Do
People Have Free Will?
Do people have free will? The
everyday average non-Christian person would say yes. Why? It is really and
basically because they have no one else to say that governs their lives except
them. Without God, I guess that you could say that you do have free will. But,
as a Christian in Christ, we are obligated to say the one thing that no one
else wants us to say: no, we do not have free will. Why? Well, let's take a
look.
Before we dive into this, let's get
something straight. What does free will and predestination mean? What is their
difference? The definition of free will according to the Webster's Dictionary,
is this: freedom of humans to make choices that are not
determined by prior causes or by divine intervention. This is not far from the
Bible's definition. Free will is something that we say we have, and no one can
stop us from making the choices that we want to make. Predestination according
to the same source says this: the doctrine that God in consequence of his
foreknowledge of all events infallibly guides those who are destined for
salvation. That isn't far from the target of the Bible either. Predestination
is the fact that God has chosen us each and every one personally who will be
saved, and who will not. The only thing that would need to be removed from that
definition, is the word "consequence". God does not fall under
"consequence" of anything. In looking at these two from their
definitions, they no longer sound the same, but as two different words with two
different definitions. The difference, is one is God led, and one is man led.
Free will is man led. Free will is what we have decided for ourselves and no
other. Predestination is God led, and is on His terms and no other. For most,
that should be a turning point in itself on the matter. But, we may need to
look deeper into the situation to shed a little but more light into the
situation.
To
go in deeper into this subject, let's look in places where predestination and
free will contradict each other. Before and during the fall is one of these many
examples. Many people have lost their way and left God because they looked at
the Fall (Genesis 3), and wondered how God could have ever let Humanity fall
into such a steep and deathly valley. Armenians' believe that it was man's own
heart that had brought them to destruction. But if that is so, how could God
have let them fall under sin? If He is almighty and all powerful as Scriptures
such as Job 32:8 and Psalms 91:1 say, then why couldn't He have stopped it?
This all has to do with God's sovereignty, which is not the same thing as
predestination, but it's closely related to it. The only way that this must be
argued, is that the sovereignty of God became manifest, and His predestination
fell into play. That leads to the one word question that every Christian
loathes, because they cannot give a straight answer on the spot. The question
is: why? Why did God put us all through this trouble if He had already
predestined us to fall? It was so that we could give Him glory. That I know
makes Him sound selfish, but think about it. What is the one time that we are
the most satisfied in ourselves and the most happy? When we are praising Him.
What is the one time that we are at peace in the midst of the storm? When we
are praising Him. What is the one time that we are most loving and merciful to
our neighbors and the most relaxed? When
we are praising Him. God knows this. He wants us to be happy, and sinless.
So, He is taking this route so that He can show His glory and sovereignty to
us, so that in later days when He returns, we have more of a reason to praise
Him, and that we will be even more satisfied with Him, and ourselves. So, the
example of the Fall, shows us that though it hurts, there is more and better
things to come out of it.
The big example we could give, is
the world around us. We look around us and see so much sin and destruction, and
wonder why God is not doing anything about it. This is a very good observation,
and there is an answer to it. Let's look at Habakkuk's troubles to help us
here. We don't know much about Habakkuk, except that he lived around the time
before the Babylonian invasion. His book can be laid out in three parts: his
complaint to God about no one caring about the rising of the Babylonians (or as
they called them in this particular book, the Chaldeans), and why he was doing
nothing. Next, God would give his answer, and in the end, Habakkuk ends with
praising to the Lord. Why is all of this
being told to you? To prove a point. Habakkuk here had the same concerns as was
stated above, why was God letting the wicked go free (Habakkuk 1:1-3)? Everytime
God would answer Him that he was raising them up to destroy Israel in a plan to
show judgment upon their own iniquities (Habakkuk 1:5-11). This sounds harsh
doesn't it? Well, if you look at Israel's past, you might say they deserved it.
So many times had they gone away from God and worshipped idols. So many times
had they sacrificed precious children to idols of stone. God had had enough,
and decided to punish the Israelites, so that they may see their wrongs. What
does this have to do with the question given above? Everything. It shows that
even though it may seem evil, it has a purpose. God's purpose. It may seem
harsh, but it is true. Though, when you do look into the future of Habakkuk and
Israel after the exile, there was so much more rejoicing in the Lord when they
returned to their homes and lands. They loved Him more, and respected Him more
to the best of their abilities (until of course Jesus came, and then it was a
disaster. But, that's another story for another time).
So, do Humans have free will? The
answer after all of this is still not. Habakkuk and the Fall are two prime
examples why. We all know what this implies though. In accepting this, things
will arise that we have to accept as well, that will be hard to swallow. The
biggest issue among these, is that God has already chosen who will be saved and
who will not. This is the hardest to accept, but it is still true. But, to make
it easier look at it this way, without God having decided, if we were to chose
on our own anyways in sin, none of us would have dome to him (Romans 3:23). The
fact God even chose some of us so that some of us could go to heaven, is more
than amazing. It would have been amazing even if He only chose one of us! The
fact that he gave us a chance is something spectacular in itself. So, though
some of us may have not been chosen (and that's between them and God), let us
be grateful that most of us are. Now, that does not mean that we should not go out
and spread the Gospel. This is for two reasons: 1.we would be going against
Jesus' orders for the Great Commission, and 2. though we know that some of us
are chosen and some of us are not, we don't know who is and who isn't. Even the
ones who we have tried to convince over and over and they still will not accept
the truth, we still do not know if they will accept it or not. So, please.
Continue the Great Commission, and spread the Gospel, so that others may be
saved, and God's will (not ours) may be fulfilled.
Jeremiah 29:11
11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you
a future and a hope.
