Last Updated: Jan 7, 2024
As a U.S. citizen, I enjoy the kinds of freedom that people of other countries don’t. Also, with the U.S. being one of the economic and military powerhouses of the world, life in the U.S. is safe and comfortable. Finally, being a country that was created with religious freedom in mind, U.S. citizens enjoy the freedom of religious preferences and gatherings that people of many other countries do not. So, in general, any word associated with “freedom” is well-liked and enjoyed by the people living in the U.S.
Free Will
However, for some Christians, the concept of “free will” is a source of unpleasantness in their lives. Their insufficient understanding of the “free will” associated with our relationship with God becomes a stumbling block that gnaws on their belief system. Why is that so?
In the Christian community, it is said that God is all-powerful, and as His creations, we should revere Him and obey Him. However, it is also said that He will not make us obey Him against our will, but instead, gives us free will to choose. So where is the problem? The problem lies in the misconception about free will.
Well, what is there to be mistaken about the concept of free will? Plenty. Some Christians:
- Think that it is against God’s nature to make us do things that we are opposed to doing.
That is not true. The classic example of God making us do things that we don’t want is in the book of Jonah. God told Jonah to warn the people of Nineveh to repent and turn back to God. However, Jonah flees from the Lord because he doesn’t want to obey the Lord. So God chased down Jonah, caused a sea storm, and had a whale swallow him up for three days until Jonah obeyed. - Think that God, absolutely, will not make us do anything that we do not want.
That is not true. This is already answered above. - Think that God will not change our minds without our consent.
That is not true. The classic example of this is in Exodus where God hardened Pharaoh’s heart (Exodus 4:21, 7:3-4, 7:13, 7:22, 8:15, 8:32, 9:34-35, 10:1, 10:20, 10:27, 11:10, 14:4-5). This was done to display His power to the Egyptians and most importantly to the Israelites. - Think that God, though He commands us to obey, He ultimately gives us the final choice to obey or not obey.
This is only partially true. Actually, this is a cop-out statement. This statement is usually used when non-Christians debate with Christians about how “God does not allow free will, so why should I believe him?” The Christian in this debate, wanting to win the person over to God, gives this weak statement of “final choice to say yes or no is ours.”
When the choices are, “If you say no, you will go to hell and if you say yes, you will go to heaven,” this is no different from forcefully making a person choose “yes.” The response of the Christian debater should be that God allows free will, but on certain things, there is no room for discussion. The Christian debater should, then, say that such is no different from how things are done even in the U.S. There are things that we do only because it is the law. - Simply avoid talking about scriptures in the bible that go against our beliefs about free will.
This is simply the irresponsibility of the Christian leaders. We should, actively, search to find the truth about anything that hinders us from growing in God. Then, once found, we should have the courage to “change” our views if that is what our hearts tell us. If we can’t find the answer, we must believe that God will give us the answer eventually.
Paul in Romans 9:19-21 says that he is aware of the question regarding, “If God is going to make us this way, why does He punish us for being us?” Paul’s response is, “What right does a clay pot (human being made of dust, just like a clay pot) have to tell or ask the maker why he made us so?” Basically, Paul is saying that we do not have the right to question God, our maker. Is this right? Well, his answer came out this way because he was ignorant about the concept of DNA. The concept of DNA and how this is related to God is written in, “Praying For Our Enemies.”
The Reality of Our Relationship with God
Reality 1
God created us to be a part of his family, and Jesus portrayed God as a figure that we could consider as our Father. However, just because we can address God as our Father, His status as our creator does not change. As a creator, He has all the authority in the world to do with us whatever that comes to His mind. If He wanted to, He could choose to be an evil being and force us to worship Him and kill us when He got bored of us, and we would have no say about it. But He chose the opposite. He chose to treat us with the respect and consideration that any father would give to his children.
For us to “decide” to believe in Him or not believe in Him based upon whether He gives us free will or not only shows our foolishness and our ignorance. Rejecting God because of such an insignificant issue just shows our poor understanding of the difference between God’s worth and our worth. If anything, the fact that we can still live after spouting such nonsense is evidence of God’s mercy and grace. It shows His genuine heart to make us His children!
Reality 2
There is a saying about how if we, “give them an inch and they will take a yard.” Folks, this saying applies to us Christians, as well as non-believers.
Our image of God, Christian or not, is just too small. We look up to God, but just because we don’t see and experience God’s grandeur in person, the moment that we feel our personal space threatened or violated by God, we are quick to take offense. In fact, there will be some Christians, after reading this post, who will search through the whole Bible trying to disprove what I said here.
Even our lifestyles and the way we carry ourselves as if we are so important is evidence of how little and insignificantly we view our God. Why do I say that? Because human nature is such that when we, in front of someone greater, are overwhelmed by our lack of self-worth that the thought of making ourselves look better than what we are is farthest from our minds.
Where Do You Belong?
In fact, in such situations, some humble themselves while some are so full of jealousy that the only thing that’s in their minds are schemes to bring down the person who made them feel inferior.
If I, at this point, turn ALL issues and concepts of the world into black and white, I can say that people who humble themselves in front of God are Christians, and those that do not are the minions of Satan.
Russel Kim TEoP Ministry
Satan, in his jealousy toward God, had been working for thousands of years to discredit God and bring Him down from His Throne. He is still working to deceive God’s people and turn them into his minions. Stumbling over little things such as free will is a prime example of Satan’s influence over you!
Where do you stand at this point? What is the condition of your heart? Where do you belong?
Russel
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