Does Yeshua/Jesus believe in your ..Free Will.. ELOHIMS FOREKNOWLEDGE CONTRADICTS FREE WILL Phil 2:13 it is God (not man) which works in you BOTH TO WILL (God causes us ‘to will’) and TO DO (God causes us ‘to do’) of His good pleasure to bring about His intentions After years of following Jesus daily, the apostles were not as yet converted In the evening of the last Passover Jesus tells Peter: Luke 22:31-32 And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold Satan has desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat; But I have prayed for you, that your faith fall not: and when you are converted, strengthen your brethren Yes indeed, when you are converted And just when might that be? Up until the very last day with their Lord, the apostles all believed that they possessed the power of free will, which could enable them to choose their own destiny, and that they could and would have the strength of self determinism and free will to maintain that course But Jesus told His disciples that they would all forsake Him In other words, Jesus was foretelling of EVENTS that would cause (even ‘force,’ if you will) them to change their wills, against their previously stated wills They of course, all denied that Jesus knew what He was talking about Mark 14:27 & Zech 13:7 And Jesus said unto them, all ye shall be offended because of Me this night; for it is written, I shall smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered The disciples all said that they would remain loyal but Jesus said that they would all be offended because of Him Was there a reason for God causing the disciples to will loyalty to Jesus and then in the same night to will to deny Jesus? Does God do anything in vain without a reason? This was all part of their conversion process!! God totally humiliated them by proving to them that their own will was not free to do what they wanted, but that Phil. 2:13 it is God (not man) which works in you BOTH TO WILL (God causes us ‘to will’) and TO DO (God causes us ‘to do’) of His good pleasure to bring about His intentions In just one night God smashed the presumed free will of all the disciples and they lost confidence in their flesh after that night There are two things that constantly oppose and change the will of man, so that it cannot be said that the will is free to will its own destiny for even a day or an hour What are these two factors over which man has absolutely no control whatsoever? CIRCUMSTANCES and GOD’S WILL CIRCUMSTANCES: God changes the minds and wills of mankind around the world, a billion times a minute, through circumstances that you know not which are actually the cause of your choices and your changed choices We are often if not most of the time completely unaware of what actually caused us to do or say or think as we do How did all the disciples will to remain loyal to Jesus no matter what, at one moment in time, and in the next moment they all changed their will to forsake Him? What changed their wills? Circumstances!! One moment they were at ease and safe in the upper room, and at a later moment they were in the garden surrounded by Roman Soldiers! Fear was the circumstance that caused their (un-free) wills to change So it was the presence of certain circumstances that caused the disciples to will as they did But what caused the circumstances to be as they were to ensure that they would will appropriately to fulfill Christ’s prophecy concerning their denying and forsaking Him? GOD’S WILL: Who was in charge of all these circumstances, which caused the disciples to change their wills? Why God, of course They did not want to change their wills They did not desire to deny their Lord and Saviour They did not wish to make liars of themselves They did not want to be shown to be cowards Well then, why did they change their wills if they did not wish to change their wills? Were they free to not change their wills? No, they were not free. The fear inside of them caused and made (and yes, FORCED, if you will) them to change their will And Jesus Himself told them that they would change their wills, so how pray tell could it have been otherwise? God knew exactly what was needed to make all of the disciples change their wills God said that they would change their wills and forsake Jesus,and God was not about to be made a liar Peter did not even know what it was that caused him to deny Christ until the cock crew In our above example with the disciples, not only did they change their emphatically stated will, but, they did so against their stated will Even when they willed to change their will, they did so against their original desired will Peter did not want to deny Christ but he was made to deny Christ by the mere fact that the alternative (fear) was greater than his desire to remain loyal And so, how was he free to remain loyal? He wasn’t Peter was no more free to not deny Jesus any more than he was free to be loyal in his original choice Both choices were caused, and once something is caused to happen, it could never had been otherwise Once the cause is set in motion, the effect must follow God brought about circumstances that caused, made, forced, Peter to do what he didn’t want to