Can We Really Exercise Free Will?

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cv5

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So, you don't realize that you imply God is deceitful?!
You really ought to brush up on the meaning of "if".
For example, "IF they continue" implies that they need NOT continue,
and "IF they turn" means they might turn--unless God is being tricky by making that promise!
IOW, "IF" is the fulcrum of faith, the condition that makes sinners blameworthy instead of God,
so that their punishment for disobeying was self-imposed and just.

Do we need to meditate on this truth for awhile, or are you ready to discuss the second Scripture?

[Note: Ignore #2,112, CC was acting up and cut off this reply.]
Indeed, "true life" consciousness, quantum uncertainty, free will, choice, and the observer effect are inextricably woven into the warp and woof of creation. For all to see, undeniably.

This the super-determinists deny despite the exhortations to righteousness and warnings of judgement that God provides.

Rom 1:18
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

Rom 1:19
Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.

Rom 1:20
For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
 
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Indeed, "true life" consciousness, quantum uncertainty, free will, choice, and the observer effect are inextricably woven into the warp and woof of creation. For all to see, undeniably.

This the super-determinists deny despite the exhortations to righteousness and warnings of judgement that God provides.

Rom 1:18
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

Rom 1:19
Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.

Rom 1:20
For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
Indeed, and this discussion just caused me to stumble on the phrase "IF is the fulcrum of faith"
(the condition that makes sinners blameworthy instead of God, so that their punishment is self-imposed and just),
which pithy point I intend to add at an appropriate place to our website. :)
 

cv5

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Nov 20, 2018
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1 Peter 2:9
“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” – 1 Peter 2:9
****************************************************************************
Called out of. Not kidnapped in some pre-birth lottery scam.
 
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1 Peter 2:9
“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” – 1 Peter 2:9
****************************************************************************
Called out of. Not kidnapped in some pre-birth lottery scam.
Indeed (John 12:32, Matt. 22:14, 1Tim. 2:3-4).
 
Jul 3, 2015
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It is a pity.
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.... that truly is their doctrine.. but somehow this angry god does decide to perform the odd miracle and save people here and there.
What are your views on hell? If I remember correctly you did at one time seem to disagree with
the predominant Catholic/Augustinian doctrine, but then also seem to have reverted back to it.
 
Jul 3, 2015
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The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.” Since the world through its wisdom did not know Him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. from 1 Corinthians 1 verses 18-21 The natural man does not choose to believe that which he can neither receive nor comprehend, for it is foolishness to him.
 
Jul 3, 2015
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In 1 Cor 2 verse 14, the natural man, still unsaved, cannot comprehend the spiritual things of God. He does not understand Christ’s atoning sacrifice, for that is foolishness to him (1 Cor 1 verse 18). The Holy Spirit Himself must convict him of its reality, and of his standing before God (John 16 verses 7-11).So this natural man is unregenerated, one who does not have the Holy Spirit residing within him. As Jesus said, “Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit” (John 3 verse 6).
 
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The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.” Since the world through its wisdom did not know Him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. from 1 Corinthians 1 verses 18-21 The natural man does not choose to believe that which he can neither receive nor comprehend, for it is foolishness to him.
Okay, since Mag could not bring herself to forgive my offenses and directly propose a Scripture for us to discuss,
I will accept this indirect submission of 1Cor. 18-21.

Mag thinks this means that the natural man does not choose to believe the Gospel, because it is foolishness to him,
but let us see what else Paul says:

1Cor. 1:21b, "God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe." Using Mag's favorite terminology, God's method of saving sinners or natural men is via revealing the Gospel, and we know from 1Tim. 2:3-4 that
God desires all to believe.

1Cor. 1:23-24, "We preach Christ crucified... to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." Again, "We preach to all natural men", and "to those natural men God has called". This prompts the question: Is "desire" in 1Tim. 2:3-4 synonymous with God's "calling" in 1Cor. 1:24--and we might add with God's "drawing" in John 12:32 and with God's "invitation" in Matt. 22:14? The last verse and John 13:18 indicate that although God loves and wants to save every natural man, some ignore/reject/resist His desire/calling/drawing/invitation and are therefore not chosen or saved, while some do NOT resist God's calling but rather believe the Gospel, realizing its wisdom and power to save, at which point they become chosen/elect.

1Cor. 1:26, "Brothers, think of what you were when you were called... Not many were influential." They were natural men in the lower social class, but yet they believed or cooperated with God's calling.

