Free Will and Loving/Rejecting God

[orangebox21]

Seems like alot of fanfic in that post Orange. The ot jews saw god, full stop. The ot jews did not see god, full stop. There's no requirement of consistency because these are just narratives - not news reports from the front. Your extraneous jerrying with the narrative is an effect of your extraneous beliefs, not a problem with the narratives. They were not written with each other (or your beliefs) in mind.

The purpose of the post was to qualify who specifically is the God that people saw. Given that people saw Jesus (who is God) face to face and yet didn't believe in Him, it cannot be logically concluded that seeing God necessitates belief.

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Biblically speaking no one can nor will choose God (Romans 3:10-12, 1 Corinthians 2:14, Ephesians 2:1). If a person's free will cannot be used to choose to love God, it would therefore follow that the purpose of free will cannot be so that we can freely choose to love God.

Given how often God calls people to repentance it seems odd to interpret those passages to mean that people cannot respond to that call. I offer alternative interpretations to your proof texts based on the Word’s ubiquitous call to repentance:

Romans 3:10-12 – Paul’s reference to Man’s current sinful condition does not negate our ability to repent. True people do not seek God, but God does come to us. And when he does we can reject His Grace or repent.

1 Corinthians 2:14 – Paul’s reference to the ‘natural man’ not receiving the spirit refers to our earthly nature, i.e. the “body of death”. Man is also a spiritual creature which is the part that receives Christ.

Ephesians 2:1 – This passage hinges completely on what you think has been predestined. Those who, like you, profess the doctrine of election say that our eternal fate has been predestined, some to heaven, others to perdition. However, placed within the light of all Scripture, it is better said that God has prepared beforehand (pre-) a place in heaven (destination) for all, even if only some accept.

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