do How then, can such a forced will, be free? Peter didnt will to deny Jesus, but he was clearly caused to do so This is an example of how God causes men to change their will even when it is against their initial will to do so How much easier and unrecognizable are the millions of choices we make in which we very willingly make the decisions we do, because they often appear to be pleasant, profitable, and desirable choices? This example of the disciples forsaking Jesus is so important!! Can we believe that Jesus could have told His disciples the following: And Jesus said unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night, but then again, maybe not all of you will be offended, seeing that all of you have a free will Or maybe this to Peter: And Jesus said unto him (Peter) Verily I say unto you, that this day, even in this night, before the cock crow twice, thou shall deny me thrice, but then again, maybe you won’t deny Me three times, seeing that you have a free will that does not need to deny me even once It doesn’t depend on what I say, or circumstances brought about by my Father, or what God declares, but rather on your own free will Sounds a little silly when we look at it logically doesn’t it? Yet this is the contention of those who believe in free will Maybe Peter will, but then again maybe Peter won’t, NOT EVEN GOD KNOWS FOR SURE Almost sounds like blasphemy, doesn’t it? It is blasphemy to argue that when God prophesies, states, and intends that someone do a particular thing, that the person is still at liberty because of his supposed free will, to not do what God has said Yet this is what the theory of free will demands The fact that God has a foreknowledge of everything proves that free will is an impossibility, True free will could alter the future and therefore God could not have an absolute and true knowledge of the future Therefore, it is a grave error to state that man has a free will that is not made or caused to do as it does, and yet state that God knows in advance the only possible choice that a person must make How can one believe that if God states that a person will make choice A, that he is nonetheless still at liberty to make choice B? Let me restate that: Can God say that you WILL make choice A, but you can make choice B? Can God say that such and such, WILL happen but that it doesn’t need to happen? The disciples WILL forsake and deny Christ, but they have a free choice NOT to forsake and deny Him? God knows in advance that something WILL be a certain way, and yet it doesn’t have to be that way? Peter thought he possessed free will: Matt 26:33 Peter answered and said unto Him, Though all men shall be offended because of you, YET WILL I NEVER BE OFFENDED Jesus responded that Peter had no freedom of the will to stick by such a statement Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this night, before the cock crow, YOU SHALL DENY ME thrice (Ver 34) Peter again responds from the throne of his presumed free will and CORRECTS Jesus to His face: Peter said unto Him, Though I should DIE WITH THEE, YET WILL I NOT DENY THEE Likewise also said ALL THE DISCIPLES (Ver 35) And the rest is history When Peter was confronted the third time we read this: Matt 26:74 & 75 Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I KNOW NOT THE MAN And immediately the cock crew and he went out, and wept bitterly Free will? Where? Give it up!! What about all of the other disciples who also thought they possessed this power of free will and self-determinism? Matt 26:56 But all this was done, that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled Then ALL THE DISCIPLES FORSOOK HIM, AND FLED Free will? FREE will? FREE WILL? Where? If you still believe man has a will that is free from external and internal causes, beyond his control, then your arguments are not with me, but with God’s Word Now for maybe the most profound and all-encompassing statements in all Scripture: Eph 1:11 In Whom (GOD) also we have obtained (‘obtained’ not ‘earned’) an inheritance, being PREDESTINATED (our ‘destiny’ was ‘pre’ arranged by God, not us) according to the PURPOSE OF HIM (not the free will, OF US!) Who WORKS ALL THINGS (EVERY thing) AFTER THE COUNSEL OF HIS OWN WILL (not OUR OWN WILL) FREE WILL LIMITED FREE WILL OR WHAT As defined by the American Heritage College Dictionary: free will n The ability or discretion to choose; free choice The power of making free choices that are unconstrained by external circumstances or by an agency such as fate or divine will As defined by the Meriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary/Eleventh Edition: free will freedom of humans to make choices that are not determined by prior causes or by divine intervention It is useless to have a study on this term free will unless we stick to a strict, concise and precise definition of the term As can be seen from our dictionaries, free will does not have for a concise or precise definition the ability to make choices Yet this is the way it is often defined Notice that our dictionaries are specific in stating that it is free choice that is the definition of free will, rather than just choice alone To be an expression of free