1Cor. 1:27-28, "God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise... the lowly... and the despised". God's saving of despised natural men was intended to humble all natural men, so that "no one may boast before him" (1Cor. 1:29).

1Cor. 2:1-2, "When I came to you, brothers... I proclaimed to you... Jesus Christ and him crucified." Paul reiterated that God saved some natural men via them accepting Paul's preaching of the Gospel.

1Cor. 2:10, "God has revealed it to us by his Spirit." God's HS enables natural men to believe the Gospel and be saved (or not).
 

Rufus

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Okay, now that you are specific, I agree that there is "tension" between Deut. 29:4 & 9,
and I await your explanation involving Heb. 3:12-19--and I no longer count you as #2 down.
However, you are on probation regarding the pejorative ad hominems.
So, you are saying that the Deut passage itself wasn't specific enough for you!? Do you have a special translation of the bible that underlines or highlights what the translators consider to be "specific"? Why is it that I noticed the "tension" between those two verses, yet you did not? One is led to wonder how many other obvious "anomalies" or "oddities" or "irregularities" you miss in other passages...But let's explore this "tension" for a few moments, which we'll do by exegeting the passage.

First, re Heb 3:12-19, I simply cited that passage for quick historical context purposes. So, what do you need explained to you about Israel's unfaithful behavior in the Wilderness?

Now on to Deut! The first thing we notice about Moses' remarks in Deut 29: 4 is that he didn't attribute Israel's lack of faithfulness/obedience to their unwillingness to obey, even though such unwillingness permeated the psyche of most of them. But to Moses' mind, this wasn't the primary cause of their spiritual problem. Rather, God sovereignly withheld grace from them!

The second thing we should not miss are the two kinds of hearing or sight taught in the passage. In v. 3, Israel did see with their natural/physical eyes the great miracles, spectacular signs and awesome wonders the Lord performed in Egypt on their behalf. But the next verse starts with a "but" -- a clear indication that what will follow will be different from, distinct from or in contrast with what has been stated previously. In spite of all their natural eyes beheld and their natural ears heard in Egypt (and even later in the Wilderness),
it never resonated down to their heart -- the heart which is the locus of personality! This text offers a classic example of people having superficial head knowledge of God and his truth but the people lacked good soil (heart) so that they could only bear the fruit of their wickedness. It's impossible to get good fruit from bad soil! A great companion passage to this Deut text is Rom 1. This is why mankind in Rom 1, even though they "understood and clearly saw" [with their natural eyes] the attributes of God through what He made, they became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened because the light of that Natural Revelation never penetrated their darkness, for their hearts became darkened (Rom 1:18-23). In the same way Light came into this DARK world but the Darkness did not comprehend it (Jn 1:5). (See also Mat 13:11-15 wherein the unregenerate see and hear naturally but cannot see and hear spiritually because they themselves are Darkness, cf. Eph 5:8 and their minds have been blinded by the evil one, cf. 2Cor 4:4, and even the Lord blinds the eyes of non-elect, cf. Jn 12:39-40)

The third thing we learn is that ultimately spiritual understanding comes from God himself and is graciously imparted to his chosen people inwardly by the Holy Spirit (Ps 119:18; Prov 9:10; Job 28:8; Isa 42:6-7; Lk 18:34; 24:45; Act 8:30-31; 1Cor 2:10; 2Cor 4:6; 1Jn 5:20; Truth learned by external manifestations thereof, such as the examples expressed above, will at best result in superficial understanding. This is why the external invitations of the gospel alone can never save anyone. The gospel message of life needs to be applied inwardly to the heart by the Spirit of Truth so that spiritual truth can actually be understood, seen and heard by, with and through spiritual eyes and ears and sink down into the heart that has been made good by the Spirit (Lk 14:16-24).

Fourthly, despite objections to what many think the "heart" means in scipture, the heart means much more than the physical organ that pumps blood or the facutly of emotions, passions or feelings; for this passage teaches that understanding also resides in the human heart, since the faculty of intellect or mind is also seated in the heart. Deut 29:4 doesn't merely say that God hasn't given understanding to His people's minds but rather to their hearts; for all four faculties are involved in every decision we make!

Fifthly, Moses obviously did not shy away from the tension between the twin truths of God's supreme sovereignty and man's moral/spiritual responsibility. He did not consider these truths to be mutually exclusive to each other but actually complementary to each other -- even though we cannot fully understand how God rules this world by working his perfect will into his moral creatures to accomplish his purposes. To Moses' mind, God does not exist so that man can work his will into Him and accomplish our plan and purposes; but rather we exist to glorify God in all that we think, say and do and we can only do this by God actively and powerfully working his holy, good, righteous and perfect will into his.

