No One Wants God without God Wanting them First

Calvin said that we basically don't have any free will. He says the Holy Spirit changes our hearts to want God. My problem is no matter how you slice it, we still come out looking and smelling like robots.

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But if I want God, and God wants me to want him, then how am I a robot? Did God "make" me want Him against my will, or did His wanting me, cause my will to be filled with a wanting of Him? Is therefore, God's desire my desire?

This is another example of the paradox.

Basically, we as humans cannot know the mind of God.

Or can we?

jc.

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jc,

Your premise is flawed. No one wants God without God first drawing them or planting a seed of desire in them.

(Rom 3:11 NIV) there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.

There are LOTS of other scripture that support this.

H.

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H.,

I agree with you on this. I'm not sure how you implied the premise that one could "want" God, or anything else "on their own", since my final statement was: "Is therefore, God's desire my desire?" 

Desire

If there was any implied premise it is this: "At it's root, ALL desire comes from God." Now if this were to be true (and assuming for the moment that it may not be), then how could this explain the many different things that people "seem" to want?

The real question is "Do people Really want different things, or are all these "wants", really some form of ONE DESIRE?" Now the "Form" of these desires would be different, (higher or lower, pure or base ) depending upon the culture / intelligence / disposition / emotional state of the individual.

Now THAT is a premise worth examining!

Here are a few examples to show what I mean:

One person becomes a Baptist, because they desire to get closer to God.
One person becomes a Presbyterian, because they desire to get closer to God.
One person becomes a Catholic, because they desire to get closer to God.
One person becomes a Muslim, because they desire to get closer to God.

Now on one level, a person could say that they all "want" different things (to be a Baptist, Catholic, etc..), but on a deeper level it can also be said that they all want the same thing (to get closer to God).

Here's the premise / hypothesis at it core:

a) All desire is about obtaining more livingness, more aliveness, more liberation. (even the desire to escape from something). b) At it root, this livingness comes from naught else but from God.
c) All Desire, therefore ultimately comes from God.
d) At the root core of our desires, we All desire God, whether we consciously know it or not.

So where do the "problems" with desire come in? Problems enter in the "form" that the desire takes when we try to "get" what we "want". Now why do our desires take so many different forms? Why do I desire to play violin, while another man desires to play golf, or a woman desires children, or another man desires to shoot children? (If you can answer this, then you'll also have your answer as to why we are NOT robots).

So what is the difference between a man who plays golf religiously, and a man who tries to kill others of a different race? Aren't they both trying to create their own little heaven to their own liking?

The difference is in the degree of mental/spiritual bondage/ignorance that the person is in. Yet, that ONE Desire still infuses them like electricity flowing into an electrical appliance. Some appliances produce useful work in accordance with their maker's intent, while other less efficient appliances give off lots heat and noise in their clumsy ignorant attempts to function and survive.

jc