will, choices must also be free Free from what? We just read it: Free from PRIOR CAUSES Free from CONSTRAINT Free from EXTERNAL CIRCUMSTANCES Free from FATE Free from DIVINE WILL Free from DIVINE INTERVENTION Those who would argue for free will, however, refuse being held to these precise and concise definitions They want the mere ability to make a choice to be considered an act of free will Well it is nothing of the kind Making a choice has absolutely nothing to do with the doctrine of free will This is easily demonstrated Computers make choices They can make trillions of choices per second It would take a trillion people to make that many choices in a second All that these marvelous machines do is make choices Now then, will anyone contend that computers have unprogrammed and uncaused, free wills? So now we have proof that making choices is not the same as free will Computers do not have free wills, yet THEY CAN MAKE CHOICES, but those choices are anything but free Their choices are all a matter of pre-programming They cannot think and act independently of causes Neither can man think or do anything outside of the realm of causes In order for an effect to be present, there must first be a cause, and once something is caused, the effect must follow, and neither could have been prevented There is not one example that can be presented by scientific a method, that can demonstrate that man’s will is free from causality Neither is there an example in all Scripture that can be shown to be the exercise of a will that is free from causality And that certainly includes all that our Lord Himself ever thought, said, or did Phil 2:13 Hor it is God which works in you BOTH TO WILL (God causes us ‘to will’) and TO DO (God causes us ‘to do’) of His good pleasure to bring about His intentions Before the true spiritual conversion of Christ’s disciples, we read this: John 14:16-17 And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of Truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it sees Him not, neither knows Him: but ye know Him; for He dwells WITH you, and shall (at a future date when they are converted) be ..in.. you DID PHARAOH HAVE FREE WILL? We will now look at some of the most profound and yet most misunderstood and not believed Scriptures in the entire Bible For He says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion (Rom. 9:15) Just who is in control in this statement, puny man or God? Man’s will is not free to contradict what God says He WILL DO So then it is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but OF GOD that shows mercy (Ver 16) What puny man wills has absolutely nothing to do with what God WILL DO For the Scripture says unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised you up, that I might show My powers in you, and that My name might be declared throughout all the earth Therefore has He mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will He hardens (Vers 17-18) Pharaoh did not harden his own heart— God said that He hardened it Remember I said that God has a stated will as a goal and an active will in the plan or process of obtaining His stated will? Right here we can see this principle in action: God states His will: Then the Lord said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh, and tell him, Thus says the Lord God of the Hebrews, Let my people go (Ex 9:1) There is God’s stated will— He wants Pharaoh to Let my people go But does God expect or even want his will be done on earth at the time that He declares it? Obviously not!! In fact, it is God Himself, who prevents Pharaoh from doing God’s stated will of letting His people go Notice it: And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh and he hearkened not unto them, as the Lord had spoken unto Moses (Ver 12) Most Christians just plain refuse to believe these very simple Scriptures Yet the ramifications of these Scriptural truths are enormous Notice what God did with Pharaoh: First God tells Moses to tell Pharaoh to to let My people go And Pharaoh would have let the Hebrews go Sure he would,had not God Himself intervened Why would Pharaoh let them go? Because Pharaoh’s heart was both soft and weak A soft and weak heart was no match for God Pharaoh would have caved in and let His people go But God did not want Pharaoh to let His people go He asked Pharaoh to let His people go, but he didn’t want Pharaoh to let them go this easily Next God has to do something in order to prevent Pharaoh from letting His people go God actually wants Pharaoh to go against His stated will God’s stated will is let My people go, but God doesn’t want Pharaoh to do God’s stated will at this time!! He wants Pharaoh to resist God God has not changed, God still wants mankind to resist Him But Pharaoh (just like the rest of humanity) is too weak and soft to resist God So what does God do? Two things: And I will harden [Heb: qashah—to make hard] Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt But Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you, that I may lay My hand upon Egypt, and bring forth Mine armies, and My people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch forth mine hand