The notion of freedom
Well in my last post I looked at the providence of God, as being the sustainer and governor off all things created. God is our sole provider and we should be amazed in awe when we reflect on what God gives us. It is God who created the universe, who created us and also provides the rain to fall on seeds to grow crops and food to feed his creation. Even the birds do not worry about where their food will come from, because God has provided. It is God who fashioned our hearts and minds and gave us our talents and gifts. They are not of our own making. He has given them to us so that we can express his wisdom and glory and give praise back to him. It is God who provided us with the expression of love, so that we can love others in this world.
It is God’s providence that gives us the faith to trust him, knowing that he is in control and that there is hope even in the times of distress. Even in these times God is in control, shaping our characters and drawing us to depend on him more. Its is only in distress that we can see our weaknesses and remember that we are not in control. But we can give glory to God that we safe in his hands with eternal life. All things come from God he is the provider.
In this post I would like to start the beginning of a number of posts on the subject of "Freedom and Freewill". This is the one subject I find Christians debating every week on.
I find so many struggle on this issue, on how God can be Sovereign and we can have freewill. It has been a subject that has fascinated me for many years and I do believe that there is a clear Biblical answer.
In this post I would like us to reflect on what freedom is and where does this freedom come from. For a start one can not be absolutely free, meaning that he is independent of the universe, not bound by any off its laws, because this would make us God. Our freedom is bound to our nature as created creatures.
There are two types of freedom usually expressed the first being the Arminian view. When Arminians speak of "the will" they are referring to an independent and self-determining power by which we are enabled to make autonomous choices. There is know cause which makes the will chose one way or another, The will is self-caused. Many have said that if we do not have this kind of freewill then we can not be responsible for our actions. But I will argue latter that I believe this does not have to be the case.
The question we must ask is "is this what the Bible defines as having free will". I would have to say "No" it is not. I do not believe it is possible to have a will without being dependent on a cause, either internal or influenced from outside. If there is no cause then it is purely a random reaction corresponding to nothing.
R.K McGregor in his book "No place for Sovereignty" says that,
"Consider the doctrine of creation, which all evangelical Arminians presumably believe. If a freewill exists at all, it is necessarily a created aspect of our human nature. But if created, it must have a complex set of qualities that are collectively its nature. That is, in order to exist as a temporal entity, it must consist of a set of properties that distinguish it from other things. If it has no such characteristics, it has no discernible nature-it would not exist. If it does have such properties, they determine its nature and thus its behavior, which would mean that it is not random at all. But if the will acts according to its own previously existing properties, its actions are to some degree being caused. The problem can not be avoided by merely insisting that God created the will with the properrty of freedom."
McGregor is right, when he says that if the will was created with properties according to its created nature, then the will’s action will have been caused in some way. It is God who has given us our natures, our gifts, our talents, and our weaknesses. It is God who makes the blind, mute and wise. All our characters come from God as he is the potter who shapes the clay.
Our actions are not self-caused, but are predestined by God’s will in to our natures so we act them out freely what God wants us to do. We are not independent of the creation. We are responsible creatures because we bound by God laws of judgment. If we find ourselves in a world we did not create and are a part of it, then when we feel the responsibility in us, it is because of God’s fixed reality of his moral laws. It is because of these laws that cause us to feel responsible. This is the cause off our actions and also our environment influences us too. It is because of other objects, that we make choices, so our choices have causes.
The freedom, which the bible gives us, is an ethical relationship, not an innate ontological attribute. How could the "will’ be free from the creators hand, if all things come from God and God is the sovereign writer of all history. Freedom is a property created and shaped and we act out freely what we have been predestined to do by the will of God. The finite can not complain to the eternal God, as the finite could not get started without God’s plan of reality (Romans 9; 18-24).
Total freedom is in the hands of God. Does not the potter have the power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor. The creature is never on the same Level as the Creator.
It is God’s providence that gives us the faith to trust him, knowing that he is in control and that there is hope even in the times of distress. Even in these times God is in control, shaping our characters and drawing us to depend on him more. Its is only in distress that we can see our weaknesses and remember that we are not in control. But we can give glory to God that we safe in his hands with eternal life. All things come from God he is the provider.
In this post I would like to start the beginning of a number of posts on the subject of "Freedom and Freewill". This is the one subject I find Christians debating every week on.
I find so many struggle on this issue, on how God can be Sovereign and we can have freewill. It has been a subject that has fascinated me for many years and I do believe that there is a clear Biblical answer.
In this post I would like us to reflect on what freedom is and where does this freedom come from. For a start one can not be absolutely free, meaning that he is independent of the universe, not bound by any off its laws, because this would make us God. Our freedom is bound to our nature as created creatures.
There are two types of freedom usually expressed the first being the Arminian view. When Arminians speak of "the will" they are referring to an independent and self-determining power by which we are enabled to make autonomous choices. There is know cause which makes the will chose one way or another, The will is self-caused. Many have said that if we do not have this kind of freewill then we can not be responsible for our actions. But I will argue latter that I believe this does not have to be the case.
The question we must ask is "is this what the Bible defines as having free will". I would have to say "No" it is not. I do not believe it is possible to have a will without being dependent on a cause, either internal or influenced from outside. If there is no cause then it is purely a random reaction corresponding to nothing.
R.K McGregor in his book "No place for Sovereignty" says that,
"Consider the doctrine of creation, which all evangelical Arminians presumably believe. If a freewill exists at all, it is necessarily a created aspect of our human nature. But if created, it must have a complex set of qualities that are collectively its nature. That is, in order to exist as a temporal entity, it must consist of a set of properties that distinguish it from other things. If it has no such characteristics, it has no discernible nature-it would not exist. If it does have such properties, they determine its nature and thus its behavior, which would mean that it is not random at all. But if the will acts according to its own previously existing properties, its actions are to some degree being caused. The problem can not be avoided by merely insisting that God created the will with the properrty of freedom."
McGregor is right, when he says that if the will was created with properties according to its created nature, then the will’s action will have been caused in some way. It is God who has given us our natures, our gifts, our talents, and our weaknesses. It is God who makes the blind, mute and wise. All our characters come from God as he is the potter who shapes the clay.
Our actions are not self-caused, but are predestined by God’s will in to our natures so we act them out freely what God wants us to do. We are not independent of the creation. We are responsible creatures because we bound by God laws of judgment. If we find ourselves in a world we did not create and are a part of it, then when we feel the responsibility in us, it is because of God’s fixed reality of his moral laws. It is because of these laws that cause us to feel responsible. This is the cause off our actions and also our environment influences us too. It is because of other objects, that we make choices, so our choices have causes.
The freedom, which the bible gives us, is an ethical relationship, not an innate ontological attribute. How could the "will’ be free from the creators hand, if all things come from God and God is the sovereign writer of all history. Freedom is a property created and shaped and we act out freely what we have been predestined to do by the will of God. The finite can not complain to the eternal God, as the finite could not get started without God’s plan of reality (Romans 9; 18-24).
Total freedom is in the hands of God. Does not the potter have the power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor. The creature is never on the same Level as the Creator.
posted by Rich7 at 1:06 AM
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