Sixthly, this passage in Deut cleary demolishes various man-made universal concepts or constructs that God's love is unconditional, that it is quantitatively eternal because He has always loved mankind in the distributive sense, and that God is not willing that any human being should perish, that all the commands in the bible can only logically infer spiritual ability etc. Yet, all of these, and more, are false propositions! If Moses believed any of this, he could never have written what he did in vv. 4 and 9. He would never have created the tension he did between these two verses. He would have simply laid all the blame on Hebrews' failings on their lack of willingness. But Moses wrote what he did because he understood the helplessness of his people! Did not God appoint Moses to play a key role in His rescue mission of his chosen people from Egypt? Are people who are self-sufficient ever in need of emergency resuce help?

Lastly, the grace that God withheld from the Hebrews and that ultimately accounted for their rebellious, hostile spirit toward their Redeemer would have been effectual if He had granted that grace to them. We can know this in two ways: First, by the outcome of the people's exerience in the Wilderness when they were operating with only their natural eyes and ears and no spiritual understanding. This kind of condition is spiritually fatal, since [true, saving] knowledge of the Holy One is understanding (Prov 9:10)! Therefore, the Hebews had no such saving knowledge of God.

And the second way we can know that God's grace would have been effectual is because nothing changed with the Hebrews after they crossed the Jordan into the Land of Canaan. In fact, Joshua fully understood Moses and was on the same page with him; for Joshua told the people, while they were still on the wilderness side of the river, that they would not be able to serve the Lord (Josh 24:19). But clearly Moses in Deut 29:4 implied that the Hebrews would have had spiritual eyes to see and ears to hear and an understanding heart if God had gracously granted those things to them. If this weren't case, then what Moses said in v.4 makes no sense; for whether the people were left in their current state or rescued from it by God's grace, they would have still rebelled. Either way, the outcome would have been identical, which is absurd; for no one can thwart God's plans or purposes (Job 42:2).

In closing, this is a rather unique passage in scritpure because it brings two different and seemingly contradictory concepts together, as mentioned earlier. And at the same time, the Word of God does not shy away from or downplay man's role of moral/spiritual duty to God in spite of his fatal spiritual condition.
 
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So, you are saying that the Deut passage itself wasn't specific enough for you!? Do you have a special translation of the bible that underlines or highlights what the translators consider to be "specific"? Why is it that I noticed the "tension" between those two verses, yet you did not? One is led to wonder how many other obvious "anomalies" or "oddities" or "irregularities" you miss in other passages...But let's explore this "tension" for a few moments, which we'll do by exegeting the passage.

First, re Heb 3:12-19, I simply cited that passage for quick historical context purposes. So, what do you need explained to you about Israel's unfaithful behavior in the Wilderness?

Now on to Deut! The first thing we notice about Moses' remarks in Deut 29: 4 is that he didn't attribute Israel's lack of faithfulness/obedience to their unwillingness to obey, even though such unwillingness permeated the psyche of most of them. But to Moses' mind, this wasn't the primary cause of their spiritual problem. Rather, God sovereignly withheld grace from them!

The second thing we should not miss are the two kinds of hearing or sight taught in the passage. In v. 3, Israel did see with their natural/physical eyes the great miracles, spectacular signs and awesome wonders the Lord performed in Egypt on their behalf. But the next verse starts with a "but" -- a clear indication that what will follow will be different from, distinct from or in contrast with what has been stated previously. In spite of all their natural eyes beheld and their natural ears heard in Egypt (and even later in the Wilderness),
it never resonated down to their heart -- the heart which is the locus of personality! This text offers a classic example of people having superficial head knowledge of God and his truth but the people lacked good soil (heart) so that they could only bear the fruit of their wickedness. It's impossible to get good fruit from bad soil! A great companion passage to this Deut text is Rom 1. This is why mankind in Rom 1, even though they "understood and clearly saw" [with their natural eyes] the attributes of God through what He made, they became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened because the light of that Natural Revelation never penetrated their darkness, for their hearts became darkened (Rom 1:18-23). In the same way Light came into this DARK world but the Darkness did not comprehend it (Jn 1:5). (See also Mat 13:11-15 wherein the unregenerate see and hear naturally but cannot see and hear spiritually because they themselves are Darkness, cf. Eph 5:8 and their minds have been blinded by the evil one, cf. 2Cor 4:4, and even the Lord blinds the eyes of non-elect, cf. Jn 12:39-40)

