Holy
Scripture presents two apparently contradictory and competing visions about how
humans function within God’s created order – as creatures endowed with free
will versus creatures limited by predestination (determinism, predetermination,
pre-ordination, pre-selection, and pre-election):
I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set
before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life · · · Deuteronomy
30:19
For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to
the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large
family. And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called
he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified. · · · Romans
8:29-30
In keeping with their implicit,
if not explicit, acceptance of predestination, many sincere Judeo-Christians
often express their faith with affirmations such as If God closes a door, he
will open a window; We didn’t pray hard enough, so God didn’t give us
what we asked for; and God has a plan for me. These types of
expressions reflect an underlying trust that our all-powerful (omnipotent),
all-knowing (omniscient), and everywhere present (omnipresent) God “sees” time
- past, present, and future – as a unified whole or continuum in order to exert
control at all levels of creation. We may, therefore, legitimately ask if
humans actually possess the ability to act as free and autonomous beings? Put
another way, do God’s designs preclude human free will, which at best could be
only an illusion?
Reading “between the lines”
reveals human free will as a constant theme throughout Holy Scripture: God
tells us what is expected and says what will happen as consequences of our
actions; but, divine edicts do not force us to select obedience or
disobedience, good or evil.
* At our beginning, God permitted
Adam and Eve the option, even when tempted by the Serpent, to eat or not to eat
fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
* God told the Israelites to
choose life or death, blessings or curses, with respect to obeying the Ten
Commandments.
* Jesus firmly proclaimed what God
wants us to do (Love the Lord our God with all our hearts, souls, and minds.
And · · · love our neighbors as ourselves.).
Yet, no evidence shows that we
are coerced onto a specific pathway. God did not form us as mindless robots but
implanted the capacity for free will within our genetic makeup.
* This last statement comes with
full awareness of the continuing controversy over the relative importance of
heredity versus environment (nature versus nurture) and the contention of some
scientists that the codes in our DNA predetermine not only who we are but also
what we think and how we act.
Many
theological treatises and discussions have attempted to reconcile the two
concepts of predestination/predeterminism and free will, including the
proposition that human and cosmic realms are separate. That is, we have free
will on some aspects of our existence so that we may, of our own choice, brush
or not brush our teeth today whereas we cannot affect cosmic phenomena or God’s
original judgment as to which individuals were pre-selected or pre-elected to
receive salvation.
A simple approach cuts through
the discourses that mask the real issue: If we do not have free will, we cannot
make choices because all is predetermined; if all is predetermined, we have no
accountability; without accountability, we have no guilt for our sins; in the
absence of guilt, we do not need the saving grace of Jesus Christ; and, hence,
the entire structure of Judeo-Christianity collapses. As John Wesley, a fervent
of predestination pointed out, predestination precludes the obligation to
preach the Gospel.
An additional simplifying
consideration argues for human free will. Suppose an individual human being
faces a decision about future actions limited to only two choices, A or B. If
God has the ability to foresee the future and already knows the individual will
choose A, then God cannot be all powerful because God cannot then direct the
individual to make choice B. The only way God can be all-powerful (or, at least
extremely powerful) requires that humans must have unrestricted free will to
choose A or B. This line of reasoning argues that God cannot be (or, chooses
not to be) both all-powerful and all-knowing with the ability to foresee the
future. Accordingly, we can rationally accept that God embedded human free will
into creation.
Where might the
theological 800-lb gorilla be lurking in this argument?
God created and maintains the
cosmos and all therein according to principles that, as our knowledge and
understanding develop, we define as scientific laws. We may legitiamtely call
these laws, “God’s Design or Plan”. As with Wesley, however, we should reject
any notion that God violates the gift of human free will with a “program” that
spells out in precise detail how we will react in every situation and, further,
specifies our ultimate fates through foreknowledge and predestination.
Some Judeo-Christians experience
traumatic insecurity when their belief that God minutely directs all human
activities is challenged. But, can we contemplate worshiping a tyrannical,
loveless, and merciless deity who fashioned us without free will? At best this
deity would be indifferent to human affairs, much like the Creator envisioned
by the Deists. Rather than anxiety-provoking, the preeminence of free will over
predetermination should have a liberating, albeit sobering effect upon us.
Democracy and Capitalism
foundationally incorporate and rest upon principles derived from the Doctrine
of Free will. In these systems, humans have the right to make choices,
hopefully informed ones, and must live with the outcomes of those decisions. Neither
Democracy nor Capitalism can exist without freedom of choice. The Democratic Republic
of the United States of America provides one of the best current examples of
free will in the political and economic spheres. The US Constitution, a noble
secular document, can be easily viewed as generating a political system
designed to ensure that the will of the majority, with protection of certain
minority rights, is carried out through fair elections. That is, the US
Constitution, which is not a Christian document, is nevertheless consistent
with a foundational principle of our faith - free will. As in the moral and
theological arenas, participants in Democratic and Capitalistic societies have
the right and responsibility to exert their free will, sometimes with
beneficial outcomes and sometimes with less than desirable results. Free will
rather than coercion (especially in the context of impeding fair elections and
economic opportunity) should drive the process.
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