Free Will in the light of Scripture

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OK…since my earlier questions cannot seem to get a definite answer…

I want to comment on what was mentioned earlier (and often) about how God has called and chosen people.

Jesus chose His Apostles right? Does that mean they had no choice in the matter?

I choose certain people to be my friends, does that mean they HAVE to be my friends?
 
Do you think God has the power and ablility to prevent all that you posted above? Why or why not?
Instead of continuing a playing on a merry-go-round of words, and you asking questions and never answering those posed to you, lets play a little differently:

You tell us if He could have prevented those things, and then tell us why He did not. No nonsense…just straight answers. Oh, and no vague hoopla. Specifics only.
 
OK…since my earlier questions cannot seem to get a definite answer…

I want to comment on what was mentioned earlier (and often) about how God has called and chosen people.

Jesus chose His Apostles right? Does that mean they had no choice in the matter?

I choose certain people to be my friends, does that mean they HAVE to be my friends?
We always freely choose Christ once we are granted spiritual eyes to see Him. For those who are born of the Spirit are changed from being spirituality dead to being spirituality alive in Christ. We are born again, or born from above.
 
Instead of continuing a playing on a merry-go-round of words, and you asking questions and never answering those posed to you, lets play a little differently:

You tell us if He could have prevented those things, and then tell us why He did not. No nonsense…just straight answers. Oh, and no vague hoopla. Specifics only.
Waiting for your profundidity…🙂
 
We always freely choose Christ once we are granted spiritual eyes to see Him. For those who are born of the Spirit are changed from being spirituality dead to being spirituality alive in Christ. We are born again, or born from above.
Tell that to Judas Iscariot! He knew who Jesus was! Yet…it did not matter to him. He was given the spiritual eyes to see who Jesus truly was. Yet…he loved creation more.
 
Instead of continuing a playing on a merry-go-round of words, and you asking questions and never answering those posed to you, lets play a little differently:

You tell us if He could have prevented those things, and then tell us why He did not. No nonsense…just straight answers. Oh, and no vague hoopla. Specifics only.
I’m not God my friend. But God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all. Therefore, all that we cannot understand on this side of glory, we need to maintain that whatever God does or allow is righteous, holy, wise, loving and right. In reality, each one of us deserves the eternal wrath of God and Hell…just like Hitler, Stalin, and the others you mentioned. It is by the grace of God we are not like those you mentioned. Even those who are unconverted, it is only by the restraining grace of God that they are not the next Hitler.
 
Tell that to Judas Iscariot! He knew who Jesus was! Yet…it did not matter to him. He was given the spiritual eyes to see who Jesus truly was. Yet…he loved creation more.
I don’t think our Heavenly Father granted the same revealtion that He gave Peter (Mat 16). How about the other disciples who departed (John 6) and why did they depart? How about John 17? Isn’t this fun playing sola scriptura to find answers? 👍

I hope God gives us a burning desire to search the Scriptures for answers to these great questions. Good night to all. 🙂
 
I’m not God my friend. But God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all. Therefore, all that we cannot understand on this side of glory, we need to maintain that whatever God does or allow is righteous, holy, wise, loving and right. In reality, each one of us deserves the eternal wrath of God and Hell…just like Hitler, Stalin, and the others you mentioned. It is by the grace of God we are not like those you mentioned. Even those who are unconverted, it is only by the restraining grace of God that they are not the next Hitler.
And this concept is only reconcilable by the fact that we were created with true free will and all given the grace of God to choose good or to choose evil. God’s grace allows the sun to shine upon every sinner.

God’s plan is only holy and righteous if it is our fault for evil…not some preordained Divine scheme where we were created to deserve Hell.

Also, with your given statement…does a Calvinist perspective claim that there are worse sins than others? (i.e. mortal sin and venial sin) Because you said that “It is by the grace of God we are not like those” so does that mean even though we are sinners…we are LESS of sinners than then?
 
I’m not God my friend. But God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all. Therefore, all that we cannot understand on this side of glory, we need to maintain that whatever God does or allow is righteous, holy, wise, loving and right. In reality, each one of us deserves the eternal wrath of God and Hell…just like Hitler, Stalin, and the others you mentioned. It is by the grace of God we are not like those you mentioned. Even those who are unconverted, it is only by the restraining grace of God that they are not the next Hitler.
So in other words…you who have all the answers…doesn’t. Now that we have established that fact…you can freely stop obfuscating and playing word games…

Have you come up with those definitions yet?

