How can free will affect my faith?

[missmuffet]

How can free will affect your faith?

[AdHoc]

21 hours ago, missmuffet said:

How can free will affect your faith?

Faith is defined by Hebrews 11:1 ...

1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 2 For by it the elders obtained a good report. 3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear

... and is immediately followed by the prime example - The Creation. Every highschool boy, all the way to Einstein, know that you cannot make something out of nothing. But that is just what God did. This massive universe with all its matter and energy was "framed" out of nothing before man was around. It is plainly see by every eye - substance that points to an unseen and very, very powerful and glorious God. And men are going to pay dearly for refusing this proof.

16For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
17For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
18For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
19Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.
20For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: (Romans 1:16–20.)

Nobody will escape. And in the last and dark days when the Church is gone and Israel have allowed the Beast in their most holy place, an angel is given a gospel to preach before men. The content is not Jesus or the cross. It is the gospel above - fear god and give Him the glory. It reads;

6 And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, 7 Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters. (Rev.14:6–7.)

The end of the story and true answer to your question is THAT MEN USED THEIR FREE WILL TO UPHOLD A LIE THEY KNEW TO BE ONE BY SUBSTANCE THAT PROVED AN INVISIBLE GOD. In other words, they upheld a lie that they knew to be true. They are truly without excuse.

 

[D. Adrien]

How can free will affect your faith?

 

Very simple really; Refuse to consider belief in what Jesus says is truth. Human nature is prideful which is just another name for arrogance and will not consider any fault of self.

Free will needs to be tempered with doubt before a consideration of an alternative can be considered. But pride limits that ability to question self.

Submit, obey and the need to arrive at agreement with the Word. (The word was made flesh...John 1:14...)

[Knotical]

There is no such thing as free will, therefore, it has no effect on faith.  God saves by grace through faith.  It is not faith that we manifest somehow by ourselves, it is something that is a gift from God when salvation is imparted to us through the work of Christ on the cross.

[enoob57]

It can be used to not take in God's Word...

Romans 10:17 (KJV)

[17] So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

thus faith, saving faith, cannot be taken in by the individual...

Romans 10:13 (KJV)

[13] For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

[14] How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?

[15] And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!

God's Word is the key to truth

John 17:17 (KJV)

[17] Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

John 8:32 (KJV)

[32] And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

2 Timothy 3:15 (KJV)

[15] And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

Hebrews 4:12 (KJV)

[12] For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

 

 

 

[AdHoc]

God made man in the image and likeness of Himself. If God has a free will, so then does man. The proof of man's free will is the Lake of Fire. God never releases man from the responsibility of His choices. If He does let man off then He demands that Another takes his place in retribution - as our Lord Jesus did. The fact that our Lord Jesus came to do the will of the Father can only be realized in that He put His will aside.

What many students of the Bible mix up is man's free will and God's ability to create circumstances. Most men will not set their will aside for God's instructions, so God creates a road that the man decides to take. The prodigal son acted throughout according to his own will. All God allowed was the famine and the pigs. When the conditions in the land got unbearable, the prodigal joined himself to the hog-compound. When the conditions in the hog-pen got unbearable this is what transpired in Luke 15:14–18;

14 And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want.
15 And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.
16 And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him.
17 And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!
18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,

The prodigal decided on his path. God let him go. God decided that the father's house was much more blessing than the wine, women and song of the foreign country, so he sent a famine. The prodigal decided on a hog-pen but God did not allow men to feed the son. The son made a sensible, logical decision and landed back in his father's house. At no time was the prodigal forced against his will. But he landed up where God wanted him for his own blessing.

Our faith says to us that the road we travel is God's order. We still make solid logical decisions and quote Romans 8:28 every time the road gets rocky. That way, we avoid murmuring and avoid Israel's fiasco at Kadesh Barnea.

Of course, a man who looks around himself and sees that this creation is massive, intricate and ordered, and does not make a solid logical decision to believe in the invisible God, is plain stupid. But you see, the man is not stupid. He realizes that the minute he admits God, he admits that he is God's property and that he will have to set his free will aside in favor of God's. God does not say they didn't know. He says that "they HOLD the TRUTH in unrighteousness" (Rom.1)

 

[dante wurliuchi]

Free will allows us to love God autonomously. It's a choice, not a line of code.

[BornAgain490]

On 10/10/2024 at 2:07 PM, missmuffet said:

How can free will affect your faith?

How was it that you came to faith in the first place?

[missmuffet]

God created us with the freedom to choose. God is not a cosmic rapist who forces His love on humanity. Nor is He a cosmic puppeteer who forces people to love Him.

[Cntrysner]

Is "free will" biblical? If there is a price to be paid for bad decisions that go against God’s will, how is it free? We are slaves to sin and do not have the natural ability or the will power to change that fact even though we choose not to sin.

Rom 7:18  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.