7892  Forums / Theology Forum / Freedom Of The Will Jonathan Edwards on: February 05, 2007, 10:55:54 AM Quote Quote Unless God is free to act as He pleases so that He is the cause of whatever comes to pass then any other reasoning would put something else as the cause and thus God would not be free to act as He pleases. Then God would not be God, and the cause paradigm would be left up to what man thinks God is. I'm not following your reasoning on this.  One, God is free to act or not act as He pleases, and He is free to permit Man to be a cause of some effect if it so pleases him.  Two, if you're worried about God's reputation, as Creator of Man He is still "First Cause".  Is this what you mean by "passive cause"?  And Three, if you assign all effects to God's causing, you're making God the author of sin and originator of evil.      Everybody move back a couple hundred meters in case lightning strikes. One, God is free to act or not act as He pleases, and He is free to permit Man to be a cause of some effect if it so pleases him.  Two, if you're worried about God's reputation, as Creator of Man He is still \"First Cause\".  God choosing not to act, is no choice at all. The effect of choice points to the cause of choice. The choice is cause by the motive or the desire. If there is no effect then the desire does not exist. For God to choose to allow me to be in between two equal desires is the same as to say that God desires that i have no desire. Which is to say that God does not act at all in salvation. To give me the ability to have a desire to be saved that comes apart from Gods desire that i be saved is to say that God has no purpose in my desire to be saved. If i choose for myself to be saved then my my prior choice would determine my future choice. But what causes my first choice? Here is where we are today as a result of thinking that we have some kind of ability apart from Gods purpose. There is no one righteous, no not one, there is no one who seeks God. There is no one who has that ability. There is no one who has that strength. There is no one how has  that possibility. It is impossible for us to be the cause of salvation or to work out our salvation in our own purpose. Those who have not come to this truth are not going to call on God night and day. If there are more people who think that they are able then there will be more people who do not call on God. When we pray, we acknowledge that our salvation does not belong to us. We acknowledge that it was Gods power to save that we received a gift so that instead of being flattered we are always rejoicing in His wonders, in His miracle. If we understand that God is able and we are not, then our desire for His glory will be totally dependent on His work on our behalf. There will be no work done by us by our own ability. All the work will be done as a result of Gods power in our lives. We will begin to see that unless God does a work we will only be left powerless and defenseless. Because we depend on God to be our defense. There is no proposition that can be proposed apart Gods absolute declared word in every work in our lives.It is not in your selling books, its not in your displayed life in witnessing, its not in your going to church, its not in your mega ministry, its not in your distribution of books, its not in your prayers, its not in you ability to understand theology, its not in your ability to have a cushion in your later years, its not in the strength of government, its not in suffering, its not in your hatred, its not in your philanthropy, its not in your buildings, its not in your houses, its not in relationships, its not in your ministries, its being reduced to see that its not our salvation, its Gods. We are unable.