Do we really have Free Will?

[eecollins]

I was watching a video on youtube called "If Everything is Determined How can we Have Free Will" by Frank Turek. After watching the video I was reading some of the comments and someone posted this about not actually having free will. What is your take? God Bless!

" You cant choose God by your free will! John 6:65 no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father. Ephesians 1:4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. No one can, meaning that they are unable to or the inability to come to the Father on their own will. He chose us in Him before we even did anything. Thats right, read it again, before the foundation of the world. The Father must choose you... you cannot choose God. Choosing God is a good thing but according to Romans 3:10-12 as it is written, "THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD; ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE. So you cant choose God unless he chooses you first. Ever hear this..? "We love Him because he first loved us" Same thing. So since all are lost and are spiritually dead and have a sinful nature, all of our free will is according to our nature or desires. Since no one has the desire for God or no one seeks after God on their own will then everyones desires are against God. they must first be have their heart of stone changed into a heart of flesh that is spiritual life. Only God can do that by the work or the Holy Spirit ( Born again) and it has nothing to do with your willingness. Decisional regeneration is false. I was brought out of this type of thinking that Frank has once I actually started to study the hard verses in scripture. to anyone who has this type of "free will to choose God" thinking...you only see in scripture what you want to see or what you have been taught to see by men. Your will is only according to the condition of your heart. If you have a heart for God ,in the biblical sense, it didnt happen because you made your heart that way. It was all of God not your free will. Tear down your traditions and be noble! "


Here is the link for the video if you would like to watch it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKKiqvF-_pc

 

[Willie-T]

What might be missing here is that we are not waiting, hoping to be one of the lucky ones called.

Time and time again, the Scriptures tell us He has already called every single one of us. The verses are not saying IF we get called... but SINCE (because) we are called.

 

[eecollins]

What you might be missing here is that we are not waiting, hoping to be one of the lucky ones called.

Time and time again, the Scriptures tell us He has already called every single one of us. The verses are not saying IF we get called... but SINCE (because) we are called.

Thank you for the clarification I was a bit confused Do you possibly have some examples of the scripture that shows that?

 

[Willie-T]

Thank you for the clarification I was a bit confused Do you possibly have some examples of the scripture that shows that?

John 3:16 is the most famous one that instantly comes to mind. Read each word of it, and determine just who is being spoken of.

 

[Ugly]

Thank you for the clarification I was a bit confused Do you possibly have some examples of the scripture that shows that?

A simple John 3:16 could suffice. It Doesn't read 'For God so loved the Chosen Few, that He sent His only son...'. It says He loved the world' and sent His son. If we were not all chosen, then why would Christ have died for us all?

 

[Sheepman]

Maybe its like everybody has a free will.
God just happens to know who would give it back to Him.
Since he know the end from the beginning

Its huge

 

[Adstar]

I was watching a video on youtube called "If Everything is Determined How can we Have Free Will" by Frank Turek. After watching the video I was reading some of the comments and someone posted this about not actually having free will. What is your take? God Bless!

" You cant choose God by your free will! John 6:65 no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father. Ephesians 1:4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. No one can, meaning that they are unable to or the inability to come to the Father on their own will. He chose us in Him before we even did anything. Thats right, read it again, before the foundation of the world. The Father must choose you... you cannot choose God. Choosing God is a good thing but according to Romans 3:10-12 as it is written, "THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD; ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE. So you cant choose God unless he chooses you first. Ever hear this..? "We love Him because he first loved us" Same thing. So since all are lost and are spiritually dead and have a sinful nature, all of our free will is according to our nature or desires. Since no one has the desire for God or no one seeks after God on their own will then everyones desires are against God. they must first be have their heart of stone changed into a heart of flesh that is spiritual life. Only God can do that by the work or the Holy Spirit ( Born again) and it has nothing to do with your willingness. Decisional regeneration is false. I was brought out of this type of thinking that Frank has once I actually started to study the hard verses in scripture. to anyone who has this type of "free will to choose God" thinking...you only see in scripture what you want to see or what you have been taught to see by men. Your will is only according to the condition of your heart. If you have a heart for God ,in the biblical sense, it didnt happen because you made your heart that way. It was all of God not your free will. Tear down your traditions and be noble! "


Here is the link for the video if you would like to watch it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKKiqvF-_pc

Many are called... but few are chosen... Heard that somewhere before??

