The Bible never attributes to man the ability to change his heart. "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spot, then neither can you do good who are accustomed to evil" (cf. Jer. 13:23). "You WILL not come to Me ..." (Cf. John 5:40, emphasis mine). Freedom of the will is contradictory to the sovereign grace of God; they both cannot exist. Either man is in control of his destiny, or God is. "Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord of Hosts." (Cf. Zech. 4:6)
The question is what makes man willing? God must work in the heart. We cannot do anything to merit grace or prepare ourselves for salvation. God is not man's debtor.
We cannot change of our own volition or will, we are volitionally defiant. But no one is so sinful or so hardened that God cannot save him. (He can take a heart of stone and make it a heart of flesh according to Ezek. 36:26.) Arminians give themselves the credit for responding positively to the gospel as if they took advantage and made good on the grace of God while others don't. They actually pat themselves on the back for their salvation!
To believe in free will and the sovereign grace of God, is biblical, and you are confused to dichotomize them, and you are ignorant, and if you believe you were saved by both. Face it, God made you willing and able to believe and wooed you to Himself. Had it not been for the Holy Spirit, you would not have believed. Soli Deo Gloria!
The question is what makes man willing? God must work in the heart. We cannot do anything to merit grace or prepare ourselves for salvation. God is not man's debtor.
We cannot change of our own volition or will, we are volitionally defiant. But no one is so sinful or so hardened that God cannot save him. (He can take a heart of stone and make it a heart of flesh according to Ezek. 36:26.) Arminians give themselves the credit for responding positively to the gospel as if they took advantage and made good on the grace of God while others don't. They actually pat themselves on the back for their salvation!
To believe in free will and the sovereign grace of God, is biblical, and you are confused to dichotomize them, and you are ignorant, and if you believe you were saved by both. Face it, God made you willing and able to believe and wooed you to Himself. Had it not been for the Holy Spirit, you would not have believed. Soli Deo Gloria!
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