I have to say one more thing: For you to say what you did…tells me something is amiss in your theology. If you say that everything happens only according to God’s will, and that man plays no part in the decisions…and that we need to maintain that whatever God does or allows is holy, right, righteous, loving and all that… to me you are trying to tell me in a very obtuse way that God is one sick puppy. There is nothing right, righteous, holy, loving or anything else smarmy about nations and regimes made of men or different political bents murdering and slaughtering millions upon millions of people. That is a very sick and perverse notion and theology.

Man was given the ability to make decisions, even against the wishes of God. That is because HE gave man the ability to use FREE WILL. Man decides to do evil, not God. If you believe it is God doing that…then partner…you and I believe in a very different God.
 
Are you saying that God does not intervene in the lives of believers and unbelievers alike?
God absolutely intervenes in all of our lives
I agree God knows all things before they happen. What do you mean by free will, that God is on the sideline as a spectator?
No, I don’t think that is what free will is.
Or is God controlling history through divine providence to make come to pass all that he pre-ordained before the foundations of the world? Either God is in complete control or not. Either God does whatever He pleases or He does not.
God is controlling history, but he has factored our free will into the equation. God gives us freewill to cooperate with Him or reject Him, and He mysteriously uses our choices to manifest His glory.
 
Total depravity

Catholics say because of the fall of Adam, man cannot do anything out of supernatural love unless God gives him special grace to do so. That probably the extent of the agreement though.

**Unconditional election **

Catholics are free to agree or disagree. What we do not agree with is “double-predestination,” (in addition to electing some people to salvation God also elects others to damnation).

The alternative to double-predestination is to say that while God predestines some people, he simply passes over the remainder. They will not come to God, but it is because of their inherent sin, not because God damns them. This is the doctrine of passive reprobation, which Aquinas taught.

Limited Atonement

While a Catholic could not say that the atonement was limited in that it was made only for the elect, he could say that the atonement was limited in that God only intended it to be efficacious for the elect (although he intended it to be sufficient for all).

Irresistible Grace

This is a complicated matter. I lean toward St. Thomas.

St. Thomas teaches that God, who is the Prime Mover, grants man grace which moves man’s will toward the good. It is all God at this point. God makes the first move. Thomas calls this “operating grace.” At this point, man can resist or not resist the grace. If man does not resist the grace, it is the grace that is allowing his nonresistance and cooperation. Then, by using his freewill, man can actually move toward the good, and the grace strengthens and supports his will toward that end. This grace is called “cooperating grace.” Both operating and cooperating grace are the same grace, but they produce two effects. The first is to move the will (by virtue of the grace alone); the second is to will the movement of the will (by virtue of the same grace along with human freewill).

Perseverance of the saints

Calvin’s teaching is faulty because he taught that if a person enters a state of grace he never will leave it but will persevere to the end of life.

If one is talking about predestination to initial salvation, then the fact that a person will come to God does not of itself mean he will stay with God. If one is talking about predestination to final salvation, then a predestined person will stay with God, but this does not mean the predestined are the only ones who experience initial salvation. Some might genuinely come to God (because they were predestined to initial salvation) and then genuinely leave (because they were not predestined to final salvation). Either way, predestination to initial salvation does not entail predestination to final salvation.

Catholics are free to hold to a form of perseverance of the saints, since a person predestined to final salvation must by definition persevere to the end. Catholics call it “the gift of final perseverance.” But not all who come to God receive this grace.

I hope this helps. 🙂
 
I hope God gives us a burning desire to search the Scriptures for answers to these great questions.
**
Predestination** is a very delicate issue that can deceive anyone, if it is seen ‘out of context’.

What I mean by ‘out of context’ is if you try to “solve” it just based on rational standpoint and free/loose thinking by leaving or forgetting all other matters/issues that are intrinsically related and attached to man’s life. Because, in the poetic-words of Dr. Iqbal -an Indian poet-philosopher:



Free thinking can bring 'bout the ruin
Of those whose thoughts are low and mean
They don’t possess the mode and style
Of though that may be chaste and clean.

If thoughts are raw and immature
No good accrues to man in least:
The utmost, that such thoughts can do
Is change of wan to state of beast.

.

What is most important to know/realise is:

First, man is not ‘absolutely free’, as there is no such a thing as ‘absolute freedom’ in any sphere/area of human life (individual or collective life).

God gave man a limited freedom and within that freedom he is accountable fully on the day of Judgement and not on the issues/matters in which Allah Himself has not given the freedom.

Second, we do not know what is His Whole/Entire/Complete Wisdom of Creation. Only He, as ‘The Creator’, obviously know and we as His creation did not, do not and will never be able to know. To know you have to have the capacity to grasp His Whole Knowledge/Wisdom and since we do not thus it is impossible. This is unknowable. This is a matter of Unseen (Al-Ghaib in Arabic).