The third thing we learn is that ultimately spiritual understanding comes from God himself and is graciously imparted to his chosen people inwardly by the Holy Spirit (Ps 119:18; Prov 9:10; Job 28:8; Isa 42:6-7; Lk 18:34; 24:45; Act 8:30-31; 1Cor 2:10; 2Cor 4:6; 1Jn 5:20; Truth learned by external manifestations thereof, such as the examples expressed above, will at best result in superficial understanding. This is why the external invitations of the gospel alone can never save anyone. The gospel message of life needs to be applied inwardly to the heart by the Spirit of Truth so that spiritual truth can actually be understood, seen and heard by, with and through spiritual eyes and ears and sink down into the heart that has been made good by the Spirit (Lk 14:16-24).

Fourthly, despite objections to what many think the "heart" means in scipture, the heart means much more than the physical organ that pumps blood or the facutly of emotions, passions or feelings; for this passage teaches that understanding also resides in the human heart, since the faculty of intellect or mind is also seated in the heart. Deut 29:4 doesn't merely say that God hasn't given understanding to His people's minds but rather to their hearts; for all four faculties are involved in every decision we make!



In closing, this is a rather unique passage in scritpure because it brings two different and seemingly contradictory concepts together, as mentioned earlier. And at the same time, the Word of God does not shy away from or downplay man's role of moral/spiritual duty to God in spite of his fatal spiritual condition.
1. I am saying your explanation of the Deut. passage was non-existent.

2. I DID notice the "tension" between those two verses.

3. I need nothing explained re Heb. 3:12-19.

4. Re Deut. 29: 4: We notice that Moses blames Israel's lack of faithfulness/obedience on God.

5. Israel saw great miracles, "but" God blinded their understanding or "heart".

6. A great companion passage is Rom 1:18-23.

7. In the same way Light came into this DARK world but the Darkness did not comprehend it (Jn 1:5).

8. See also Matt. 13:11-15 wherein the unregenerate see and hear naturally but cannot see and hear spiritually because they themselves are Darkness.

9. Cf. Eph. 5:8, and their minds have been blinded by the evil one.

10. Cf. 2Cor. 4:4, and even the Lord blinds the eyes of non-elect.

11. Cf. Jn 12:39-40.

12. We learn that ultimately spiritual understanding comes from God himself and is graciously imparted to his chosen people inwardly by the Holy Spirit (Ps 119:18; Prov 9:10; Job 28:8; Isa 42:6-7; Lk 18:34; 24:45; Act 8:30-31; 1Cor 2:10; 2Cor 4:6; 1Jn 5:20) and withheld from the rest (cf. Lk 14:16-24).

13. The faculty of intellect or mind is also seated in the heart (Deut. 29:4).

14. Moses did not shy away from the tension between the twin truths of God's supreme sovereignty and man's moral/spiritual responsibility. He did not consider these truths to be mutually exclusive to each other but actually complementary to each other -- even though we cannot fully understand how God rules this world by working his perfect will into his moral creatures to accomplish his purposes.

15. Sixthly, this passage in Deut cleary demolishes various man-made universal concepts or constructs that God's love is unconditional and that God is not willing that any human being should perish. If Moses believed any of this, he could never have written what he did in vv. 4 and 9.

16. Lastly, the grace that God withheld from the Hebrews and that ultimately accounted for their rebellious, hostile spirit toward their Redeemer would have been effectual if He had granted that grace to them, because nothing changed with the Hebrews after they crossed the Jordan into the Land of Canaan, for Joshua told the people, while they were still on the wilderness side of the river, that they would not be able to serve the Lord (Josh 24:19). Clearly Moses in Deut. 29:4 implied that the Hebrews would have had spiritual eyes to see and ears to hear and an understanding heart if God had graciously granted those things to them.

17. In closing, this is a rather unique passage in scripture because it brings two different and seemingly contradictory concepts together, as mentioned earlier. And at the same time, the Word of God does not shy away from or downplay man's role of moral/spiritual duty to God in spite of his fatal spiritual condition.

Okay, I have boiled your lengthy commentary down to 17 points. Would you like me to discuss them a few at a time?

[Note: Your post was cropped to allow room for my reply.]
 

Rufus

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Feb 17, 2024
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Go ahead.....tell your children that they are utterly hopelessly depraved evil sinners and God despises them.
And tell them that they are most certainly condemned to eternal hell and there is zero that they can do about it.