upon Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them After God hardens Pharaoh’s heart [makes it harder than it was], and Pharaoh resists God’s will and refuses to let the Hebrews go, God then puts greater and greater plagues upon Egypt until even hard-hearted Pharaoh gives in and lets the people go But notice what God does after this For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness has shut them in And I will harden (Heb: chazaq—to make strong and courageous) Pharaoh’s heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honoured upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord. And they did so (Ex14:3-4) Pharaoh was naturally too soft of heart to resist letting the Hebrews go, and so God hardened his soft heart so that he would resist and would not let the people go until God first made a great display of His strength to the Egyptians And after Pharaoh did let the people go, God wanted Pharaoh to try and follow after them and kill them But this time we find that Pharaoh’s heart was too weak And so again, God strengthens and gives courage to Pharaoh’s weak heart, and Pharaoh charges after Israel only to be totally defeated by God in the Red Sea Well, there it is How hard is that to understand? But who will believe it? From Pharaoh’s birth until his death, God had a purpose for Pharaoh’s life, and God controlled every aspect of it Pharaoh had not free will in any of these events God changes not; He operates the same way in everyone’s life!! You will either be a vessel of honor or a vessel of dishonor, and it is ALL UP TO GOD! WHO HAS RESISTED GOD’S WILL? So God has mercy upon whom He will have mercy and whom He wills, He hardens But when I tell people that this is how God operates, they find fault with it They say that isn’t fair They say we are mere puppets if this is the way God operates How can God blame and punish people for doing what God Himself caused them to do in the first place? The Apostle Paul got the same carnal-minded criticisms of God’s plan: You will say then unto me, why does He [God] yet find fault? For who has resisted His will (Greek: boulema—‘resolve, purpose, a deliberate intention’)? (Rom 9:19) This is an amazing Scripture This Scripture shows the difference in attitude between those who understand God’s plan and will and those who do not After explaining to the Romans that God raised Pharaoh up for a specific purpose in God’s plan, Paul foresees the attitudes of his listeners They will reason that if God is the One behind our actions, and we are totally incapable of doing other than what he determines we will do, then WHY DOES HE FIND FAULT WITH US WHEN WE SIN? First it is most important that we look at and understand the word translated will in Rom 9:19 It is not the usually Greek word, which is translated will hundreds of times in the New Testament This Greek word boulema is used but twice in the Bible, here in Rom 9:19 and in Acts 27:43 where it is translated purpose. So the question that Paul is setting up is not who has resisted His will? but rather, who has resisted His purpose [His plan, His intention]? To the question, who has resisted His will? the answer is: EVERYONE! But when properly translated, to the question, who has resisted His purpose? the answer is: ABSOLUTELY NO ONE! God has a will and God has a plan and purpose to reach that will And no small part of reaching His desired will is to set men against His will, just as He did with Pharaoh But no one has ever hindered God’s plan and purpose in reaching that goal and stated will God’s will, will be done in HIS time So back to Paul’s questioners: If God causes us to do what we do, and no one ever has or ever can go against or resist that purpose of God, why does He blame us when we sin? And again, I will let Paul answer, since the question was directed to him. But you know what? Paul does not even answer their question That’s right, Paul proposes the question and then does not directly answer it He considers the very question itself too demeaning, if not blasphemous to answer Instead He says this: Nay but, O man, WHO ARE YOU that replies against God? Shall the thing formed [that’s us] say to Him that formed it, (that’s GOD) Why have You made me thus? Has not the Potter (GOD) power over the clay (man), of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? (Rom 9:20-21) GOD IS THE POTTER AND WE ARE THE POT Could anything be plainer? God, the Potter, does not owe an explanation to the pot as to why He made the pot the way He desired! And God desires to make some pots honorable and some pots dishonorable Why? Because He is a mean and nasty God? No, because He has a plan, a purpose, intentions, to save all humanity in the end That IS THE WILL OF GOD And if you will continue reading chapters 10 and 11 of Romans, you will plainly see that those who are lost along the way in God’s plan will all be saved in the end What is the conclusion of the whole matter— and I mean THE WHOLE MATTER? How good of a Potter is God? Will He have to destroy most of His pots for all eternity? If God is the Potter and we are the pot, how can the pot be responsible for ANYTHING? This is God’s analogy, not mine Seriously, can a pot be responsible for