August 4, 2013
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The myth of “Free” will
This is a reprint of what I just posted as my Facebook status. Just some food for thought that came out of a response to someone calling men to “make a choice while they still can make a choice”. This form of evangelism assumes men can choose God freely… and will do so unreservedly. Here’s my thoughts.
Men commonly point to “Free Will” as though they think they have the choice to do whatever they will or wish. Free will is not really “free” will, it is actually enslaved by sin, making it not so “Free”. We can “choose”, but consistantly we will choose AGAINST God, His law or His way.
Think about this —-
Read Romans 2:4 for a moment… God L-E-A-D-S you to repentance. Or Acts 11:18 …. God G-R-A-N-T-S men repentance unto life.
Salvation comes by an act of God, not the choice of man.
Even Jesus points to this when He says in John 6:37 “All that the Father G-I-V-E-S to me will come to me….”
Better to say “Enslaved Will” (bound to sin and death) than to call it “Free will”…. for the latter is honestly misleading.
Comments (12)
Slippery slope………indicates to some that they aren’t “meant” to be saved.
This misconception of our will being able to choose God comes from the wide-spread teaching that man is basically good and that Jesus is there only to smooth the edges, as it were. God correctly identifies man as separated from Him and not able to choose to do good -in the sense of good as He is good. Who but God could know that? Jesus said that He had come into the world to destroy the works of the devil. If we were so close to being right with God in our natural state, Jesus wouldn’t have had to give His life to redeem us.
@alterb4ego - Re-read Romans 9:17-22 for a moment and then re-ask your question in light of that passage. Yes… God does appoint some as “vessels fit for destruction”…. but…. He does so in full knowledge that THEY REJECTED HIM. It’s not that God sent them to hell unjustly, He gave them what they wanted all along, in the full knowledge that they would not change from their position. The full Grace of God is displayed in that He even allowed them to live in the first place…. allowing them a full life despite their hatred of him, their idolatry, their sin. In this His grace is shown, just as Jesus said that God sends rain upon the just and the unjust. BUT…. just as those of us who are saved were counted so “From the foundation of the world”, so to God knew all along all those who would reject him and those He holds fully accountable for their sins. Their punishment is and will be just.
@alterb4ego - Also consider the words of Philippians 2:12 — Work out your salvation in fear and trembling.if you only stop there you would get the impression that it is we, ourselves, who affect and keep ourselves “saved.”Philippians 2:13 states — For it is God who works in you, to will and to act according to His Good purpose.Thus we see that Man does have a responsibility…. but God works in us to help us meet that responsibility so long as we are putting forth the effort. For years I puzzled over the verse about Jesus that says “A smoldering wick he will not snuff out.” (Matthew 12:20) I finally came to see it in this light, that Christ takes what little we have to offer… and helps build it into the fire that burns in us passionately to serve God. All of what little we have… connects with what God offers… and God builds it all into the fire of devotion.
@JulieMillerFan - That verse says “work out your OWN salvation…….” and in context of the other verses around it, I have deduced that it indicates people were busy judging one another and dictating to one another what they should be doing……..My point with my reply is that my brother has the impression that some people can’t be saved because of verses related to predestination……..and the fact is, we are all predestined to hell without Christ and to heaven if we do have Christ……..I believe God gives us every chance to be saved, else the Bible would be lying when it says he is not willing that any should die…….I understand what you are saying about the Lord already knowing who will and won’t accept him ahead of time………but I have a sister that denounced Jesus some time ago in deference to Judaism…….it’s a rule that if you convert to that you have to denounce Christ…….and she flippantly goes through life without considering her decision with the idea that God will sort it out…….as though her decision is not hers to make…….she treats it as an unimportant thing……..and has said basicly the same thing you have said…….that if it’s God’s will she choose Christ, some day she will……..For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life, tells me what God’s will is……….and her refusing Christ is not something she can put off on God’s will……..it’s her will and her decision………else if it was God’s will, then where would the justice be in her punishment?
@alterb4ego - review the verses I pointed you to in Romans 9…. but also take a look at John 1:12-13 likewise this time. honestly ask yourself what the direct implications of these passages are…if read at face value.People will be judged for the decisions they make… but Christ said it best in John 3There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him HAS ALREADY BEEN JUDGED for not believing in God’s one and only Son. 19 And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil.As you said… all of us stand judged already… because we have chosen against Christ, loving darkness more than God.
