Anonymous (via GotQuestions)
For follow-up discussion and general commentary on the topic. Comments are sorted chronologically.
Danny Hickman
This question calls into question the concept of eternal life, as if living eternally would be a good thing to do here in this rat hole.
This was a beautiful oasis; it isn't one now! God did us a solid when he made the stipulation that if we messed up the ecosystem of the planet, we wouldn't live forever on the planet. It was a get-out -of-jail plan, but it wasn't free.
He could have left it that we'd die and our relationship with him would be over; and it is if you're not selected for life in the eternal realm with him. That decision about a soul is decided before the soul is deposited within a baby born into this world. "Two nations are in your womb... the older shall serve the younger." (Gen 25:23)
God wasn't predicting the future, he was revealing HIS PLAN for Israel and Edom to the pregnant mother of the two nations.
Who among us think Esau had a choice to be a different person than he was created to be? He chose a bowl of lentil soup over his birthright.
Let's dig deeper: What was Jacob's choice?
He didn't CHOOSE to be a trickster, he was born that way! Just like Esau was born with irreverence for holy things.
The Pharoah of Egypt was born for his purpose. (Ex 9:16) He didn't CHOOSE his fate.
We are born sinners into this world. There's no CHOICE we can make to alleviate that. (You can't beg your way free of it). You are predestined to live and die, or to live and be gifted with life after the death of your body.
You must be born again (John 3).
Danny Hickman
Continuing,
You can't CHOOSE your way to being born again. You can't earn the new birth. Jesus explained it; well sorta:
"The wind blows where it wishes (it's his choice), and you hear the sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." (John 3:8)
This is one of the most informative statements in the whole Bible. I'm so glad Jesus made it and not Solomon, or Peter or Paul! It should settle the argument about us choosing (that's the naysayers "choice" word, they stay away from the word 'earning') Christ, or salvation.
We choose to pray, or worship, or give, but eternal life is of the Spirit of God. You can pray your whole life and not know God or be known by him. He tells us that!
"We ate and drank in your presence (sounds like holy communion or something like it), and you taught in our streets" (tent revivals). But he will say, "depart from me..., I don't know where you come from" (Luke 13).
What is this teaching? He says it's a narrow door. "Many will seek to enter and will not be able." (vs24)
It's not something you can seek or choose!
John 3 is undeniable!
So why worship or pray, or anything? The ultimate question of a sinner! (why leave Egypt if you're destined to die in the wilderness and not reach the promised land?)
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord (Psalm 150:6)
Serve the Lord with gladness! (Psalm 109:2).
It is the whole duty of man. (Eccl 12:13).
Danny Hickman
Psalm 109:2 is a typo. It should be Psalm 100:2
I made the statement, 'you can't beg your way to being born again.'
We read of beggars in the scriptures: the lame beggar of Acts 3 asking alms of Peter and John; blind Bartimaeus of Mark 10, Luke 18. The lame man was outside the temple asking for money, not asking to he healed. Blind Bart was asking to be healed. Both were healed. Neither was said to be born again of the Spirit on that day. Both praised God for being healed. In both cases the onlookers were amazed and praised God.
Their infirmities served an eternal purpose; we're still talking about them thousands of years later! But more than that, we're talking about the one by whom they were healed, the Lord Jesus, the Christ, the only God. (John 1:18) His name is to be proclaimed in all the earth.
And he said to them, "Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation" (Mark 16:15).
Why do this and it's said earlier, 'the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction and those who enter are many'? (Matthew 7:13)
It is that which makes the news GOOD news! God has made the impossible possible. A camel can go through the eye of a needle only by the power (authority) of God.
That's a metaphor for the means by which the kingdom of God is to be populated. (Luke 18:25)
We teach and preach, but the Spirit of God convicts and saves, not us.
Salvation is an inheritance (Heb 1:14) from the Father to his children, BORN OF/TO HIM!!
Danny Hickman
Dr Charles Stanley, who passed away recently, has a signature personal proverb that is spot on: he said 'Obey the Lord and leave the consequences to him.'
Why pray for our children if heaven's guest list is already decided? (that's not what election means, it means God is sovereign).
Then children were brought to him (Jesus) that he might lay hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people, but Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven (Matt 19:13,14).
In Dr Stanley's words, 'Obey the Lord and leave the consequences to him.'
David was told by Nathan the prophet his newborn son born to him by Uriah's wife (that's how the writer described the baby) would die (2 Samuel 12:14). Verse 16 says, 'David therefore sought God on behalf of the child.' (He prayed, fasted, slept on the ground, refused to eat, etc). But the child still died.
Why did he pray after being told by God's messenger that the boy would die? His servants asked him that; David's answer was, 'Who knows whether the Lord will be gracious to me, that the child may live?' (vs 22)
We who know Jesus know that he isn't bound by any law or creed, or a church constitution. He is sovereign God! We trust in his goodness! We do as we are told and leave the consequences to him! He says, 'Preach,' we preach. He says, 'Go,' so we go. We trust God's salvation plan. He gave us a part in it; we honor him by doing what he told us to do!