If all who are called are chosen then the above statement is false right??

The video you watch is pushing calvinism.. If one accepts calvinism then one must believe God created some people who would have no chance ever of being saved.. That God created some people to burn for eternity in the lake of fire.. I for one would not dare to ever believe in a doctrine that would lay that accusation upon God and turn His message into a Lie..

2 Peter 3:KJV
9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

 

[Willie-T]

I don't think it's so much that we have some sort of "will" to make ourselves His.... but that we have the free and unrestricted choice to answer His call........ or not.

 

[Adstar]

Joshua started a speech to the people of Israel with..

Joshua 24: KJV
2 And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel..

And he said this at the end of His speech::

Joshua 24: KJV
14 ¶Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD.

15 ¶And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.



I guess if there is no such thing as free will and they never had the ability to choose whom they would serve, Do we remove the Book of Joshua and declare it an uninspired book? ... As for me i will not be doing any such thing.

 

[Marek]

Many are called... but few are chosen... Heard that somewhere before??

If all who are called are chosen then the above statement is false right??

The video you watch is pushing calvinism.. If one accepts calvinism then one must believe God created some people who would have no chance ever of being saved.. That God created some people to burn for eternity in the lake of fire.. I for one would not dare to ever believe in a doctrine that would lay that accusation upon God and turn His message into a Lie..

2 Peter 3:KJV
9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

Did God create satan knowing he would fall and usher in this serious of events so humanity can see who's good and who's evil and make a choice? Was satan created for the express purpose of falling?

 

[Depleted]

I was watching a video on youtube called "If Everything is Determined How can we Have Free Will" by Frank Turek. After watching the video I was reading some of the comments and someone posted this about not actually having free will. What is your take? God Bless!

" You cant choose God by your free will! John 6:65 no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father. Ephesians 1:4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. No one can, meaning that they are unable to or the inability to come to the Father on their own will. He chose us in Him before we even did anything. Thats right, read it again, before the foundation of the world. The Father must choose you... you cannot choose God. Choosing God is a good thing but according to Romans 3:10-12 as it is written, "THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD; ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE. So you cant choose God unless he chooses you first. Ever hear this..? "We love Him because he first loved us" Same thing. So since all are lost and are spiritually dead and have a sinful nature, all of our free will is according to our nature or desires. Since no one has the desire for God or no one seeks after God on their own will then everyones desires are against God. they must first be have their heart of stone changed into a heart of flesh that is spiritual life. Only God can do that by the work or the Holy Spirit ( Born again) and it has nothing to do with your willingness. Decisional regeneration is false. I was brought out of this type of thinking that Frank has once I actually started to study the hard verses in scripture. to anyone who has this type of "free will to choose God" thinking...you only see in scripture what you want to see or what you have been taught to see by men. Your will is only according to the condition of your heart. If you have a heart for God ,in the biblical sense, it didnt happen because you made your heart that way. It was all of God not your free will. Tear down your traditions and be noble! "


Here is the link for the video if you would like to watch it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKKiqvF-_pc

Here's a link to an article that explains why free will matters.

 

[EmilyNats]

Did God create satan knowing he would fall and usher in this serious of events so humanity can see who's good and who's evil and make a choice? Was satan created for the express purpose of falling?

