Copied from another Scribd document: The question is not whether man has a will, or if so, is it free. The question is... exactly what will man do with this will? Answering that eliminates most of the so-called discrepancies in the Bible. Adam was in the Garden, with his will, free of otherwise, with which he had not yet sinned. He had free access to the Tree of Life but instead chose the other. God drove him from the garden, placing angels to "keep the way to the tree of life" (Gen 3:24). Apparently Adam never did partake of the Tree of Life, he chose sin. Here is the point... Whatever state Adam's will was in before he fell changed. He became a sinner, dead in sin, a slave to sin, in bondage to sin. Too many scriptures bear this out to list here... look them up. All people are "in Adam", in this changed, fallen condition. All the claims for "free will" are irrelevant. Man is free, ===> free only to sin. As Adam DID NOT "come for life" in the Garden, Jesus said man WILL NOT come for life now. (John 5:40). This is because man CAN NOT come, because of his fallen condition. "Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto Me, except it were given unto him of My Father." (John 6:65). Something outside man must take place in order for him to come. This is why Jesus said "you must be born again". This "regeneration" is brought about by God, at His will, in His timing, and by His choice, and has no basis whatsoever on man's action or thought. Those truly born again can say absolutely nothing but "thank you", giving all glory to Christ, and not my "free-will choice". If left to our own, ALL would perish. Any gospel preaching contrary to this is false preaching, creating multitudes of religious Hell-bound professing "Christians". (Matthew 7:22-23) Some complain "that's not fair". The reply is... what's fair about Jesus suffering the cross and separation from His Father for sinners? Thankfully, God doesn't deal in "fair", He deals justly and righteously, and... sovereignly. That's too big a pill for sinful man to swallow. But again, if God did NOT intervene in our stead, NONE would be "saved". Thanks and all glory to Him for His wondrous salvation. All comments invited. Rick

The question is not whether man has a will, or if so, is it free. The question is... exactly what will man do with this will? Answering that eliminates most of the so-called discrepancies in the Bible. Adam was in the Garden, with his will, free of otherwise, with which he had not yet sinned. He had free access to the Tree of Life but instead chose the other. God drove him from the garden, placing angels to "keep the way to the tree of life" (Gen 3:24). Apparently Adam never did partake of the Tree of Life, he chose sin. Here is the point... Whatever state Adam's will was in before he fell changed. He became a sinner, dead in sin, a slave to sin, in bondage to sin. Too many scriptures bear this out to list here... look them up. All people are "in Adam", in this changed, fallen condition. All the claims for "free will" are irrelevant. Man is free, ===> free only to sin. As Adam DID NOT "come for life" in the Garden, Jesus said man WILL NOT come for life now. (John 5:40). This is because man CAN NOT come, because of his fallen condition. "Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto Me, except it were given unto him of My Father." (John 6:65). Something outside man must take place in order for him to come. This is why Jesus said "you must be born again". This "regeneration" is brought about by God, at His will, in His timing, and by His choice, and has no basis whatsoever on man's action or thought. Those truly born again can say absolutely nothing but "thank you", giving all glory to Christ, and not my "free-will choice". If left to our own, ALL would perish. Any gospel preaching contrary to this is false preaching, creating multitudes of religious Hell-bound professing "Christians". (Matthew 7:22-23) Some complain "that's not fair". The reply is... what's fair about Jesus suffering the cross and separation from His Father for sinners? Thankfully, God doesn't deal in "fair", He deals justly and righteously, and... sovereignly. That's too big a pill for sinful man to swallow. But again, if God did NOT intervene in our stead, NONE would be "saved". Thanks and all glory to Him for His wondrous salvation. All comments invited. Rick

You would do well to read your Bible and differentiate between what God calls "Christian" and what is Roman Catholic. The "world" speaks of "the church", meaning the Roman Catholic Church, or, more accurately, the Roman Catholic religion. What the Bible refers to as the "church" does not remotely resemble the Roman Catholic religion. Roman Catholicism is rooted in ancient Babylonian mystery religion, with a spattering of Bible to give it credibility. Simply look at the Ten Commandments in Exodus chapter 20, and compare them to the Ten Commandments in any Roman Catholic catechism. It isn't rocket science to discover the RCC has removed the second commandment and split the tenth in half. Now look at the second commandment in the Bible (not the catechism) and simply read what it says... no priest is necessary unless one cannot read English. Now read Revelation chapter 22 verse 18 and see what God says about those who do what the RCC did to the ten Commandments. I'd love an audience with the pope do discuss these, and a few hundred other things, that diametrically oppose the Word of God. One out of six people on the planet is duped by this farce called the Roman Catholic Church. Hitler may have been a Catholic, but he was no Christian. When Catholics become true Christians, they *leave* the Roman Catholic religion for the Jesus Christ of the Bible. The Church, Biblically speaking, is those individuals "called out" by God, from the masses of lost humanity. The Bible teaches that God knew His people "before the foundation of the world". He calls them from sinful lives to living lives seeking to glorify Him. These people, who have been "born again" will live out there lives here and then spend eternity with God in Heaven, not because they are "good people", but because God has given them the righteousness of Jesus Christ. None of this sounds at all like Hitler, then again it doesn't sound like most people claiming to be Christians, either.