Free will

What Really Happened in the Garden

Ian Johnson April 16, 2024 0 Comments

God created the first human, male and female, as a being like himself with whom he could share his life and his creation. But the disobedience of the first humans introduced shame, which drove them away from God and hindered them from agreeing with God about their sin and returning to him. This is always the effect of shame, which comes from us, not from God.

Complex unity, Confession and Repentance, Conversation with God, Desire to have our own way, Forgetting God, Free will, God is Love, God's Existence and Nature, God's purpose for us, Guilt versus Shame, Knowing good and evil, Language and Speech, Male and female, Marriage, Marriage, Marriage and Reproduction, Meaning of Unity, Repentance, Replacing Relationship with Morality, Sin, To be in his image, To bear fruit, To fill and govern the Earth, Trinity, Unity, What is sin?

Adam, cloting, denial, disobedience, Eve, excuses, exposure, forbidden fruit, Genesis, guilt, hide, hioing, naked, nakedness, repent, repentance, shame, sin, tree of knowledge, tree of the knowledge of good and evil, vulnerability

You Are Not the One to Build, Part 7A: God Uses No Cookie Cutters

Ian Johnson September 9, 2023 0 Comments

God uses our uniqueness and gives unique gifts and roles. He does not make interchangeable, cookie-cutter believers for our administrative convenience. Examples: the first deacons, Stephen, Philip. Paul and the anomalous New Testament prophets.

A God who Speaks, Complex unity, Free will, God Acts by Speaking, God is Love, God Never Stopped Speaking, God Speaks to Us, God's Existence and Nature, God's purpose for us, His Children, His Friends, Other Gifts of the Holy Spirit, Prophecy, To be in his image

Apostle Paul, cookie cutter, cookie cutter Christians, deacons, God, Holy Spirit, individuality, offices, Philip, Philip the evangelist, Prophecy, Prophet, Prophets, Spiritual Gifts, Stephen, Stephen the martyr

Commands I Can’t Keep If God Doesn’t Speak to Me

Ian Johnson March 20, 2023 0 Comments

If God never speaks to me, it will be impossible for me to keep his commands to keep a soft heart toward his words, to hear and obey him “TODAY”, while I am still hearing him. Beginning the discussion of entering God’s rest today, while God is speaking to me–and the consequences of Israel’s rejection of his voice.

A God who Speaks, Conversation with God, Desire to have our own way, Forgetting God, Free will, God Acts by Speaking, God Never Stopped Speaking, God Speaks to Us, God's Voice, idolatry, Language and Speech, Refusing to hear, self-serving worship, Through Jesus, Trusting sight over God's words, Ultimate reality, What is God's Word, What is sin?

enter my rest, God's rest, Hearing God, Hearing God's Voice, rejecting God, rejecting God's voice, rest, Today

God’s Patience and Our Repentance, 2 Peter 3:9

Ian Johnson November 13, 2022 2 Comments

God is slow to bring the day of justice because he is patient, determined to give us all the time we need to repent and return to him. If we do not, it will be our choice, not his, to remain in the present world when he removes his care from it and it disintegrates under the weight of sin.

A God who Speaks, Consequences, Free will, God is Love, God Never Stopped Speaking, God Speaks to Us, God's Existence and Nature, God's purpose for us, God's rationality, judgment, patience, Regeneration, Rejecting God, Repentance, reprobation, Restoration of God's Image, Salvation, Sin, The Problem of Evil, Ultimate reality, What is God's Word, What is sin?

God, God's patience, Judgment, justice, longsuffering, new earth, new heavens, patience, patient, repentance, repentant, restoration, slow to anger

Idolatry and the Meaning of “Sin” Outline

Ian Johnson October 27, 2022 0 Comments

This is an index of posts defining, discussing or illustrating the concept of sin, its relationship to idolatry and idolizing oneself, and the distinction between sin (singular) and sins (plural).

Desire to have our own way, Forgetting God, Free will, God's purpose for us, idolatry, Idolatry and Sin, Index, refusal to repent, Refusing to hear, Rejecting God, self-serving worship, Sin, Sins versus sin, Topic Index, Truth and Falsehood, What is sin?

definition of sin, definition of sins, Definitions, Idolatry, sin, sins

Repentance Series Index

Ian Johnson October 23, 2022 0 Comments

An index to the series of blog articles on the subject of repentance.

