First of all, although you will probably say something to the effect that you just posting verses in reply is because they are self-evident, you should really explain how they fit into your argument and the way you are reading them.
God speaks for Himself, He has not left us without a Witness, neither in Scripture, nor in this world via His Son.
I do not presuppose Him to mean anything but what He says, with the facts of His Character in view.
God is good, and for any Scripture to hold true, it must be evaluated in light of the facts of the Character of God, which does not change. Eg;Light, Love, ect..
Jeremiah 9:24
but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he hath understanding, and knoweth me, that I am Jehovah who exerciseth lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith Jehovah.
Yes, obviously Balaam was dabbling in divination and culpable for that sin. But you have missed the reason why I posted the passage.
Then, I'm not the only one.. For I too quoted a passage directly corresponding to this one which states that God was angry with Balaam
for his sin, and for no other reason.
2 Peter 2:16
but he was rebuked for his own transgression: a dumb ass spake with man's voice and stayed the madness of the prophet.
You understand that I am quoting this passage in direct opposition to the theory you've espoused as God being the 'first cause' of Balaam's sin?
For why would God rebuke the actions that He Himself caused?
You've yet to answer this question..
Is the Lord God of double mind in your opinon?
Condemning the actions of His 'alter ego'?
First of all, God issues a command to Balaam to get up and follow the men. What does God do next?
God interceeds, He makes Balaam to know that he has sinned in not trusting the word of the Lord, and so Judges, and shows
Mercy unto him
upon the professed ownership and repentance of the deed which he had though to do.
Jeremiah 18:8
If that nation, against whom I have pronounced,
turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.
Good, I am pleased to see that you acknowledge that God's sovereignty extends to him having the right to smite his creation and take life.
Now, if you will acknowledge that God has no
pleasure in the death of the wicked, this might actually be tenuable!
He is perfectly able and totally righteous in doing so.
Yes. The Lord does not, CANNOT act against His nature, which is sinless. He cannot act like a sinner, wickedly, because He is not.
Some people who take a lesser view of God's sovereignty would say this is a bad thing and even evil.
Righteous vengeance is never unjust. Spiteful vengeance is unjust.
Lamentations 3:33
For he does not
willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men.
Just because He
can, doesn't mean He
will.
Romans 2:4
Or despisest thou the riches of his
goodness and
forbearance and
longsuffering; not knowing that
the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
No, it does not contradict. I do not know what you mean by "wrested verse," either.
I mean wrested as in taken out of context. For indeed, the context is thus, in my ow words;
God delights to take vengeance upon evildoers
for the sake of His Kingdom, not just some arbitrary decision to stomp upon men and shed blood merely becuase He can, as some here have charged in assuming God to be some sort of tyrannt,
unjust and thereby
unfit to rule and Judge over the affairs of men.
Hebrews 6:10
God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.
In saying that God is the first cause of man's sin is equal to saying God is unjust. For no man would punish another for something they could not help! YES, our ways are not God's Way, His way is HIGHER than our ways, the bar set we set for ourselves is
nothing in comparrison to the bar that He sets for Himself!
Genesis 18:25
That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked, that so the righteous should be as the wicked; that be far from thee:
shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?
So now, if God is the first cause of sin, if He is the One Who has placed it in mans heart to sin, and who can resist His Will, then He
is the One culpable for that sin, for the person has no power in respect to God, no man can resist His Will. The end of the matter is that this theological supposition ultimately disavows the doctrine of Free Choice, for a man is only held accountable (by God) to sin if he has a choice NOT to (sin).
Deuteronomy 30:19
This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you
life and death, blessings and curses.
Now choose life, so that you and your children
may live
In my view, both the actions of God in 1 Samuel 2:6-7 and John 10:10 are perfectly compatible and not contradictory.
Same. But I percieve that the interpretation of these verses each of us holds is wholly contradictory..
For when the Scripture tells us that the Lord both kills and makes alive, I percieve your intrepration (of the killing) to be an arbitrary act of God, and not, rather, according to the purposes of man's heart. As with the giving of life, I also percieve your interpretation to be some arbitrary act on the part of God, rather than according to the heart of men, which only the Lord is privy to.
Tell me, is not a turning from sin and placing our faith in the propitiation of Jesus Christ on our behalf a
prerequisite to Eternal Life?
No, God does not cause men to sin to the extent that he is culpable for any sin or wrongdoing. I have already explained my position on this.
So then, what exactly is the extent in which He causes men to sin? In my estimation, you have not explained your position in this regard, but rather, have stated quite the opposite in your assertation that God is the 'first cause' of evil actions.