Why is this text so importantThou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee Ezekiel 28:15Two critical words stands out in this text.
@tau_1 - Tau — I took an hour to track down this from what I had written years ago. If you want to read the whole matter (which is VERY lengthy) here’s the original post.For the sake of brevity, though, I will simply cut and paste the relevant comment (from the comments section) so that you don’t have to track through tons of irrelevant information.The “Problem of evil” has always perplexed the souls of men. I’ve come to understand that Evil does exists (for now) because it serves God’s greater purpose.If I had never known the evil in my heart, never seen it as clearly as I have, I would likewise not be as greatful, thankful and humbled by all that God HAS DONE in order to save me from it. My gratitude is far more sincere and profound from my understanding of it, and the mercy and grace that God gives is that much sweeter and dearer to me for my knowledge of just what it was that he saved me from.This plays perfectly into the song “Amazing Grace” wherein the very understanding of God’s Grace comes because I likewise understand “that saved A WRETCH like me” applies to the evil lying in my heart. Think of the angels that did not fall — they’ve never known “EVIL” (in any personal sense) and can therefore never know the preciousness of Christ’s sacrifice because of that. This is something of what Peter means when he implies that the angels longed to look into these things…. because standing forever in the presence of God, they’ve no comprehension of just how great His love is — they’ve never been purchased from the kingdom of darkness, never been brought into the Steadfast Love of God — from being his enemy.My answer is short — and takes many short cuts to make the point… but I pray that it makes the matter clearer… and in some sense your salvation dearer… for what I have said. (And to those who’ve followed without Christ, may you likewise understand just how great and dear and precious these things really are.)
Enslaved sin is not fitting either because we aren’t bound to sin (Romans 6-8) . That was the whole point of Jesus dying for us. That we were no longer obligated to sin as I sinful nature desired. We are saved through salvation is an act by God, but we still have to choose to accept him. Choose ye this day whom you will serve (Joshua 24:14-24). Jesus is not a man to force himself on anyone.
Ezekiel 28:1515 You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you. What I just saying about the above memory text is that it has to be one of the most profound in all revelation. Now the two crucial words stand out is BLAMELESS AND WICKEDNESS OR PERFECT AND INIQUITY, I am going to use perfect and iniquity in the KJV.What this means is that contained in the idea of being perfect, of having perfection EVEN IN HEAVEN is the potential for iniquity. How could iniquity be found in a being created PERFECT unless PERFECTION ALLOWED FOR IT.Iniquity could not arise in a being created perfect unless being perfect included the possibility of it, which it obviously did. When studying this text it shows is that, in God’s universe, the concept of PERFECTincludes FREEDOM , MORAL FREEDOM, the ability to CHOOSE RIGHT AND WRONG. How could it not, and humans still be moral and free? A company might be able to program software that blocks employees from accessing Internet pornography or gambling or other immoral sites, yet no one would call the software itself “moral” or freeWhat we have, then, is a being, Lucifer, so highly exalted that even his garments, his covering, are given special notice in Scripture, yet he abuses the freedom given him and falls away from the Lord.So can we learn from his tragic mistake?
@LNG07 - WE — meaning Christians — are not bound by sin (though it still plagues us, review 1 John 2:1 for clarity). BUT…. the world is. As I just pointed out to Tau, Scripture seems pretty clear….. NO ONE seeks after God…. until God actively works in them to raise them first from their “dead in sin” status.
@tau_1 - Romans 3 answers all your questions. (Which, might I add, is a compilation of OLD Testament passages…)No one…. not even oneNot one.All.Everyone……How hard is it to comprehend that No person in all of time, save Adam, FREELY chose AGAINST sin.Scripture seems pretty clear: From birth I was sinful, from my mother’s womb.This is why Scripture calls the lost “DEAD in their sin.” Until God actively works in us, we remain dead…. and the last I checked, those who are dead weren’t actively able to FREELY choose anything. Dead is quite an appropriate labeling for mankind’s present status.Which brings us right back to all that I wrote in my post. God GRANTS repentance. GOD…. not man. John 1:12-13 clearly states this in blunt terms.