Free will?

[Dave L]

I mean we have lost the information that the 1st century believers had, because we don't study Scripture by ourselves, but just depend on spoonfeeding by pastors.

I study what they believed in the Creeds. And spend time disproving what people think they believed.

[footwasher]

I study what they believed in the Creeds. And spend time disproving what people think they believed.

Well the Creeds are not Scripture, inspired by the Holy Spirit, in fact many scholars believe that even the Creeds need to be reformed, changed. They were written as knee jerk responses to people who made claims that went against what the leaders of the church believed, which may have been true, but not proved. Doctor Daniel B Wallace who wrote many textbooks, including the Greek grammar used by all theological seminaries writes that even the Bible never claims that Scripture is protected by God:

Quote
First, the doctrine of preservation was not a doctrine of the ancient church. In fact, it was not stated in any creed until the seventeenth century (in the Westminster Confession of 1646). The recent arrival of such a doctrine, of course, does not necessarily argue against it—but neither does its youthfulness argue for it. Perhaps what needs to be explored more fully is precisely what the framers of the Westminster Confession and the Helvetic Consensus Formula (in 1675) really meant by providential preservation.

https://bible.org/article/inspiratio...tual-criticism