Satan was created for the reason that all things were created: for God's own purpose,pleasure and glory. But the other side of the coin is that God wanted something g to love and to lie him back. Love is a choice, and something that is forced is not love. Thus, God didn't create some robot programmed to obey, but something with a free will. Unfortunately, Satan CHOSE not to live God, chose not to obey and chose not to glorify him. It's all a very complicated matter that I don't think a human will ever be fully able to comprehend, with our tiny little brains. But that's where faith comes in.

 

[Adstar]

Did God create satan knowing he would fall and usher in this serious of events so humanity can see who's good and who's evil and make a choice?

Yes.... But.. satan decided by his own free will to take to the path of rebellion against God.. God did not force satan to go down that path and satan always had the option to remain loyal to God.. No i do not believe satan was made for the express purpose of falling.. It was Gods will to create beings with real free will.. and with that came the option of rebellion.. And satan decided to take it.. Just as all human beings have the option to take that path to eternal destruction. It's our choice.. God is not guilty for allowing us to have a choice when it is we who make the choice.. Without choice we are just zombies and a far lesser creation.. With choice we are the greater creation that God wants to exist with Him in eternity..

 

[Marek]

Yes.... But.. satan decided by his own free will to take to the path of rebellion against God.. God did not force satan to go down that path and satan always had the option to remain loyal to God.. No i do not believe satan was made for the express purpose of falling.. It was Gods will to create beings with real free will.. and with that came the option of rebellion.. And satan decided to take it.. Just as all human beings have the option to take that path to eternal destruction. It's our choice.. God is not guilty for allowing us to have a choice when it is we who make the choice.. Without choice we are just zombies and a far lesser creation.. With choice we are the greater creation that God wants to exist with Him in eternity..

Well said brother. thanks

 

[Born_Again]

Romans 9......

18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.
19 One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?” 20 But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’”[h] 21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?
22 What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? 23 What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory—24 even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? 25 As he says in Hosea:
“I will call them ‘my people’ who are not my people;
and I will call her ‘my loved one’ who is not my loved one,”[i]

26 and,
“In the very place where it was said to them,
‘You are not my people,’
there they will be called ‘children of the living God.’”[j]

 

[jb]

Do we really have Free Will?

Yes, ofcourse we have!

Isaiah 53v6, Ezek 18v20,21, Matt 23v37, Acts 2v21 and so forth...

 

[Magenta]

1 John 2:2 (ESV)
He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

Why would God punish us for something we had no choice in the matter over? Would He still be a loving just and merciful God if He forced any to turn away from Him and then punished them for doing so? Some might say yes, but I do not believe Jesus invited us to repent and believe if we had no choice in the matter. Of course God makes it possible! He makes everything possible. We would not even exist were it not for Him. In Him we live and move and have our being. All sin has been paid for but the sin of unbelief, and it is up to us to seek Him out. Scripture promises that to him who seeks diligently, Jesus will reveal Himself. Now you may say that nobody truly seeks after God and that would be Scripturally correct. However, many seek the ultimate purpose and meaning of life, and that is found in none other than Jesus Christ. He is the Truth, and the Light of all men.

 

[Magenta]

"And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that
heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And
whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely." Revelation 22:17

 

[Born_Again]

Yes.... But.. satan decided by his own free will to take to the path of rebellion against God.. God did not force satan to go down that path and satan always had the option to remain loyal to God.. No i do not believe satan was made for the express purpose of falling.. It was Gods will to create beings with real free will.. and with that came the option of rebellion.. And satan decided to take it.. Just as all human beings have the option to take that path to eternal destruction. It's our choice.. God is not guilty for allowing us to have a choice when it is we who make the choice.. Without choice we are just zombies and a far lesser creation.. With choice we are the greater creation that God wants to exist with Him in eternity..

So, God created Satan knowing full well he would be what he became. And yes, God knew he would use his free will to take the path he chose. So, knowing this, God did create something knowing it was created for destruction. God creates people with this same knowledge. He knows who and who will not choose to follow Him. So this implies God creates some people for destruction.