The Highway Forums General Discussion Open Forum The Suicide Bomber

You have two passages above out of many I can cite.

Also, stating Calvinistic ideas is not proof.

The absurd idea that we can punish people for not being able to do what we command is immoral.

Imagine a father whipping his crippled child because she can't get up and walk at his command. Such behavior is reprehensible in men, and to ascribe such wickedness to God is blasphemy.

In Levitticus One above, we have spiritually dead men not only invited to come to God, but many do, and God says they can because they have THEIR OWN VOLUNTARY WILL. Sin did not destroy man's ability to come to God when He says "Come over here". They either will or they won't.

Also, repeating the mythical Calvinist definition of "free-will" that you claim to believe in is not proof. The idea that "men are free to do what they desire to do, and since they only desire sin, they are free to do that"--this is pure sophistry. Freedom of will means CHOICE to do opposite things.

There is no freedom or choice if one cannot do other than what he chooses. And God acknowledges fallen, spiritually dead men have such freedom. Joshua 24:

14 Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD.

15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that [were] on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.

16 And the people answered and said, God forbid that we should forsake the LORD, to serve other gods;


The above assumes the OBVIOUS--that men are free and CAN CHOOSE to follow the Lord or not. And notice that these spiritually DEAD IN SIN Jews chose to follow the Lord!

FREEWILL:


Leviticus 22:18
Speak unto Aaron, and to his sons, and unto all the children of Israel, and say unto them, Whatsoever [he be] of the house of Israel, or of the strangers in Israel, that will offer his oblation for all his vows, and for all his FREEWILL offerings, which they will offer unto the LORD for a burnt offering;

Leviticus 22:21
And whosoever offereth a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the LORD to accomplish [his] vow, or a FREEWILL offering in beeves or sheep, it shall be perfect to be accepted; there shall be no blemish therein.

Leviticus 22:23
Either a bullock or a lamb that hath any thing superfluous or lacking in his parts, that mayest thou offer [for] a FREEWILL offering; but for a vow it shall not be accepted.

Leviticus 23:38
Beside the sabbaths of the LORD, and beside your gifts, and beside all your vows, and beside all your FREEWILL offerings, which ye give unto the LORD.

Numbers 15:3
And will make an offering by fire unto the LORD, a burnt offering, or a sacrifice in performing a vow, or in a FREEWILL offering, or in your solemn feasts, to make a sweet savour unto the LORD, of the herd, or of the flock:

Numbers 29:39
These [things] ye shall do unto the LORD in your set feasts, beside your vows, and your FREEWILL offerings, for your burnt offerings, and for your meat offerings, and for your drink offerings, and for your peace offerings.

Deuteronomy 12:6
And thither ye shall bring your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and heave offerings of your hand, and your vows, and your FREEWILL offerings, and the firstlings of your herds and of your flocks:

Deuteronomy 12:17
Thou mayest not eat within thy gates the tithe of thy corn, or of thy wine, or of thy oil, or the firstlings of thy herds or of thy flock, nor any of thy vows which thou vowest, nor thy FREEWILL offerings, or heave offering of thine hand:

Deuteronomy 16:10
And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto the LORD thy God with a tribute of a FREEWILL offering of thine hand, which thou shalt give [unto the LORD thy God], according as the LORD thy God hath blessed thee:

Deuteronomy 23:23
That which is gone out of thy lips thou shalt keep and perform; [even] a FREEWILL offering, according as thou hast vowed unto the LORD thy God, which thou hast promised with thy mouth.

2 Chronicles 31:14
And Kore the son of Imnah the Levite, the porter toward the east, [was] over the FREEWILL offerings of God, to distribute the oblations of the LORD, and the most holy things.

Ezra 1:4
And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, beside the FREEWILL offering for the house of God that [is] in Jerusalem.

Ezra 3:5
And afterward [offered] the continual burnt offering, both of the new moons, and of all the set feasts of the LORD that were consecrated, and of every one that willingly offered a FREEWILL offering unto the LORD.

Ezra 7:13
I make a decree, that all they of the people of Israel, and [of] his priests and Levites, in my realm, which are minded of their own FREEWILL to go up to Jerusalem, go with thee.

Ezra 7:16
And all the silver and gold that thou canst find in all the province of Babylon, with the FREEWILL offering of the people, and of the priests, offering willingly for the house of their God which [is] in Jerusalem:

Ezra 8:28
And I said unto them, Ye [are] holy unto the LORD; the vessels [are] holy also; and the silver and the gold [are] a FREEWILL offering unto the LORD God of your fathers.

Psalms 119:108
Accept, I beseech thee, the FREEWILL offerings of my mouth, O LORD, and teach me thy judgments.


VOLUNTARY:

Leviticus 1:3
If his offering [be] a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish: he shall offer it of his own VOLUNTARY will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD.

Leviticus 7:16
But if the sacrifice of his offering [be] a vow, or a VOLUNTARY offering, it shall be eaten the same day that he offereth his sacrifice: and on the morrow also the remainder of it shall be eaten:

Ezekiel 46:12
Now when the prince shall prepare a VOLUNTARY burnt offering or peace offerings voluntarily unto the LORD, [one] shall then open him the gate that looketh toward the east, and he shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings, as he did on the sabbath day: then he shall go forth; and after his going forth [one] shall shut the gate.

Colossians 2:18
Let no man beguile you of your reward in a VOLUNTARY humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,