anything? GOD WILL SAVE ALL OF HIS POTS Not only will ALL Israel be saved after God brings them back from the dead, but also all of the Gentiles as well will be saved Let’s read it together and believe: For God has concluded them ALL (both the Israelites and the Gentiles— see verses 25-31) IN UNBELIEF, that He might have mercy upon ALL O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God? How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out! For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor? Or who has first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever Amen (Rom 11:32-36) And so God knew exactly what was needed to make all of the disciples change their wills, just as He knew with Pharaoh God said that they would change their wills and forsake Jesus, and God was not about to be made a liar Peter did not even know what it was that caused him to deny Christ until the cock crew In our above example with the disciples, not only did they change their emphatically stated will, but, they did so against their stated will Even when they willed to change their will, they did so against their original desired will Peter did not want to deny Christ But he was made to deny Christ by the mere fact that the alternative (fear) was greater than his desire to remain loyal And so, how was he free to remain loyal? He wasn’t Peter was no more free to not deny Jesus any more than he was free to be loyal in his original choice Both choices were caused, and once something is caused to happen, it could never had been otherwise Once the cause is set in motion, the effect must follow This is true Science and this is the truth of Scripture Clearly God brought about circumstances that caused, made, forced, Peter to do what he didn’t want to do How then, can such a forced will, be free? Peter didnt will to deny Jesus, but he was clearly caused to do so This is an example of how God causes men to change their will even when it is against their initial will to do so How much easier and unrecognizable are the millions of choices we make in which we very willingly make the decisions we do, because they often appear to be pleasant, profitable, and desirable choices? FOREKNOWLEDGE CONTRADICTS FREE WILL This example of the disciples forsaking Jesus is so important!! Can we believe that Jesus could have told His disciples the following: And Jesus said unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night, but then again, maybe not all of you will be offended, seeing that all of you have a free will to will against My pronouncement Or maybe this to Peter: And Jesus said unto him [Peter] Verily I say unto you, That this day, even in this night, before the cock crow twice, thou shall deny me thrice, but then again, maybe you won’t deny Me three times, seeing that you have a free will that does not need to deny Me even once It doesn’t depend on what I say, or circumstances brought about by My Father, or what God declares, but rather on your own free will Sounds a little silly when we look at it logically doesn’t it? Yet this IS the contention of those who believe in free will Maybe Peter will, but then again maybe Peter won’t, NOT EVEN GOD KNOWS FOR SURE Almost sounds like blasphemy, doesn’t it? It is blasphemy to argue that when God prophesies, states, and intends that someone do a particular thing, that the person is still at liberty because of his supposed free will, to not do what God has said, is absurdity on the highest level Yet this is what the theory of free will demands The fact that God has a foreknowledge of everything proves that free will is an impossibility, as true free will could alter the future and therefore God could not have an absolute and true knowledge of the future It is idiocy to state that man has a free will that is not made or caused to do as it does, and yet state that God knows in advance the only possible choice that a person must make How can one believe that if God states that a person will make choice A, that he is nonetheless still at liberty to make choice B? Let me restate that: Can God say that you WILL make choice A, but you can make choice B? Can God say that such and such, WILL happen but that it doesn’t need to happen? The disciples WILL forsake and deny Christ, but they have a free choice NOT to forsake and deny Him? God knows in advance that something WILL be a certain way, and yet it doesn’t have to be that way? Peter thought he possessed free will: Peter answered and said unto Him, Though all men shall be offended because of you, YET WILL I NEVER BE OFFENDED (Matt 26:33) Famous last words Jesus responded that Peter had no more freedom of the will to stick by such a statement than a donkey: Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this night, before the cock crow, YOU SHALL DENY ME thrice (Ver 34) Peter again responds from the pinnacle of his presumed free will and CORRECTS Jesus to His face: Peter said unto Him, Though I should DIE WITH THEE, YET WILL I NOT DENY THEE Likewise also said ALL THE DISCIPLES (Ver 35) And the rest is history When Peter was confronted the third time we read this: Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I KNOW NOT THE MAN. And