaning that he is also the savior of those who don't believe.
 
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Brightfame52

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@fhansen

If one is made holy without regard to their will, such that they cannot do otherwise, then coercion is the only alternative to cooperation. In truth, God, by His grace, seeks, draws, coaxes, and covets your cooperation but refuses to outright cause it.

False Ezk 36:26-27

26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.

27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
 
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fhansen

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@fhansen



False Ezk 36:26-27

26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.

27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
Yes, that all happens as long as we remain in Him John 15:5
 
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Brightfame52

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Yes, that all happens as long as we remain in Him John 15:5
You making up falsehoods. God causes His People to walk in the ways of God Ezk 36:27

27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
 
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fhansen

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You making up falsehoods. God causes His People to walk in the ways of God Ezk 36:27

27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
We need to read all of the Bible. As with other posters here you prefer only the carrots, not the sticks, not the goads, the warnings, the admonitions. The entire Bible, and the gospel, for that matter, make little sense unless, by them, God is appealing to and drawing man's will into greater and greater rectitude, into greater creator agreement with His wisdom and will and away from our own, into our allowing Him to be the cause as we finally come to see our desperate need for Him, all with the essential help of His grace which comes first. Again, sheer puppetry is not His biz. He could have just done that at the beginning and precluded all the ugly mess that resulted from the freedom that He gave and continues to give man, the freedom that He wants us to use correctly, for our own highest good.
 
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Brightfame52

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@fhansen

We need to read all of the Bible.

Start with this Ezk 36:26-27

26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.

27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them

Then ask God for faith to believe what you read
 
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