quote]This is strictly for those who want to know how to become saved. You will not even truly have the desire to unless you are called by the Father.[/quote]
>Even if that were true - and of course it is not,
NIV Romans 1:1-7
1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God--
2 the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures
3 regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David,
4 and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.
5 Through him and for his name's sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith.
6 And you also are among those who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.
7 To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
NIV Jude 1:1 Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James, To those who have been called, who are loved by God the Father and kept by Jesus Christ:
NIV Romans 8:29-39
29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
31 What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?
32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.
34 Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died--more than that, who was raised to life--is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
36 As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,
39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
There you go, Derek. The 'calling' is entirely Biblical and I threw in 'once saved; always saved' for good measure.
> the voices Rex hears do not belong to God - it strikes me as being very unfair. God arbitrarily chooses certain people to be saved and he condemns the rest to an eternity of torture for somebody else's mistakes.
Nope, you twist the scriptural point. We each have 'free will'.
> Rex, if your god exists, he is evil. Why do you worship him? Is it because you're afraid of going to hell?
Coming from someone who doesn't take the time to understand remotely what he is discussing, this does not surprise me. Hell? Read John 15, the gospel accounts of the crucifixtion and then you will see why I love the Lord God Almighty.
Rex
