Costello:<br><br>You made the following statement and you have made it a least twice now and it is a good point, but you didn't get the response I already made in the form of a previous post where Edwards addresses your objection head on. Here is your statement again:<br><br>"So how do they have a free will? If we don’t have a perfectly free will, then how can Christ take us as a bride? In a perfect world, a husband chooses a wife, but the wife also has to be free to choose the husband."<br><br>You are correct that Christ doesn't want a unwilling Bride, any more than you or I do. But the problem is, as Edwards points out, that though many say they are willing, in fact they are not, but rather at enmity against God, and loving the world, as the scripture states, UNLESS AND UNTIL their darkened understanding is illuminated to Christ's true beauty and wonder and suitableness and the sinners' utter need, by the work of the Holy Spirit. At that point, the understanding is no longer darkened as before and person TRUELY sees their need. This is the difference between the stoney and thorny ground hearers and the good ground hearers. The good ground hearers aren't born with a good heart, but rather their heart is enlightened and plowed to make it good.<br><br>I too, read the article by Healm and though he makes some good points he doesn't in my view bring these points out clearly enough. Right at the beginning he quotes Mathews account of the parable of the sower but he doesn't address why some hear EFFECTUALLY AND SOME DON'T, except tangentially. Nor does he point out in the Isaiah quote how those that "see" don't really see and those that "hear" don't really hear. What does this mean? It means that there are different kinds of hearing and seeing, and that those who think they see but are yet unhumbled to their true state by the plowing up of their heart by conviction of sin and their own utter helplessness, don't see or hear as is needed for salvation. <br><br>The other point you make indicates that you don't yet see that you are accountable for your sin and liable for eternal punishment:<br><br>"In order for God to hold us accountable for anything we must first be made responsible and we can not be responsible for what we do have a free will to act on, including our salvation. Matthew 25:14-30"<br><br>The scriptures make plain that we are already accountable, though we see it not. For you or I to claim that we are not accountable for eternal punishment is to secretly believe that if you had been in Adam's shoes you would have done differently with respect to original sin. This is at the root of the belief of those that claim Adam's sin imputed to them is not fair. But the truth is that God is saying that you are no different than Adam and would have made the same choice he did had you been in his shoes, and thus, whether you agree or not you are accountable. When the Spirit works inside a person to illuminate them, he shows them this and they truely see and believe it and admit their culpability before God honestly. They feel their guilt and admit it and then sue for mercy. As Edwards points out, to ask for mercy that you 'don't really deeply believe you NEED BECAUSE OF YOUR REAL GUILT, is a fake. That is step one, to truely see the need. Then, the Holy Spirit reveals' Christ's beauty and pardon to the soul and ravishes the soul with love to Him. We love Him because He first loved us, and he reveals that love and it become real, more real and more important than the things of the world. At that point the will is truely free because it see's self as it is and Christ as He is and the will, before in bondage to darkness and ignorance is free and makes a whole hearted choice to Love and serve Christ.<br><br>Hope this helps,<br><br>In Him,<br><br>Gerry<br><br>