Is this not what you said?
Am I mistaken?
Please clarify.
As for you, however, the verses from Ecclesiastes and Psalms seem to be giving you trouble, for you have just copied the same tired tropes as your reply.
Tired tropes as you may construde Scripture to be, but with me it is new every morning
You understand this reply has thus far taken me two days [a thoughtful estimate of the total time] to complete? That's not including the two faithfully set out posts written before hand which the forums ate! :o
I have a thinker type of personality, and require time to formulate my thoughts. I am sorry you've taken offense.
How do you account for the actions of God in these two passages and make them compatible with the position you have taken? The verses from Psalms that you posted do nothing but deflect the problem you are having. Here are my verses once again:
Ecclesiastes 7:13-14
13 Consider the work of God;
For who can make straight what He has made crooked?
Moral bondage is the result of being accustomed to
doing evil,
not one's birth.
Do you honestly believe that God makes junk?
Psalm 105:25
25 He turned their heart to hate His people,
To deal craftily with His servants.
Who is 'their'?
Is is not the Jews?
And is it not the Prophets, His servants that they are hateful of?
Are they not hateful because their deeds are wicked and the Prophets are testifying against them?
Genesis 4:7
If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.
Acts 10:34-35
Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:
But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.
John 3:20
For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
THEREFORE is Scripture true, for the moral laws
of God testifiy that their deeds are evil,
therefore is their heart turned! It's the moral law of reaping and sewing in action [Galatians 6:7]! The one
God set in place.
IOW If you continue in sin, your heart will be hardened where you will find no more place for repentance. And God is Just to leave you there, if He should so chose. [Hebrews 12:17]
Genesis 6:3
And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
Explain how this passage has anything to do with the one I posted from Psalms 105:24-25. As far as I am concerned, it appears to be more deflection on your part.
The Jews are cast off now, because their deeds are and were evil. But all
Israel will be saved.
Romans 9:8
That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.
Once again, I fail to see what you are trying to prove to me by posting this succession of passages without any commentary or explanation.
I do not like to comment on sacred Scripture, as I'd much rather just shut my mouth and let God do the talking Himself. Especially in light of this sectarian society which infringes on the rights of women to teach and have authority over those whom God places in their trust. So, in order not to offend, I often take this approach as my safest bet in order to minister in the Holy Spirit.
I speak of nothing that has not already been revealed (in the body of Scripture, by the Witness of the Holy Spirit), so, it's fine with me to continue to quote verse in response to assertations and questions.
And, I'll tell you right now, I don't know everything..
I used to think I did, because that's what was written in Scripture (ye know all things..), but the Lord knocked me off that horse a long time ago..
A wrested verse (on my part), to be sure..
Which is why I am so fearful of teaching error, for I can be deceived.
Which is why i take things slow, and contemplate, reason and pray with the Lord over all things.
Both the one I posted and the ones you put forth here are totally compatible in my view.
They are compatable in my view as well, in fact, all Scripture is
compatable to the degree that it is inspired by God and penned by holy men submitted to the Holy Spirit.
There are no contradictions or incongruities.
Actually, there are contradictions, many if fact. But tell me, do you require me to go over each one? Or can you not allow me to form my own opinions?
However, you have failed to explain how the actions of God in Isaiah 6:9-10 are compatible with the position you have taken.
Is the context now irrelevant?
WHO is 'this people'?
Is it not the Jews who refused to believe in Jesus as their Messiah?
Is He not the stone of offense and rcok of stumbling spoken of in verse?
Do these verses now pertain to the world, or only the people whom God foreknew?
How so? Merely saying that they contradict does not prove anything. Once again, you are failing to engage my argument and to articulate your own position in relation to the verses I have posted.
I's sorry you feel that my contemplation, reasoning and prayer with the Lord gets in the way of my engaging your arguement.
In the one hand, you have God arbitrarily blinding men to the Light of Christ. In the other, you have Christ Jesus come to give
Life to the world.
Therefore, the context is most definately relation
only to the Jews who refused Christ as their Saviour.
Romans 11:25
For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that
blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
Setting aside the fact that once again you have aimed an ad hominem and personal attack against me, I will answer: no. But how do you account for the actions of God in this passage in relation to the position you have taken? Still deflecting it seems.
You can accuse me all you like, I'm perfectly dead, thank you for reminder
As for your question as to how this accounts for the actions of God I answer,
what actions of God?
2 Corinthians 4:4
in whom
the god of this world hath blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn upon them.
God did not 'do' it, He merely 'allowed' it, until the full number of the Gentiles came in.