Besides, until our death, we are in a physical and limited stage of our existence which is bound by so many restrictions/laws and these restrictions/laws reminds us that we are not really totally free.

So what is predestination then? and What is not?

Our main events like birth, death are already written. No one can avoid/change that and at the same time no one precisely knows when and how.

What is (appeared to us) left unwritten is man’s actions that are going to happen in the future according to man’s given ability to act based on his limited free will and choice. This limited free will and choice too is given by God. It is His permission. It is not man’s own ‘property’.

So, the destiny is already determined in a sense that:
Man is going to act according to God’s permission of limited free will and choice given to man. The permission itself is not man’s property. So whatever would be the result of man’s action is based on God’s Predetermination (Law of God) which is already set by God and He never changes His Way (Sunnah- in Arabic), as He said:

It is the law of Allah which hath taken course aforetime. Thou wilt not find for the law of Allah aught of power to change. (The Glorious Quran 48:23)

Had He not set His Laws/Predetermination, our action’s physical results in this world would be either unpridictable or not comprehendable or there would be a chaos everywhere. Laws like cause and effect or where there is a action, there is a reaction or every advantage has a disadvantage or the laws that are still unknown to us/yet to discovered.

Now, just imagine if the Laws of God were not already placed, what could have happened or what would be the scenario without them? Obviously the situation would be more mysterious than we can think/have now. But since there are such Laws that God has set forth and He doesn’t change them, thus based on His permission of limited free will and choice given to man, our destination too is already determined.

But what He has decided for every issue (in His Whole Wisdom- which is only known to HIM) is not known to us and cannot be known for sure. So:

“It may be that you hate something when it is good for you and it may be that you love something when it is bad for you. God knows and you do not know.” -------(The Glorious Quran 2:216)

Thus to say that we have to believe in a Predestination of being good (khair) or bad (sharr) (i.e. whatever) of our actions is purley rational and makes sense and this is exactly what is required in the basic articles of faith of Islam for a person to be a Muslim.

But if somone stretch this issue by leaving or forgetting the CONTEXT then it is highly likely that he will misunderstand the Predestiniation and can deceive/confuse himself.

So, in general, what is needed to be kept in mind is: (and I borrow Harun Yahya’s words here):

"From the moment a person opens his eyes to the world, God ordains every event that takes place in his life. All is created by God in compliance with a plan, and for a divine purpose just as He says in a verse of the Glorious Qur’an,

“Indeed, all things We created with predestination.” (Al-Qamar: 49)

Consequently, all a person needs to do is to submit himself to the destiny determined by his Creator, remaining aware that everything will turn good in the end.

As Allah says:

“It may be that you hate something when it is good for you and it may be that you love something when it is bad for you. God knows and you do not know.” -------(2:216)

cont…


 
**
For a believer who understands this fact, uninterrupted joy of faith becomes an unchanging quality of life. The fate decreed by God is flawless. For a person willing to recognise the good in all things, he finds only blessings and a divine purpose, hidden within an entire complex of inter-connected events."

Thus, again in the poetic-words of Dr. Iqbal:

This problem is not hard to solve
O man, endowed with insight great
Wh’r to obey dictates of God,
Or submit to decrees of Fate.

The Wheel of Fate spins hundred times
Within the twinkling of the eye
He, who follows freaks of Fate,
Anon is down and anon is high.

Herbs, vegetables and minerals alike
Adhere to what Fate pre-ordains:
But Muslim true obeys laws of God,
All else abhors and much disdains.

**

[/INDENT]
 
I don’t think our Heavenly Father granted the same revealtion that He gave Peter (Mat 16). How about the other disciples who departed (John 6) and why did they depart? How about John 17? Isn’t this fun playing sola scriptura to find answers? 👍

I hope God gives us a burning desire to search the Scriptures for answers to these great questions. Good night to all. 🙂
Weak … Christ chose Judas. I would think if none knew what happened to Judas you would have to say he was one of the elect, he was chosen by Christ … read John 6 … he chose the 12 … I also like your line … “I don’t think our Heavenly …” , this implies to me you are unsure … are you positive with certainty … other thing is right after Peters confession to Jesus … Jesus tells Peter “get behind me Satan”. Are you one of the pre-ordained, elect, saved … I imagine this means all those will be in heaven? You know you will be in heaven after death at this moment … that this will never change?

I also wonder why then do we have a judgement day? The way I understand what you are trying to explain is all of us are doing God’s will whether we live a life of evil or good. In fact there are 2 judgements … 1 at death and 1 at the end times. Why judge what has been pre-ordained … is it just to gloat for those in the elect?

