Faith precedes life !

Regeneration must come before faith.

The same power that raised Jesus Christ from the grave is necessary to enable a sinner to believe (Eph. 1:19-20). In theological terms, the order of salvation, the ordus salutis, is birth first, belief second: "Whosever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God…" (I Jno. 5:1); "Whosoever heareth my words and believeth on Him that sent me hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life" (Jno. 5:24). The verb tenses in both of these verses suggest that the individual who presently believes already possesses spiritual life. Notice that the writer does not say "whosoever believes will be born of God." He says the believer is born of God. His belief is the evidence of his new birth. Jesus does not say that the man who hears and believes will get everlasting life, but that he already has it - "he is passed from death unto life." His belief is the evidence of his spiritual resurrection.

The sinner who is dead in trespasses and in sins is spiritually incapacitated, unable to function in the spiritual realm. It is not that the unregenerate merely will not believe. He cannot believe. It is not merely that he refuses to respond. He doesn't have the ability to respond to the gospel call. Jesus asked, "Why do ye not understand my speech? even because you cannot hear my word...He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God" (Jno. 8:43,47). This verse declares that an individual who has not experienced a change of nature is utterly incapable of a believing response to the gospel. Ephesians 2:1 describes man by nature as "dead in trespasses and in sins." The image of death suggests that the unregenerate man, like a dead corpse, is unresponsive to stimuli. Is the gospel a kind of external stimuli? Isn't it an appeal to man's mind? Until the sinner is given new life, consequently he will remain unresponsive to the gospel. I Corinthians 1:18 says, "For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved, it is the power of God." Again, this verse presents a contrast between two types of people, "them that perish," or the unregenerate, and "us which are saved," or the regenerate. According to this verse, what effect does the gospel have on the unregenerate? Is it "the power of God unto salvation"
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TomL said:
Wrong

Scripture shows

John 20:31 (LEB) — 31 but these things are recorded in order that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

There is no life without faith
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You cant see it. And that passage is for the regenerated Sheep Jn 10, scripture isn't written to the unregenerate, but to them who have spiritual minds.
 
How does one really believe ? By Gods Power according to Eph 1:115-20

15 Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints,

16 Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;

17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:

18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,

19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,

20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,

Now mans religion teaches that a person believes by their own freewill, usurping the mighty power of God !
 
Richard said:
Tulip is mans religion.
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That it is. Serious problems develop when we don’t grow in the knowledge of God and stay stuck in a man-made theology.

If we don’t truly know Him, we’ll inevitably create a god convenient to us. A lot of people worship a god of their own fancy, a god created out of their own hearts. They have manufactured a god that makes it possible for them to feel at ease with who they are.

Calvinism is another gospel!

The Bible says, “I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ to another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed” (Galatians 1:6–8).
 
Bronson said:
Ok... Calvinists have been hoodwinked by a man-made theology.
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Calvinism asserts that God has already pre-determined who will go to hell and who will go to heaven but has left us in the dark.

Not only does this stance on salvation and the character of God cross the fence of heresy — it spits in the face of the God of the Bible.
 

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