immediately the cock crew And he went out, and wept bitterly (Matt 26:74 & 75) Free will? Where? Give it up!! What about all of the other disciples who also thought they possessed this power of free will and self-determinism? But all this was done, that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled Then ALL THE DISCIPLES FORSOOK HIM, AND FLED (Matt 26:56) Free will? FREE will? FREE WILL? Where? If you still believe man has a will that is free from external and internal causes, beyond his control, then your arguments are not with me, but with God’s Word Now for maybe the most profound and all-encompassing statements in all Scripture: In Whom [GOD] also we have obtained [‘obtained’ not ‘earned’] an inheritance, being PREDESTINATED [our ‘destiny’ was ‘pre’ arranged by God, not us] according to the PURPOSE OF HIM [not the free will, OF US!] Who WORKS ALL THINGS [EVERYthing] AFTER THE COUNSEL OF HIS OWN WILL [not OUR OWN WILL] (Eph 1:11) Was it Eve’s will from the beginning free or otherwise,that she would eat the forbidden fruit? No, it wasn’t Let’s read it: Now the serpent was more subtle [cunning] than any beast of the field which the Lord God had MADE And he said unto the woman, Yea, has God said, Ye [you and your husband] shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die Eve was not yet deceived: she was not as yet caused to disobey God She set the serpent straight by telling him that his statement wasn’t completely true They could eat of all of the fruit in the garden EXCEPT ONE Eve was okay with that commandment from God Well why did she then eat of the forbidden fruit? WHAT CHANGED? Did Eve’s heart change? No, she had the same heart she was created with Did Eve’s mind change? Yes it did!! Did Eve’s will change? Yes, of course it did Now for the sixty-four thousand dollar question. WHAT changed Eve’s mind and will? Even though Eve had a deceitful heart, there was something else that CAUSED her to change or mind and her will regarding the forbidden fruit The Apostle Paul plainly tells us what CAUSED Eve to change her mind and her will Eve did not freely will to sin Her choice to sin was not free from an external cause IT WAS CAUSED, and when something is CAUSED to happen, it could not have been free to NOT HAPPEN Am I going too fast for anyone? But I fear, lest by any means, AS the serpent BEGUILED (Gk: ‘DECEIVED’) Eve through HIS subtlety (craftiness) (2Cor 11:3) Where does anyone see one single word here to the effect that Eve deceived HERSELF, or caused HERSELF to sin, or freely willed HERSELF into a different frame of mind WITHOUT A CAUSE? WHAT CAUSED EVE TO SIN WILLINGLY? Did Eve herself think that she freely willed to sin WITHOUT A CAUSE? And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that you have done? And the woman said (Yes, just what did ‘the woman say?’ Did she say that she freely willed to commit this sin? Did she say it was her and all her and nothing but her that did this? Or did she say), The SERPENT BEGUILED ME (and BECAUSE the serpent beguiled or deceived her, we now have a CAUSE), and I did eat (Gen 3:13) And what did God have to say about all this blame casting on Eve’s part? Did God say something like this: Oh really, Eve? Yea right, go ahead, try and blame it on THE SERPENT! No, Eve, you ‘FREELY’ willed by your own ‘FREE MORAL AGENCY’ which I gave to you and which is free from ALL CAUSALITY AND BLAME CASTING, to do this thing ON YOUR OWN Is that what God said? Let’s read it: And the Lord God said unto the serpent, because YOU HAVE DONE THIS, you are cursed above all cattle (Verse 14) There it is God’s Own answer But will we accept God’s answer? for most, probably not God plainly said that it was the serpent who has done this Eve said it was the serpent that deceived her and God Himself also conceded that it was the serpent that HAS DONE THIS That was the CAUSE, and that was the reason for the serpent’s punishment WHAT CAUSED ADAM TO SIN WILLINGLY? How about Adam? Does he fair any better than his wife? Did Adam eat the forbidden fruit and sin by his OWN ‘FREE’ WILL? Or do the Scriptures tell us that he too was CAUSED to have his will do what he did? And the man said, THE WOMAN whom You gave to be with me, SHE GAVE ME OF THE TREE, and I did eat (Ver 12) And again, did God say something like Oh sure, Adam, blame it on your WIFE! You know that you ‘freely’ without any outside cause whatsoever, decided on your own to eat the fruit Is that what God said to Adam? Let’s read it: And unto Adam He said, Because (‘because’—here is the real CAUSE) YOU HAVE HEARKENED UNTO THE VOICE OF YOUR WIFE, and have eaten of the tree (Ver 17) Does anyone see here where God says, Because you have hearkened unto the voice of your OWN FREE WILL, and have eaten of the tree? Well? No, before Adam willed (and NOT FREELY), but willed to eat of this fruit, his heart was influenced to do something that it already had all the potential in the world of doing Namely, disobeying His God and Maker And what was that? HIS WIFE’S VOICE And at THAT point in the process, Adam began to will this act, and his mind formulated the actual physical action of doing the eating You see, Adam was willing to die for his new