I look at the Scripture reading for yesterday’s Mass. It is where Jesus is telling the Pharisees the tax collectors and prostitues will get into heaven before you. Probably in their day the Pharasitical priests looked like the guys who would be getting into heaven … they looked the part but Jesus says no. How then can anyone tell if they are in the saved or unsaved batch? It seems a pretty smug thing to do.
 
Total depravity

Catholics say because of the fall of Adam, man cannot do anything out of supernatural love unless God gives him special grace to do so. That probably the extent of the agreement though.

**Unconditional election **

Catholics are free to agree or disagree. What we do not agree with is “double-predestination,” (in addition to electing some people to salvation God also elects others to damnation).

The alternative to double-predestination is to say that while God predestines some people, he simply passes over the remainder. They will not come to God, but it is because of their inherent sin, not because God damns them. This is the doctrine of passive reprobation, which Aquinas taught.

Limited Atonement

While a Catholic could not say that the atonement was limited in that it was made only for the elect, he could say that the atonement was limited in that God only intended it to be efficacious for the elect (although he intended it to be sufficient for all).

Irresistible Grace

This is a complicated matter. I lean toward St. Thomas.

St. Thomas teaches that God, who is the Prime Mover, grants man grace which moves man’s will toward the good. It is all God at this point. God makes the first move. Thomas calls this “operating grace.” At this point, man can resist or not resist the grace. If man does not resist the grace, it is the grace that is allowing his nonresistance and cooperation. Then, by using his freewill, man can actually move toward the good, and the grace strengthens and supports his will toward that end. This grace is called “cooperating grace.” Both operating and cooperating grace are the same grace, but they produce two effects. The first is to move the will (by virtue of the grace alone); the second is to will the movement of the will (by virtue of the same grace along with human freewill).

Perseverance of the saints

Calvin’s teaching is faulty because he taught that if a person enters a state of grace he never will leave it but will persevere to the end of life.

If one is talking about predestination to initial salvation, then the fact that a person will come to God does not of itself mean he will stay with God. If one is talking about predestination to final salvation, then a predestined person will stay with God, but this does not mean the predestined are the only ones who experience initial salvation. Some might genuinely come to God (because they were predestined to initial salvation) and then genuinely leave (because they were not predestined to final salvation). Either way, predestination to initial salvation does not entail predestination to final salvation.

Catholics are free to hold to a form of perseverance of the saints, since a person predestined to final salvation must by definition persevere to the end. Catholics call it “the gift of final perseverance.” But not all who come to God receive this grace.

I hope this helps. 🙂
That helps tremendously. It seems the 5 points of Calvinism is not as heretical as some Catholics make it out to be. I guess you have free will to live out your life as a Calvinistic Catholic. 👍
 
And this concept is only reconcilable by the fact that we were created with true free will and all given the grace of God to choose good or to choose evil. God’s grace allows the sun to shine upon every sinner.

God’s plan is only holy and righteous if it is our fault for evil…not some preordained Divine scheme where we were created to deserve Hell.

Also, with your given statement…does a Calvinist perspective claim that there are worse sins than others? (i.e. mortal sin and venial sin) Because you said that “It is by the grace of God we are not like those” so does that mean even though we are sinners…we are LESS of sinners than then?
I think God created Adam and Eve and He said that everything He created was very good. Therefore, God create mankind in His image and it was very good. Everyone (all humanity - except Jesus Christ) was condemned in the one act of disobedience (Genesis 3, Romans 5). Therefore, if you want a scapegoat blame it on Adam. You see, Adam is the federal head and representative of the old humanity. However, God sent another federal head and representative called the 2nd Adam. In a sense He too is a scapegoat, and by His life and death He would rescuse sinners from their current condemnation. That is what the Holy Scriptures reveal. To understand the essentials of Christianity, we cannot trust ourselves and our personal views, but rather we have to trust in God and what He reveals in His Holy Scriptures. We all need to continue to pray and in faith listen to His answers to us in the Scriptures.
 
So in other words…you who have all the answers…doesn’t. Now that we have established that fact…you can freely stop obfuscating and playing word games…

Have you come up with those definitions yet?

I have to say one more thing: For you to say what you did…tells me something is amiss in your theology. If you say that everything happens only according to God’s will, and that man plays no part in the decisions…and that we need to maintain that whatever God does or allows is holy, right, righteous, loving and all that… to me you are trying to tell me in a very obtuse way that God is one sick puppy. There is nothing right, righteous, holy, loving or anything else smarmy about nations and regimes made of men or different political bents murdering and slaughtering millions upon millions of people. That is a very sick and perverse notion and theology.

