FREE WILL... or... DOES GOD.. "FORCE" ..OUR STEPS ?

FREE WILL... or... DOES GOD.. "FORCE" ..OUR STEPS ?

God never uses that word,
but He does use words such as "directs" or "guides"

It doesn't take a great deal of energy
for God to make people follow the footsteps
that He has established for them

The SLIGHTEST motivations
in our finances, stomach, social life, egos, etc.,
will easily cause us to go either this way or that way

Of course none of this is of any value
unless we can establish it in God's Word

Notice what God says regarding our "steps"

"...It is NOT IN MAN...to direct his steps..." (Jer10:23)

"A man's heart deviseth his way:
but the Lord DIRECTS HIS STEPS" (Prov16:9)

God could have just as easily said: "...the Lord directs HIS WAY"



"Man's goings (Heb: steps) ARE OF THE LORD:

how can a man then understand HIS OWN WAY?

(it matters not if our steps are good or sinful)" (Prov 20:24)

"For now thou NUMBEREST my steps

(That's pretty specific, Matthew)

: dost thou NOT watch over my SIN?" (Job 14:16)



"The steps

('steps' is used to symbolize ALL OF MANS DOINGS)

OF A MAN ARE ordered (Heb: established) by the Lord" (Psa 37:23)



If ALL man's steps are "established",

then of necessity

they are ordered by God IN ADVANCE

of him taking those ordered steps!!!


With this in mind,

Let's take a closer look at man's supposed "FREE WILL"



ELOHIM'S FOREKNOWLEDGE CONTRADICTS FREE WILL

Phil 2:13
it is God (not man)
which works in you BOTH TO WILL (God causes us ‘to will’)
and TO DO (God causes us ‘to do’)
of His good pleasure" to bring about His intentions

After years of following Jesus daily,
the apostles were not as yet converted

In the evening of the last Passover
Jesus tells Peter:

Luke 22:31-32
"And the Lord said, Simon, Simon,
behold Satan has desired to have you,
that he may sift you as wheat;

But I have prayed for you,
that your faith fall not:
and when you are converted,
strengthen your brethren"

Yes indeed, "when you are converted"

And just when might that be?
Up until the very last day with their Lord,
the apostles all believed that they
possessed the power of free will,

which could enable them to choose
their own destiny, and that they could
and would have the strength of self determinism
and free will to maintain that course

But Jesus told His disciples
that they would all forsake Him

In other words,
Jesus was foretelling of EVENTS that would cause
(even ‘force,’ if you will) them to change their wills,
against their previously stated wills

They of course, all denied
that Jesus knew what He was talking about

Mark 14:27 & Zech 13:7
"And Jesus said unto them,
all ye shall be offended because of Me this night;
for it is written, I shall smite the shepherd,
and the sheep shall be scattered"

The disciples all said
that they would remain loyal
but Jesus said that they would all
be offended because of Him

Was there a reason
for God causing the disciples
to will loyalty to Jesus and then
in the same night to will to deny Jesus?

Does God do anything in vain without a reason?

This was all part of their conversion process!!

God totally humiliated them by proving to them
that their own will was not free
to do what they wanted, but that

Phil. 2:13
"it is God (not man) which works in you
BOTH TO WILL (God causes us ‘to will’)
and TO DO (God causes us ‘to do’)
of His good pleasure"
to bring about His intentions

In just one night God smashed
the presumed free will of all the disciples
and they lost confidence in their flesh after that night

There are two things that constantly
oppose and change the will of man,
so that it cannot be said that the will
is free to will its own destiny
for even a day or an hour

What are these two factors
over which man has absolutely
no control whatsoever?

CIRCUMSTANCES

and

GOD’S WILL



CIRCUMSTANCES:
God changes the minds and wills of mankind
around the world, a billion times a minute,
through circumstances that "you know not"

which are actually the cause of your choices
and your changed choices

We are often if not most of the time
completely unaware of what actually
caused us to do or say or think as we do

How did all the disciples will
to remain loyal to Jesus no matter what,
at one moment in time, and in the next moment
they all changed their will to forsake Him?

What changed their wills?

Circumstances!!

One moment they were at ease and safe
in the upper room, and at a later moment
they were in the garden surrounded by Roman Soldiers!

Fear was the circumstance
that caused their (un-free) wills to change

So it was the presence of certain circumstances
that caused the disciples to will as they did

But what caused the circumstances
to be as they were to ensure
that they would will appropriately
to fulfill Christ’s prophecy concerning
their denying and forsaking Him?

GOD’S WILL:

Who was in charge of all these circumstances,
which caused the disciples to change their wills?

Why God, of course

They did not want to change their wills
They did not desire to deny their Lord and Saviour
They did not wish to make liars of themselves
They did not want to be shown to be cowards

Well then, why did they change their wills
if they did not wish to change their wills?