bride, just as Jesus was willing to die for His bride, the church God doesn’t even hint that Adam did what he did freely God Himself admits that the CAUSE was the VOICE OF YOUR WIFE God never FORCED anyone to sin or go against whatever their will is at the precise time that his will is changed by a cause We volunteer to sin We don’t need to be forced— we are SINNING MACHINES! Most of us (not all) can be made to sin at the sight of another human body Who created man with such passions and desires? It is God Who has always done all the doing, whether physical or spiritual in nature ALL IS OF GOD: In Whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose OF HIM Who works ALL things after the counsel of His OWN will(Eph 1:11) How spiritually stubborn can we possibly be? I’ll tell you: As stubborn as God has predetermined and predestinated and purposed for us to be But for those few whom God is calling to salvation by the foolishness of preaching, let’s take a closer look at how things are done according to God we have obtained What we obtain from God, is not of our own will being predestinated What God predestinates is not of our own will the purpose of HIM What is God’s purpose is not of our own will works ALL things What is God’s work is not of our own will of His OWN will What is God’s OWN will is not of our own will ALL that we have, we have obtained from God Not one thing have we obtained by our own presumed freedom of will Can we take credit for anything that we have? Is our own will, independent of God’s will responsible for obtaining anything? Answer: For who makes you to differ from another? And what have you that you did not RECEIVE [Gk: ‘OBTAIN’]? [from God] now if you did receive it [from God], why do you glory [Gk: ‘boast’], AS IF YOU HAD NOT RECEIVED IT [from God, but rather of your own ‘free’ will]? (I Cor 4:7) Since it is a Scriptural fact and truth that no one ever has received or obtained anything aside from it being given to him of God, why does all of Christendom boast of their achievements as though they were not gifts from God straight out of heaven, but rather the results of their own clever resourcefulness EVERY good gift and EVERY perfect gift is FROM ABOVE, and comes down FROM THE FATHER OF LIGHTS, with Whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning in other words of Scripture: I CHANGE NOT (James 1:17) According to this verse and a hundred like it, does any good gift come from below, from the carnal mind of darkness, from the fabled ‘free will of man, who is an always changing being? So why then do we boast and glory as if these hundreds of verses of Scripture are not true, and that we really can choose to do good through our own carnal-minded, God-rejecting will? Giving credit to one’s presumed and phantom free will is a far more serious sin than most could ever realize Whatever, we bow down to, give homage to, give credit to, in place of the one and only True God is Idolatry! The Scriptures tell us that everything that we have, we received or obtained from God Every good gift comes from God Then why do we believe that through the agency of a supposed free will or free choices, we are able to obtain these things? It is a SIN to believe in, take credit for, and trust in one’s own will, as though we can will to do and accomplish things ON OUR OWN LIMITED FREE WILL The free will scholars themselves have had to re-adjust their theory in the light of obvious scientific and Scriptural proof against free will They assure us that although man does not possess total free will, he does, nonetheless, possess limited free will That is, man’s will is limited, but within those limits, the will is completely and totally free Oh really? I never cease to be amazed at the fact that contradictions never interfere with Christian doctrine Believing in contradictions is absolutely necessary if one is to accept most Christian doctrines, and this limited free will is just another one of them Let’s take a quick look at this idiotic proposal of limited free will Here is how my Twentieth Century Webster’s Dictionary defines limited, a. restricted (Page 963) And here is how this same dictionary defines free, a. without restriction (Page 682) Got it? Limited means: RESTRICTED, and free means: WITHOUT RESTRICTION So scholarly theologians would have us believe that man possesses a will that is, RESTRICTED WITHOUT RESTRICTION What? Does anyone see a problem with this limited free will theory? Does the word contradiction come to mind? Now then, if the natural carnal mind of man cannot choose to love and obey God, and God absolutely will not cause one to love and obey Him, how is it then that ANYONE CAN EVER BE CONVERTED? Do any of you who believe in man’s free will or man’s limited free will have an answer to this Scriptural dilemma? Or do you all feel more comfortable just leaving these questions behind as though they were never proposed in the first place? I mean, why meditate on a problem that has no Scriptural answer other than to accept the fact that the Scriptures do not support any form of a free will theory?
Posted on: Thu, 26 Jun 2014 04:23:26 +0000
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