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Isn't Free Will Arbitrary?

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ChristsSoldier115

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You freely choose Christ, but you cannot freely choose Christ unless God chooses to grant you grace to want to choose Him. It is utterly impossible to choose God on your own, your salvation is utterly depended upon God, and not by anything you do.
 
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ChristsSoldier115

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Rick Otto said:
Paradox: utterly dependent freedom.
Click to expand...

The paradox of God's sovereignty and man's free will can be troubling to the modern western thinker. Definitely here in america for sure.. self determination usually goes hand in hand with our individuality culture. Anything that undermines that is usually rejected as illogical. We have to have a choice. We have to be in control..but isn't that sort of thinking what got humanity into this mess to begin with?
 
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Adam and Eve were in a messy situation even before they sinned, because there was no way for them to humbly accept God’s pure charity as pure charity without first having a “need” to be humble enough to overcome the pride of the situation they were in.

The situation we are in today is infinitely better than the situation Adam and Eve were in before they sinned, since our eternal close relationship with God is dependent on our willingness to accept His charity while their eternal close relationship with God was dependent on their personal ability to obey.
 
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Rick Otto

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Mmmmmm,... sort of.
I think of Adam's disobedience as a failure to keep the first of the two greatest commandments, and him missing an opportunity at an interesting conversation with God.
What I feel troubling is not knowing what the will is free from... I mean, certainly God doesn't need to micromanage, but angels might.
! Now I'm even hearing how gut flora can have psychotropic/ behavioral effects.
Got yogurt?
I need to feel secure more than I need to feel free, so determinism puts a presumably good God in more of a position to provide me with eternal security than free will. Free Will leaves me too vulnerable.
 
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