I double dog dare you.

Here, lets up the ante. Do so to every little kid (while their parent watch) in your Church and see what happens.

Sure its easy to expound your super-determinist theories here on a message board.
But realistically, you would be run out of town on a rail anywhere else.
I asked you a few questions about how you think children are born, and you didn't answer one. You chose none of the options I provided. Not only that I asked you to provide biblical proof for your answer, which obviously you cannot.

In other words, you're blowing smoke in everyone's because that's all you have.
 

Rufus

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Vastly more sinless and righteous than you that's for sure.
No doubt about it.
.

"More sinless"!??? How can anyone improve upon a superlative? I guess you believe some women are more pregnant than other pregnant women? Or that Christ was more sinless than other sinners? :rolleyes:
 

Rufus

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Most If not all of your post is God explaining to His people that they have turned from Him and have put their trust in man.
God is using Jeremiah to warn them of punishment if they continue down the path that they are on. However, in Jer 18:8 He does promise to relent if they turn from their evil.
But we all know that they did not turn from their evil and did in fact get punished.

Why?

Because – Jer 17:9 tells us that their heart was deceitful above all things and only God can change the heart.
But FWers don't believe that salvation is a supernatural act of God. Salvation is achieved by a mere natural act of the human will.
 

studier

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NKJ Deuteronomy 29:1-6 These are the words of the covenant which the LORD commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant which He made with them in Horeb. 2 Now Moses called all Israel and said to them: "You have seen all that the LORD did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land--3 "the great trials which your eyes have seen, the signs, and those great wonders. 4 "Yet the LORD has not given you a heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear, to this very day. 5 "And I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn out on your feet. 6 "You have not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or similar drink, that you may know that I am the LORD your God.

Does anybody not see a problem here? The TULIP view loves to look at things simplistically, not ask seemingly obvious questions of the Text, and leave us with a capricious God who plays games with people.

YHWH showed you things He did before your eyes - You have seen [these things]
YHWH showed you these signs and great wonders - Your eyes have seen [them]
Your clothes lasted for 40 years
Your sandals lasted for 40 years
You've not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or similar drink SO YOU MAY KNOW I AM YHWH YOUR GOD

Yet YHWH has not given you a heart to perceive & ears to hear

Firstly, please do some language homework and ask why the LXX used "kai" to begin this sentence and note that "but" is not the main meaning for "kai" and there are other words that mean "but' so your "contrast" interpretation is more than questionable.

SO, YHWH does all these things for them in part so THEY MAY KNOW HIM but gives them no understanding of any of it. And this makes sense because YHWH is sovereign and can do what He wants to do no matter what, and who are we to question it, and God hates sinful men so of course He's going to play harsh games with them to prove how great He is with puny, disgusting little men He could obliterate at will.

Or maybe it's idiomatic, or maybe it's sarcastic, or maybe the people deserved and brought on themselves their lack of understanding, or...

Read some commentaries for goodness' sake. Do some thinking past the presuppositions.

Or balance (harmonize) with other Scriptures such as what sounds like a lament at their condition 29 'Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear Me and always keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children forever! (Deut. 5:29 NKJ).

YHWH says Oh that they had such a heart in them - YHWH has not given them such a heart.

He's either extremely double-minded or we're not understanding Him correctly (like they didn't).
 

Rufus

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Feb 17, 2024
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1. I am saying your explanation of the Deut. passage was non-existent.

2. I DID notice the "tension" between those two verses.....


If you had noticed why did you complain to me about a lack of explanation. I questioned you on the passage to see if you noticed anything "odd" and you came with with a complaint of lack of explanation.

3. I need nothing explained re Heb. 3:12-19.

4. Re Deut. 29: 4: We notice that Moses blames Israel's lack of faithfulness/obedience on God.

5. Israel saw great miracles, "but" God blinded their understanding or "heart".

6. A great companion passage is Rom 1:18-23.

7. In the same way Light came into this DARK world but the Darkness did not comprehend it (Jn 1:5).

8. See also Matt. 13:11-15 wherein the unregenerate see and hear naturally but cannot see and hear spiritually because they themselves are Darkness.

9. Cf. Eph. 5:8, and their minds have been blinded by the evil one.

10. Cf. 2Cor. 4:4, and even the Lord blinds the eyes of non-elect.

11. Cf. Jn 12:39-40.

12. We learn that ultimately spiritual understanding comes from God himself and is graciously imparted to his chosen people inwardly by the Holy Spirit (Ps 119:18; Prov 9:10; Job 28:8; Isa 42:6-7; Lk 18:34; 24:45; Act 8:30-31; 1Cor 2:10; 2Cor 4:6; 1Jn 5:20) and withheld from the rest (cf. Lk 14:16-24).

