One thing I love about God, (and there are many things), is the fact that He's given people a free will. Free will is not an American concept--it is a God concept. America created a country based on free will--free speech, the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness etc, because it was God's idea, not the founder's own wisdom. Of course there are consequences to a person's choices, as there was in the Garden of Eden, but God has given the power of choice to everyone, at least for now.
God gave mankind a choice to obey Him or not, to worship Him or not. He's not interested in gathering a people who are forced to worship Him. True worship is of the heart, and so is free will. In a person's heart is where we find what is important to them. So if a person does not understand, or has never experienced, the love of God for himself in his heart, there's no sense in us as Christians to look down on him for not wanting to worship God. The question, rather, becomes how can this person experience the love of God in his own heart so he can then make an informed choice? I believe if he were to have just one encounter, not with religion, but with God Himself, he would be ruined for anything else! Nothing satisfies the human heart like the love of the Creator--who sacrificed His Beloved Son on the cross for whoever wants to believe in Him.
If someone has encountered the love of God in this way and still chooses to reject Him, then that's their choice. Even God won't force Himself on them. Consequences later? Yes. However, my prayer is that everyone at least have an opportunity to experience His true love, His genuine Spirit, and not a misrepresentation of Him. At least then they can make a choice based on truth. I pray that I represent His genuine Spirit, His truth and His love, to everyone who intersects my path. How about you?
1 John 4:19
There is no such thing as free will in Scripture. Why? Because if God is sovereign and He is, nothing is beyond His foreknowledge and control because all our days were written before there was even one of them.
ReplyDeleteWe cannot even become a Christian by our own free will choice. Mark 10 teaches us that it is impossible to come to faith by our own choice. Ephesians 2:8-9 teach that our faith is a gift from God and not of ourselves. John 1:13 teaches we were not born again by our own will but by the choice of God and Jesus backs this up.
In John 6:44, 65 Jesus says that no one(a universal negative)can come to me UNLESS the Father who sent me draws him and in V65 it says UNLESS it has been granted him from the Father.
Free will equals autonomy from God and nothing in this universe is autonomous not even Satan.
In the beginning God gave man the freedom to choose. The tree of knowledge of good and evil in the garden is evidence of that. Were there consequences for disobedience? Yes, of course. But if there were no such thing as free will, then obedience and disobedience would not even exist as words. A call for repentance would be ridiculous if man couldn't choose to repent, yet there are calls for repentance throughout Scripture. God foreknows everything that will happen and all of the choices we will make, but He allows us to make them. He has created us in His image. Why would Joshua say to the people. "Choose for yourselves today whom you will serve" if they did not have the freedom to choose? (Joshua 24:15). I agree that God is sovereign and certain things He has retained control over. However psalm 115:16 says that "the heavens are the heavens of the Lord, but the earth He has given to the sons of men." The earth has been given to us and we have responsibilities that go along with that. Responsibilities that require us to make decisions, which of course we seek His wisdom for. I also agree that the faith to believe is a gift from God and that no one can come to Jesus without the Father drawing. Yet, He wants all to be saved and come to the knowledge of truth. (1 Timothy 2:4). He will draw everyone, especially in response to our prayers. We should seek to make decisions as influenced by His Holy Spirit. This is why He was given to us--to help us, teach us and guide us.
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