Just in case some readers don't understand Monergism....Monergism is the view within Christian theology which holds that God works through the Holy Spirit to bring about the salvation of an individual through spiritual regeneration, regardless of the individual's cooperation.
So that's your version of true love? So you'd say it's a loving act to just pick someone as a spouse put handcuffs on them drag them to the church and demand they say I DO without them having any choice in the matter? I'd suggest you might want to think through on what you're saying. I don't know if you have any kids but what if someone tried to do that to your daughter....would you stand for that? I'm guessing when the minister would ask, "Can anyone give any reason why these two should not be married let him speak now or forever hold his peace" I'm guessing you would stand up and exclaim, "Yes I can....he's forced her to do this and she had NO CHOICE!" Well, wouldn't you?
Spiritual corpses cannot cooperate, sorry but I believe what Scripture tells us about the nature of man. Here's a sample:
Genesis 6:5-8,11-13 - Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that
every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually..... The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt;
for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. And God said to Noah, "The end of all flesh has come before Me, for
the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth."
Genesis 8:19 - Then the Lord said in His heart, "I will never again curse the ground for man's sake,
although the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done.
Job 9:2-4 - Truly I know it is so, but
how can a man be righteous before God?
Job 14:4 -
Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? No one!
Job 15:14-16 -
What is man, that he could be pure? And he who is born of a woman, that he could be righteous? If God puts not trust in His saints, and the heavens are not pure in His sight, how much less man, who is abominable and filthy, who drinks iniquity like water!
Psalms 14:1-3 -
The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none who does good. The Lord looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any who understand who seek God. They have all turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is none who does good, no, not one.
Psalms 25:11 - For Your name's sake, O Lord, pardon my iniquity, for it is great.
Psalms 51:5 -
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.
Psalms 58:1-5 - Do you indeed speak righteousness, you silent ones? Do you judge uprightly, you sons of men?
No, in heart you work wickedness; you weigh out the violence of your hands in the earth. The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies. Their poison is like the poison of a serpent; they are like the deaf cobra that stops its ear, which will not heed the voice of charmers, charming ever so skillfully.
Psalms 94:11,12 - The Lord knows the thoughts of man, that they are futile.
Psalms 130:3,4 -
If You, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared.
Psalms 143:2 - Do not enter into judgment with your servant,
for in Your sight no one living is righteous.
Proverbs 20:6,9 -
Most men will proclaim each his own goodness, but who can find a faithful man?. . . Who can say, "I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin"?
Ecc 7:20 -
For there is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin.
Ecc 9:3 -
This is an evil in all that is done under the sun: that one thing happens to all. Truly the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil; madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead.
Isaiah 1:5,6 - Why should you be stricken again?
You will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faints.
Isaiah 6:1-6,9,10
Isaiah 48:8,9,11 -
Surely you did not hear, surely you did not know; surely from long ago your ear was not opened. For I knew that you would deal very treacherously, and were called a transgressor from the womb.
Isaiah 53:6 -
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
Isaiah 64:5-9 - You meet him who rejoices and does righteousness, who remembers You in Your ways. You are indeed angry,
for we have sinned--in these ways we continue; and we need to be saved. But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like a filthy garment; we all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. And there is no one who calls on Your name, who stirs himself up to take hold of You; for You have hidden Your face from us, and have consumed us because of our iniquities. But now, O Lord, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You our potter; and all we are the work of Your hand. Do not be furious, O Lord, nor remember iniquity forever; indeed, please look - we all are Your people!
Jeremiah 2:22,29 Jeremiah 10:23
Jeremiah 13:23 -
Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? Then may you also do good who are accustomed to do evil.
Jeremiah 16:12 -
And you have done worse than your fathers, for behold, each one walks according to the imagination of his own evil heart, so that no one listens to Me.
Jeremiah 17:9,10 -
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.
Mica 7:2-4 -
The faithful man has perished from the earth, and there is no one upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood; every man hunts his brother with a net, that they may successfully do evil with both hands - the prince asks for gifts, the judge seeks a bribe, and the great man utters his evil desire; so they scheme together. The best of them is like a brier; the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge; the day of your watchman and your punishment comes; now shall be their perplexity.
Matthew 7:17-19 -
Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. [What are we by nature--good trees or bad?]
Matthew 12:33-35 - Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. Brood of vipers!
How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. [c.f. Romans 3:12]
Matthew 15:19 -
For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.
John 3:18-21 - He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and
men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.
John 5:37-47 - And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me.
You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form. But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe. You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to me that you may have life. I do not receive honor from men. But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you.
John 8:34 -
Jesus answered them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin."
John 14:16-18 - And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever,
even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.
Romans 2:1 - Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.
Romans 3:9-23 -
9 What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin. 10 As it is written: "There is none righteous, no, not one; 11there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. 12 They have all gone out of the way; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one. 13 Their throat is an open tomb; with their tongues they have practiced deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips; 14 whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. 15 Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16 destruction and misery are in their ways; 17 and the way of peace they have not known. 18 There is no fear of God before their eyes." 19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God. 20 Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. 21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God which is through faith in Jesus to all and on all who believe.
For there is no difference; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Romans 6:6,20 - knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer
be slaves of sin.
Romans 7:5,6 - For when we were in the flesh, the passions of sins which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death.
Romans 7:17 -
For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.
Romans 8:5-8 -
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
For to be carnally [fleshly] minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. [c.f. Heb 11:6, which says "But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." If those who are in the flesh cannot please God, then it follows that they cannot have faith and they cannot believe, for those things please God. That faith and that belief, then, must come from God Himself.]
Romans 8:13,14 Romans 11:32
1 Corinthians 2:14 -
But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
Galatians 3:22 -
But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
Galatians 5:17 -
For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.
Ephesians 2:1 -
And you were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
Ephesians 4:17-24 - This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk,
in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to licentiousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
Ephesians 5:8 -
For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.
Ephesians 5:14 - Therefore He says: "Awake, you who sleep,
arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light."
Colossians 1:13 - He has delivered us from
the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.
Colossians 1:21 -
And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled....
Colossians 2:13 -
And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses.
2 Timothy 2:25-26 - in humility correcting those who are in opposition,
if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.
Titus 3:3-7 -
For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.
James 2:10,11 -
For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble on one point, he is guilty of all.
1 John 1:8,10 -
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.... If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.
1 John 3:10 [c.f. Romans 3:10] 1 John 5:19 1 Peter 2:25