13. The faculty of intellect or mind is also seated in the heart (Deut. 29:4).

14. Moses did not shy away from the tension between the twin truths of God's supreme sovereignty and man's moral/spiritual responsibility. He did not consider these truths to be mutually exclusive to each other but actually complementary to each other -- even though we cannot fully understand how God rules this world by working his perfect will into his moral creatures to accomplish his purposes.

15. Sixthly, this passage in Deut cleary demolishes various man-made universal concepts or constructs that God's love is unconditional and that God is not willing that any human being should perish. If Moses believed any of this, he could never have written what he did in vv. 4 and 9.

16. Lastly, the grace that God withheld from the Hebrews and that ultimately accounted for their rebellious, hostile spirit toward their Redeemer would have been effectual if He had granted that grace to them, because nothing changed with the Hebrews after they crossed the Jordan into the Land of Canaan, for Joshua told the people, while they were still on the wilderness side of the river, that they would not be able to serve the Lord (Josh 24:19). Clearly Moses in Deut. 29:4 implied that the Hebrews would have had spiritual eyes to see and ears to hear and an understanding heart if God had graciously granted those things to them.

17. In closing, this is a rather unique passage in scripture because it brings two different and seemingly contradictory concepts together, as mentioned earlier. And at the same time, the Word of God does not shy away from or downplay man's role of moral/spiritual duty to God in spite of his fatal spiritual condition.

Okay, I have boiled your lengthy commentary down to 17 points. Would you like me to discuss them a few at a time?

[Note: Your post was cropped to allow room for my reply.]
My "lengthy commentary" was only 7 points. I doubt very, very seriously you extracted 10 more points from my exegesis. The only way you could is by your favored method of eisegesis. So, I'll take a pass. However, if you want to zoom in on any ONE of my points one at a time and address that one point in one post, I'll read what you have to say.
 

Rufus

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NKJ Deuteronomy 29:1-6 These are the words of the covenant which the LORD commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant which He made with them in Horeb. 2 Now Moses called all Israel and said to them: "You have seen all that the LORD did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land--3 "the great trials which your eyes have seen, the signs, and those great wonders. 4 "Yet the LORD has not given you a heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear, to this very day. 5 "And I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn out on your feet. 6 "You have not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or similar drink, that you may know that I am the LORD your God.

Does anybody not see a problem here? The TULIP view loves to look at things simplistically, not ask seemingly obvious questions of the Text, and leave us with a capricious God who plays games with people.

YHWH showed you things He did before your eyes - You have seen [these things]
YHWH showed you these signs and great wonders - Your eyes have seen [them]
Your clothes lasted for 40 years
Your sandals lasted for 40 years
You've not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or similar drink SO YOU MAY KNOW I AM YHWH YOUR GOD

Yet YHWH has not given you a heart to perceive & ears to hear

Firstly, please do some language homework and ask why the LXX used "kai" to begin this sentence and note that "but" is not the main meaning for "kai" and there are other words that mean "but' so your "contrast" interpretation is more than questionable.

SO, YHWH does all these things for them in part so THEY MAY KNOW HIM but gives them no understanding of any of it. And this makes sense because YHWH is sovereign and can do what He wants to do no matter what, and who are we to question it, and God hates sinful men so of course He's going to play harsh games with them to prove how great He is with puny, disgusting little men He could obliterate at will.

Or maybe it's idiomatic, or maybe it's sarcastic, or maybe the people deserved and brought on themselves their lack of understanding, or...

Read some commentaries for goodness' sake. Do some thinking past the presuppositions.

Or balance (harmonize) with other Scriptures such as what sounds like a lament at their condition 29 'Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear Me and always keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children forever! (Deut. 5:29 NKJ).

YHWH says Oh that they had such a heart in them - YHWH has not given them such a heart.

He's either extremely double-minded or we're not understanding Him correctly (like they didn't).
Of course, the people deserved it and brought it upon themselves. Haven't you ever read that God opposes the proud ( and gives grace only to the humble? Do you need biblical proof of this fact?

P.S. Your favorite NKJV translation (except when it isn't) begins v. 4 with "YET" and the ESV begins the verse with "but". If you can't see the contrast, then you're willfully blind.