An abuse of God's image, Confession of Sin, Consequences, Desire to have our own way, Forgetting God, forgiveness and mercy, Free will, God is Love, God's Existence and Nature, God's purpose for us, God's rationality, patience, refusal to repent, Refusing to hear, Rejecting God, Repentance, self-serving worship, Sin, Sins versus sin, The Problem of Evil, To live in unity, What is sin?

forgiveness, rebellion, repent, repentance, sin, sins, unforgiveness

Anger

Ian Johnson October 12, 2022 0 Comments

I write this post to myself. I was once a very angry man. But I believed I now had anger under control. More recently, I’m not so sure. Manipulative people and manipulative institutions both deliberately goad the anger of those they want to control–anger is a great motivator. The media, celebrities, politicians, organizations and advertisers do the same thing. Other people, though, habitually but unconsciously manipulate by continually rehearsing their angry reveries for others to hear, wishing either to bring their hearers into their angry world or to intimidate by fear of what they might do in anger. And I am weak to all of these ploys. So I present the following study, which consists only of quotations from Scripture about human anger, its causes and antidote.

Changed treatment of each other, Conversation with others, Desire to have our own way, Divisions in the Church, Emotions, Forgive as we forgive, forgiveness and mercy, Forgiveness and Unforgiveness, Free will, God is Love, God's purpose for us, His Children, Human Rationality, Injustice and Lawsuits, Language and Speech, patience, Repentance, Restoration of God's Image, Restoration of our Relationships, Salvation, To be his ambassadors, To live in unity

anger, angry, arguments, bitterness, contention, Death and life are in the power of the tongue, discord, gossip, lies, Love, lying, mercy, peace, reconcile, reconciliation, root of bitterness, strife, temper, tongue, whispering, wrath

Foundational Repentance and Falling Away, Hebrews 6:1-6

Ian Johnson September 10, 2022 3 Comments

Hebrews 6:1-6 has nothing to do with losing our salvation through sinful acts. Instead, it teaches that we must repent from our rebellion and from our own dead works as a way of becoming acceptable to God. Further, when we do sometimes fall back into relying on our own works, we cannot repent of this in our own power. God must provide both the initiative and the power.

Confession and Repentance, forgiveness and mercy, Free will, God is Love, God's Existence and Nature, God's purpose for us, Losing salvation, Pride in accomplishments as our own, refusal to repent, Repentance, Repentance versus Remorse, Replacing Relationship with Morality, Salvation, self-serving worship, Sin, Sins versus sin, What is sin?

character flaws, dead works, failure, faith, falling away, God's initiative, losing salvation, not of faith, our works, repentance, sin, sins, weakness, works

What I Believe–stated simply

Ian Johnson July 24, 2022 7 Comments

In this post, I give a short, one web page, summary of what I believe, in language as simple as I can manage. It gives only a quick, “big picture” of my understanding of God, my relationship to him, and my role on Earth. Comments are invited.

Church purpose versus church growth, Complex unity, Conversation with God, Divisions in the Church, Eternity, Free will, God Acts by Speaking, God is Love, God Never Stopped Speaking, God Speaks to Us, God was never our enemy, God's Existence and Nature, God's purpose for us, God's rationality, God's sovereignty, His Children, His Friends, Immanence, Islam as a Consequence, Language and Speech, Male and female, Merit, Omnipresence, Reconciliation, Refusing to hear, Regeneration, Rejecting God, Repentance, Restoration of God's Image, Salvation, Show us the Way of Truth, Sin, Sins versus sin, The Invisible God's Self-Existence, The Kingdom of the Heavens, The Problem of Evil, To be his ambassadors, To be in his image, To live in unity, Transcendence, Trinity, Ultimate reality, Unity, Wars as consequences, What is God's Word, What is sin?

Christian theology, Church, God, God speaks, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Life purpose, Son of God, Son of Man

The Prophets Nathan and Gad Deal With King David in His Sins

Ian Johnson November 26, 2021 2 Comments

On both of the occasions when David is said to have sinned in his administration as king, God sent prophets to correct him. God corrected David’s great sin, the one involving Bathsheba and Uriah, by sending the prophet Nathan to confront him. By contrast, in the matter of the census David recognized he had sinned and asked God’s forgiveness as soon as the census was completed. The prophet Gad was sent to him not to bring him to repentance, but to give him a choice of public consequences for not honoring God in the census and instructions concerning how to rectify his error. David repented and was forgiven of both sins, but the first one nevertheless had severe long-term consequences.

A God who Speaks, Angels, Confession of Sin, Desire to have our own way, Events and Signs, Forgetting God, Free will, God Speaks to Us, Pride in accomplishments as our own, Prophecy, Sin, The Problem of Evil, To be in his image, To live in unity, What is sin?

adultery, atonement, atonement offering, Bathsheba, census, consequences, David, day of atonement, forgive, law of love, murder, pride, ransom, repentance, sin, Uriah

What Really Happened in the Garden

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Commands I Can’t Keep If God Doesn’t Speak to Me

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God’s Patience and Our Repentance, 2 Peter 3:9

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Idolatry and the Meaning of “Sin” Outline

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Repentance Series Index

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Anger

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Foundational Repentance and Falling Away, Hebrews 6:1-6

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What I Believe–stated simply

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The Prophets Nathan and Gad Deal With King David in His Sins

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