Strengthening families through biblical principles.
Focus on the Family addresses the use of biblical principles in parenting and marriage to strengthen the family.
Read daily articles from Focus on the Family in the Marriage and Parenting Resources forum.
I follow Christ and have been for more than 20 years. This was not my choice, but because I had run out of choices on my own, God chose me.
Sure he did. I have some question....Did God choose me ?
Well, it's my quote. At least give me the credit for it. It can be found in a response I made here
http://www.christianforums.net/showthread.php?t=43711&page=3
Sure he did. I have some question....
1. Why do you feel God has not chosen you?
2. what's this about serving two masters and being chosen by God? How is that related?
3. You asked, "do we truly believe that God alone is good?" yes, and the bible clearly says this. Who else is truly good?
4. How is being chosen by God not also following God? Can you clarify that? Let me ask it another way, What is inconstant with being chosen and following God?
Who sits on the throne of our life.. is it me or the Lord ? So how would you see that as God choosing you ? When we're supposed to lay down our life for His infinitely glorious life, in us..?
Because as mentioned... the foundational element of following Christ is DENYING SELF and taking up OUR CROSS..
How does that lead you to believe that God choose you ?
For this to amount to anything I have to understand fully where you are coming from. I asked for your charity in my attempt to do that.
From what I understand of your view, I think, I would say that you feel that you are in charge of your life.
That is to say, that you believe it is you who sits on the thrown of your life. However, I'm not convinced that, that is what you believe, but you have indicated it is your choice to follow God, and not God's choice that you follow him. So that leads me to believe your in charge of you.
Your foundational reasoning is based on this verse. Luke: 9-23-24 NIV, 23 Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.
Am I understanding your correctly? Is that right?
So the question here is fairly straightforward... And there's no bait.. Just real life Christian discussion on what following Christ entails.. And how that might relate to God choosing you, even unconditionally.
Ok, so what's the question? I still don't understand how following Christ and being chosen by God are mutually exclusive, as you seem to be suggesting. Or maybe your not suggesting that?
Well obviously you're not getting it... So perhaps you can share how God chose you and your views on following Christ.. If you'd like.. There are no obligations here..
Perhaps a vital aspect of this discussion is the very nature of the Christian life itself..
A born again Christian has two completely distinct natures living within the same lump of clay... there's our old man according to the FLESH, and there's the new man which is the SPIRIT of Christ in us, our hope of glory.
So there's our Adamic nature according to our natural birth, along with the new Divine nature of Christ from our spiritual birth... again, within the same lump of clay.. right within this frail earthen vessel of mine. There's literally an elder man (you) and a younger man (Christ) within you.
I would comment that the depth of these things are completely foreign to a newly born person in Christ, and begin to be 'realized' so to speak after years of scriptural study and experiencing life as a Christian... ie, following Christ..
We know that we're to reckon our old man as dead and yet at the same time we must also put him off... there's an ongoing WAR between the FLESH and the SPIRIT... and not only that we also war against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world.
If a person has been in Christ for a number of years.. they should be well aware of this struggle within our members.. the true light of Christ within us should show us clearly who WE ARE and clearly who CHRIST is..
It's like Night and Day obviously.. the old man doesn't ever get any better (remember, we're to reckon him DEAD), and Christ in us can't get any better..
And that's our hope of glory.. it's not Christ and me.. my old Adamic nature according to the flesh will ALWAYS war against the SPIRIT of CHRIST in me..
It's Christ in me.. that's our hope of glory..
Those are semantics I'd say you can't go wrong with after hearing your take on the nature of man, but keep this in mind, not everyone is saved from the wrath of God.
People leave this physical life with not an once of redemption. I had planed to be one of them.
But if salvation requires a conscious response from the sinner then there are otherwise sweet people, who have no hope if God does not choose them, babies, the mentally handicap or ill for example.
We are talking about theology here, and if the nature of man is sinful from birth, and salvation requires a response to the call; a receiving of God, they are doomed.