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Ezekiel 33: 3-5 (KJV) If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people; 4Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. 5He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul. =============================== All the warnings in the world are in vain for the person whose practice and doctrine punish them for CONSIDERING/THINKING, and reward them for blind loyalty and never examining whether or not they've taken a wrong turn somewhere. STUBBORNNESS is not a fruit of the spirit, no matter who seems to think it's something praiseworthy.

This is an expected side-effect whenever one embraces a doctrine that requires one to CLOSE their eyes and ears, and LOCK the doctrine tightly. This produces mental inbreeding. Just like physical inbreeding makes animals or humans weak or ill, mental inbreeding weakens people by limiting their sources, their intake. Even if it's one good source, it's like eating nothing BUT rabbit. The rabbit isn't poisonous, but if you eat nothing else, you could die of malnutrition. In the case of mental inbreeding, the ideas that float around become progressively more UNsound. Worse, if grading is based on how "faithful" one is to the sole source of input, the more unsound the doctrine and ideas get, the harder one is to cling BLINDLY to them- and one is lauded and praised for doing so. "In multitude of counselors is safety." If one only has one source of knowledge and counsel, trouble is inevitable.....

Sorting through the philosophical-sounding-pseudoscientific-LoShonta on this thread Free will is the power of acting without the constraint of necessity or fate; the ability to act at one's own discretion Minimalistic describes something that is stripped down to its most essential elements or uses only what is needed What is the most essential element of free will? It is the power to act without constraint of necessity or fate The “minimalistic” or “min” attached to the words “free will” is an unnecessary and confusing adjective – it should be eliminated ~ ~ ~ ~ self-betterment is the act or result of making oneself better through one's own efforts Learning is the acquisition of knowledge or skills through experience, study, or by being taught Learning in disguise - Learning is wearing a disguise? It’s made to look like something else? It’s presented as another thing? This is a feeble attempt to redefine words and to deceive the reader into thinking that learning is actually something else. It is misleading. The phrase makes no sense – and should be eliminated ~ ~ ~ ~ Determinism is a philosophical view, where all events are determined completely by previously existing causes. The doctrine that all events, including human action, are ultimately determined by causes external to the will. Some philosophers have taken determinism to imply that individual human beings have no free will and cannot be held morally responsible for their actions. Cause-and-effect in physics is “causal determinism”; state of an object/event is completely determined by its prior states. Cause is the reason behind an action or natural phenomena whereas effect is the result of a cause or the outcome of some chain of events that have happened. There is a cause and is an effect in everything we do. Cause and Effect is a constant series of actions which logically follows from one action to the other. In the cause and effect relationship, one or more things happen as a result of something else. The concepts of determinism and cause-and-effect are basically incompatible with the definition of free will. ~ ~ ~ ~ Sorting through the unnecessary-and pseudo-spiritual-red-tape-of-the-LoShonta on this thread We seek what we desire Hebrews 11:6 is addressing believers NOT unbelievers – therefore the prime requisite of the Christian seeking after God is faith – it is not an intellectual pursuit – rather we seek after a living Being. John 20:31 says that the Gospels are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. This is the power of the Gospel message. 16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” Romans 1: 16, 17 Contrary to the red tape that some wierwille-defenders “envision” taking place over the course of many months - or 20 years of coming to Grease Spot Café - salvation through Jesus Christ is easy! I for one am annoyed by anyone that acts like an incessant troll and expects us to endure how he prattles on about the greatness of PFAL with its minimalistic required donation and the demand for “free will offerings” going above the tithe on a regular basis – or else - ooooh I so scared! Simply hearing and believing the Gospel message of Jesus Christ, saves you the time, money, effort, and abuse you’d get taking the long and drawn-out journey to nowhere via PFAL.

BTW - who are you to continually disparage your fellow man by constantly denigrating natural man? I know full well the distinctions made in the Church epistles between natural man and one who has the spirit of Christ - crystal clear - so dont go there. Who are you to speak against yourself and all other humans with a distinction you really cannot quantify. BUUUT more importantly - you know what value God placed on that old worthless, unable to know God, good for nothing sack of dirt called natural man? The life of his only begotten Son - Jesus Christ!. So mankind is priceless in God's eyes and thankfully Christ agreed and laid down his life for us because otherwise we were all goners. Lay off the blind hypocrisy. You aren't any better (or worse for that matter) than anyone else.