Man was given the ability to make decisions, even against the wishes of God. That is because HE gave man the ability to use FREE WILL. Man decides to do evil, not God. If you believe it is God doing that…then partner…you and I believe in a very different God.
Man in His free will is not sovereign over God. Who are you to talk back to God? You are but dust. God cannot be tempted by evil, nor can He do anything evil. God is never the author of evil. The world is cursed and broken because of man’s rebellion against God. The concept is called sin.

Job 38

The Lord Answers Robhorn:

38:1 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:

2 “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
3 Dress for action [1] like a man;
I will question you, and you make it known to me.

4 “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me, if you have understanding.
5 Who determined its measurements—surely you know!
Or who stretched the line upon it?
6 On what were its bases sunk,
or who laid its cornerstone,
7 when the morning stars sang together
and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

8 “Or who shut in the sea with doors
when it burst out from the womb,
9 when I made clouds its garment
and thick darkness its swaddling band,
10 and prescribed limits for it
and set bars and doors,
11 and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther,
and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?

12 “Have you commanded the morning since your days began,
and caused the dawn to know its place,
13 that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth,
and the wicked be shaken out of it?
14 It is changed like clay under the seal,
and its features stand out like a garment.
15 From the wicked their light is withheld,
and their uplifted arm is broken.

16 “Have you entered into the springs of the sea,
or walked in the recesses of the deep?
17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you,
or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?
18 Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth?
Declare, if you know all this.

19 “Where is the way to the dwelling of light,
and where is the place of darkness,
20 that you may take it to its territory
and that you may discern the paths to its home?
21 You know, for you were born then,
and the number of your days is great!

22 “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow,
or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,
23 which I have reserved for the time of trouble,
for the day of battle and war?
24 What is the way to the place where the light is distributed,
or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth?

25 “Who has cleft a channel for the torrents of rain
and a way for the thunderbolt,
26 to bring rain on a land where no man is,
on the desert in which there is no man,
27 to satisfy the waste and desolate land,
and to make the ground sprout with grass?

28 “Has the rain a father,
or who has begotten the drops of dew?
29 From whose womb did the ice come forth,
and who has given birth to the frost of heaven?
30 The waters become hard like stone,
and the face of the deep is frozen.

31 “Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades
or loose the cords of Orion?
32 Can you lead forth the Mazzaroth [2] in their season,
or can you guide the Bear with its children?
33 Do you know the ordinances of the heavens?
Can you establish their rule on the earth?

34 “Can you lift up your voice to the clouds,
that a flood of waters may cover you?
35 Can you send forth lightnings, that they may go
and say to you, ‘Here we are’?
36 Who has put wisdom in the inward parts [3]
or given understanding to the mind? [4]
37 Who can number the clouds by wisdom?
Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens,
38 when the dust runs into a mass
and the clods stick fast together?

39 “Can you hunt the prey for the lion,
or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,
40 when they crouch in their dens
or lie in wait in their thicket?
41 Who provides for the raven its prey,
when its young ones cry to God for help,
and wander about for lack of food?

We are all but dust (clay)

So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.

19 You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” 20 But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? 22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— Rom 9
 
That helps tremendously. It seems the 5 points of Calvinism is not as heretical as some Catholics make it out to be. I guess you have free will to live out your life as a Calvinistic Catholic. 👍
I tried to point out the things we have in common (to lay a foundation for dialog), without focusing to much differences that can’t be reconciled.

Would you be willing to comment on the points of my post, and say what aspects Calvanists would agree with?

Then knowing what we agree on, we can talk about what we disagree on.

P.S I was thinking more along the lines of you being able slightly change your idea of predestination, the elect, and free will, in order to live out your life as a Catholic who started off Calvinist. 😃
 
We can be on the same team if you allow me to call you a Calvinistic Catholic, okay?

I think God will discipline us when we become apathetic.
Calling someone a Calvinist Catholic makes about as much sense as saying God caused me to make my free choice. 😉
Discipline is irrelevent IF it has no bearing on my eternal destiny. Even St Paul was inspired to say that he doesnt compare the present suffering to be ANYTHING compared to the future glory God has prepared. So your comment that “God will discipline us” is basically meaningless. If the suffering gets too bad I could always opt out of this life, right? Unless you are prepared to discuss a “discipline” which occurs after this life.
 
Those whom he foreknew are not the ones Jesus never knew. Who are the ones God did not foreknow? Please consider the Scriptures:

I Never Knew You

21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ - Matt
So they are the workers of lawlessness who thought that by merely paying lip service to Christ (Call him Lord) that they were his disciples?
 
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