If God called everyone in the world to repent
then everyone in the world would repent,
we see this is not the case.
Thank-you -
You can see the problem...
So not all are Called to repentance...
But CLEARLY Israel was called...
And CLEARLY they did not repent...
Only a few did so, and we are left with remnant theology...
Respectable in my view...
So what makes me and you so special?
We were former atheist Arsenios,
why were we called to him and
why did we run to him?
I have been arguing with God on that one for some time now - OK? I mean, when it first began to dawn on me what God was actually calling me to do, my first reaction was: "You have GOT to be kidding me!" Then "Are You REALLY that hard up, Lord? Do you REALLY have to scrape the very BOTTOM of the scunge of the barrel?" "I mean, I think you are making a BIG mistake here, OK?" And on and on... I mean, for outside ears to hear, it had to be a VERY funny 'conversation'... And to no avail on my part - I told Him He was full of 'it, and He was not even slightly fazed... We have a sort of 'working' relationship, and I am a hard sell, OK?
Now I have traced back into my life, and dug out the traces of pivotal events where God's Providence and my issues intersected, and with a lot of help, I have a very good working knowledge of how I work and why I was ready as an atheist for God - And mostly it devolved to a level of integrity that really didn't give a rap about anyone's opinions, but was willing to sacrifice my very life for the sake of truth, and did so, and caused a lot of personal wreckage in the process, having profound and foundational issues whose origins were prior to being born - "In sins did my mother bear me..." is how David said it, and mine was pre-natal trauma... And at 4-5 I determined from my brother's complaint of people lying all the time, that I would always be truthful, at least to myself... I lost track of that resolve for many many years, but never betrayed it... And I cared for others in their own terms of their own lives, without imposing my own needs on them... And all this in a rage to uncover whatever it was that was so wrong in me that made no sense yet was real...
A heck of a life that ended at death's door, done at age 36, when I met God as God, and it all turned inside out and upside down and backwards, and has remained so ever since...
You know they Jews grumbled about themselves and Jesus told them that they can not hear Gods voice and they will not come to him for they are not of his flock. Why would he say that?
Because it was true - The leadership of the Jews were foreigners who sold out to the Romans... They were not faithful Jews... They wanted to rule and were willing to submit to Rome to do so...
God calls you and regenerates you so that we can hear and we can repent, why are some who have heard the word -deaf to hear Gods call? Can God call them and they hear God and just say "no thanks big guy"... that makes no sense, no one can hear Gods call and reject it... we heard Gods call for repentance as atheist and we were reborn in the spirit and now we follow Christ and are in Christ... now that makes sense.
I was on an internet discussion board, and we had a major sociopath being pretty predatious there, and we pm'ed a plot to all pray for him that God would give him a visitation, and we did so, all of us... It was a crazy thing to do, but we did it... And the following day, this poor guy posted like we had never seen him post before... He was hesitant and bewildered, and said: "This isn't me... I don't know what happened last night... Something happened and now I am experiencing something like universal love for all of you, and this is not who I am... I am trying to recover, to be my SELF, and so far I don't even seem to care about my old self - I feel like I am betraying who I am, so please be patient with me - I will get back to normal as soon as I can..."
I like to have blown my coffee across the room laughing... Oh I KNEW what had happened to that sorry soul! And I knew he was not ready for it at all... And he gradually did manage to get back to normal, more or less... But he now knew from memory what God feels like, where's before he had not a clue...
And in my quest for healing, I moved through the realm of darkness for over 2 years, and I found that most criminals had experienced divine encounters, and not been changed by them... So your idea that because such encounters are so compelling to you and me that they MUST be compelling to all who experience them is simply false... In horse training, you seek to get the horse to TAKE the bit and ANTICIPATE what you want him to do... Some do, and some don't... Theologically, the reason rests on the person who is understood as the hypostasis, the basis of decision in this fallen life... And the benefit of getting Baptized is fundamentally that of the re-birth of that hypostasis into Christ, where the New Creation is now Christed, and such an anointing in the Holy Spirit gives those who have it the status of being among the Living, and not the Dead, and as Living, they are not to cast aside what they have been given at such cost by Christ's Crucifixion...
The whole point of discipleship is to PREPARE the person for the encounter with God that will come, in this life or the next. And that preparation "makes straight the Way of the Lord..." And it goes on throughout one's life, and for those perfected in the Faith of Christ, it can have profound impact in the repentance of others, where "the prayers of a righteous man availeth much..."
Arsenios
