How and From Where Does Faith Come

[Albion]

As for the word offered itself, it may help us to keep in mind that it was Lucian who first introduced the term offered into this discussion (post #4), which meant that the replies had to answer his question by assuming what it was that he meant by that term when he chose it.

Afterwords, he declined to consider the dictionaries that had first been cited, implied that he already was of the opinion that the two words were identical in meaning, and also agreed that he was to some extent basing his contention on how these two words are translated in his own (non-English) language.

 

[Messy]

I don't understand what you're trying to say. My question is: if the free gift of faith is given to every single person on Earth, why are there people out there who want to believe the Gospel, but are unable to do so because (according to their claims) they are not convinced?

They need some more prayer. I once had a dream in which my dad, who was then an atheist, said: I cannot believe like you and mom do. And in the dream I said: Shall I pray for you then, that God makes Himself known to you? And then he got saved. It went a bit quicker in the dream than irl, cause I have been praying for him to get saved for almost 40 years. My mom has prayed for almost 60 years and with 86 he got saved.

 

[Josiah]

I posted 3 links from 3 different dictionaries in post #17. It says that "to give" and "to offer" are synonyms. In my native language they are synonyms as well.

Hum....

"To give" seems to mean "granted." The receiver HAS it
But "to be offered" doesn't mean or even imply that they have it.

They were OFFERED something doesn't imply they HAVE it.
To be GIVEN something means they HAVE it.

If I OFFER to give my wife a beer doesn't mean she therefore HAS the beer (she hates beer).
If I GIVE my wife a beer, she therefore has the beer.

It seems to me.


.

 

[Lucian Hodoboc]

They need some more prayer. I once had a dream in which my dad, who was then an atheist, said: I cannot believe like you and mom do. And in the dream I said: Shall I pray for you then, that God makes Himself known to you? And then he got saved. It went a bit quicker in the dream than irl, cause I have been praying for him to get saved for almost 40 years. My mom has prayed for almost 60 years and with 86 he got saved.

Fair enough. Another question then: what about the people who have been prayed for by others, but still died as atheists? Were the prayers insufficient? Would they have believed if they had been prayed for more?

 

[Messy]

Fair enough. Another question then: what about the people who have been prayed for by others, but still died as atheists? Were the prayers insufficient? Would they have believed if they had been prayed for more?

I heard that when you pray it makes it easier for them to accept the gospel, but if someone really doesn't want Him, prayer won't help.

 

[prism]

Now that the thread has been derailed over the difference between 'offered' and 'given', perhaps we can upright this train by concentrating on the Question: "How and where does faith come?"

 

[prism]

I heard that when you pray it makes it easier for them to accept the gospel, but if someone really doesn't want Him, prayer won't help.

Easier? It takes a miracle for someone to ‘accept’ the Gospel…it takes the miracle of the new birth.

 

[Messy]

Now that the thread has been derailed over the difference between 'offered' and 'given', perhaps we can upright this train by concentrating on the Question: "How and where does faith come?"

Romans 10:17
faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Romans 12:3

3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

 

[Lamb]

Romans 10:17
faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Romans 12:3

3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

Yep, God does gift giving of faith by His word and it doesn't return to Him empty (Isaiah 55:11).

 

[prism]

Yep, God does gift giving of faith by His word and it doesn't return to Him empty (Isaiah 55:11).

It looks like His Word and Holy Spirit work together, otherwise many hear God’s Word but it does nothing for their faith (thinking of the majority of Scribes , Pharisees, and Sadducees during Jesus time on earth ).

 

[Albion]

Romans 10:17
faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Do you mean to tell us that Faith doesn't come by a command of God that the recipient has no part in at all? It's just infused into him unknowingly and then he's automatically saved??

Must be based on that new principle we read about which says that no matter what's in scripture, it doesn't count, huh?

 

[Lamb]

It looks like His Word and Holy Spirit work together, otherwise many hear God’s Word but it does nothing for their faith (thinking of the majority of Scribes , Pharisees, and Sadducees during Jesus time on earth ).

Absolutely the Holy Spirit works by the word! It does not return to Him empty, so you might never know what God has planted into someone's heart.