Lacknothing,

A little reminder that you opened this thread by stating:
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I need some clarification on this subject.

but since that time you seem to have been quick to criticize the excellent material offered by several here to help you achieve exactly what you asked for; giving instead your own interpretation of passages and not answering several questions put to you. Heed the Scriptures:
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If one gives an answer before he hears,
it is his folly and shame. (Provebs 18:13, ESV)

I have no ability to draw an answer from you to the questions I asked several days ago, but if you are at all open to the necessary truth of the Word of God concerning God's sole action in bringing dead sinners to life in Christ, please consider the following extension of the analogy comparing physical birth to spiritual birth:

A baby is conceived and later delivered into the world.

While in the womb, the baby has a nature of its own and even the ability to choose within a limited, but growing, number of options.

However, while in the womb, the baby has nothing in its nature, and therefore no desire and no ability, to choose any of the following:

    [*]the decision of its parents to have the baby,
    [*]action taken by its parents to cause it to exist,
    [*]the fact of its existence (it already exists),
    [*]the details of its existence (its family, nationality, and myriad other elements making it who it is),
    [*]the time and place of its deliverance from its mother; and finally,
    [*]it can neither choose, nor act upon the choice, to breathe and nurse--essential to its continued life--UNTIL IT HAS ACTUALLY BEEN BORN
    [/LIST]
    When we are brought to life from death by the Spirit of God, we are no more able--or willing--to choose the following than the baby is in its corresponding state:

      [*]the decision of God to save us,
      [*]action taken by God to cause us to be saved,
      [*]the fact of our being saved,
      [*]the details of our being saved,
      [*]the time and place of our deliverance from death; and
      [*]we can neither choose, nor act upon the choice, to repent and believe--essential to our continued life--UNTIL WE HAVE ACTUALLY BEEN BORN AGAIN! The response of repentance and faith are inevitable in one with the new nature created by God.
      [/LIST]

      The system you advocate, which cannot be reconciled with the Scriptures, gets everything backwards; you prefer a God who commands us to nurse and breathe inside the womb; he stands impotently at the foot of the bed to see if we obey or not; we make him really happy when we do what he says and decide to come out, but we make him really sad and angry when we decide to stay in the womb, because then he can't do anything about it.

      Lacknothing, I need a Savior whose arm is not too short to deliver. Do you; or does he need you?


In Christ,
Paul S