The Highway Forums General Discussion Open Forum Old Testament Law

In reply to my question as to where it is said in Ezekiel 36:27, where is showed you that it said that the INDIVIDUAL would do that which was required, you replied,<blockquote><font size=1>In reply to:</font><hr>[color:"blue"]"I will cause you to walk in my statutes."</font><hr></blockquote><p>Again, where does the text say that a man will be <span style="background-color:yellow;">FORCED</span> to do something? There is no dispute that it is God Who creates the ability for a man to believe and walk in God's statutes; i.e., He, God is the proximate "cause". But nowhere is it said that God <span style="background-color:yellow;">forces</span> a man to do anything. To "force" someone is to make them do something which they choose not to do. No one nor even God can make anyone do anything that is against their will. To use a relevant and salient illustration from the late Dr. John Gertsner, "If a man put a gun to my head and said, 'Stop writing or I'll shoot you!'! This only creates a situation where I have two choices given to me. I can either stop writing or go on writing and stop living. But the man with the gun simply CANNOT force me to do that which is against my will. It's my choice and I am totally free to make that choice."<br><br>God recreates the soul, which is called, "regeneration, making alive, born again, new life, new creation, resurrection, et al", which gives man the ability to make choices where beforehand he was unable to make because of his corrupt nature. A corrupt tree ONLY bears corrupt fruit. You can no more make an evil man do that which is good any more than you can force a good man to do evil or good. All that a man does is done freely and by choice. There is no truth to, "The Devil made me do it!". Nor is there any smattering of truth to, "God made me do it!"<br><br>In His Grace,