Were they free to not change their wills?

No, they were not free.

The fear inside of them caused and made
(and yes, FORCED, if you will) them to change their will

And Jesus Himself told them
that they would change their wills,
so how pray tell could it have been otherwise?

God knew exactly what was needed
to make all of the disciples change their wills

God said that they would change their wills
and forsake Jesus,and God was not about
to be made a liar

Peter did not even know what it was that caused him
to deny Christ until the "cock crew"

In our above example with the disciples,
not only did they change their emphatically
stated will, but, they did so against their stated will

Even when they willed to change their will,
they did so against their original desired will

Peter did not want to deny Christ
but he was made to deny Christ
by the mere fact that the alternative (fear)
was greater than his desire to remain loyal

And so, how was he "free" to remain loyal?

He wasn’t

Peter was no more "free" to not deny Jesus
any more than he was "free"
to be loyal in his original choice

Both choices were caused,
and once something is caused to happen,
it could never had been otherwise

Once the cause is set in motion,
the effect must follow

God brought about circumstances that
caused, made, forced, Peter to do
what he didn’t want to do

How then, can such a forced will, be free?

Peter didn't will to deny Jesus,
but he was clearly caused to do so

This is an example of how God causes men
to change their will even when it is against
their initial will to do so

How much easier and unrecognizable
are the millions of choices we make

in which we very willingly make the decisions we do,
because they often appear to be pleasant, profitable,
and desirable choices?

This example
of the disciples forsaking Jesus is so important!!

Can we believe that Jesus
could have told His disciples the following:

"And Jesus said unto them,
All ye shall be offended because of me this night,

but then again,

maybe not all of you will be offended,
seeing that all of you have a free will

Or maybe this to Peter:

"And Jesus said unto him (Peter)
Verily I say unto you, that this day, even in this night,
before the cock crow twice, thou shall deny me thrice,

but then again,

maybe you won’t deny Me three times,
seeing that you have a free will

that does not need to deny me even once

It doesn’t depend on what I say,
or circumstances brought about by my Father,
or what God declares,

but rather on your own "free will"

Sounds a little silly
when we look at it logically doesn’t it?

Yet this is the contention
of those who believe in "free will"

Maybe Peter will,
but then again maybe Peter won’t,

NOT EVEN GOD KNOWS FOR SURE

Almost sounds like blasphemy, doesn’t it?

It is blasphemy to argue that when God
prophesies, states, and intends
that someone do a particular thing,

that the person is still at liberty
because of his supposed free will,
to not do what God has said

Yet this is what the theory of "free will" demands

The fact that God has a foreknowledge of everything
proves that free will is an impossibility,

True "free will" could alter the future

and therefore God could not
have an absolute and true knowledge of the future

Therefore, it is a grave error to state
that man has a free will that is not
"made" or "caused" to do as it does,

and yet state that God knows in advance
the only possible choice that a person must make

How can one believe
that if God states that a person will make choice A,
that he is nonetheless still at liberty to make choice B?

Let me restate that:

Can God say that you WILL make choice A,
but you can make choice B?

Can God say that such and such, WILL happen
but that it doesn’t need to happen?

The disciples WILL forsake and deny Christ,
but they have a free choice NOT to forsake and deny Him?

God knows in advance
that something WILL be a certain way,
and yet it doesn’t have to be that way?

Peter thought he possessed free will:

Matt 26:33
"Peter answered and said unto Him,
Though all men shall be offended because of you,
YET WILL I NEVER BE OFFENDED"

Jesus responded that Peter
had no freedom of the will
to stick by such a statement

"Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee,
That this night, before the cock crow,
YOU SHALL DENY ME thrice" (Ver 34)

Peter again responds
from the throne of his presumed free will
and CORRECTS Jesus to His face:

"Peter said unto Him,
Though I should DIE WITH THEE,
YET WILL I NOT DENY THEE

Likewise also said ALL THE DISCIPLES"
(Ver 35)


And the rest is history

When Peter
was confronted the third time we read this:

Matt 26:74 & 75
"Then began he to curse and to swear,
saying, I KNOW NOT THE MAN
And immediately the cock crew
and he went out, and wept bitterly"

Free will? Where? Give it up!!

What about all of the other disciples
who also thought they possessed this power
of free will and self-determinism?

Matt 26:56
"But all this was done,
that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled
Then ALL THE DISCIPLES FORSOOK HIM, AND FLED"

Free will? FREE will? FREE WILL?

Where?

If you still believe man has a will that is "free"
from external and internal causes, beyond his control,
then your arguments are not with me, but with God’s Word

Now for maybe the most profound
and all-encompassing statements in all Scripture:

Eph 1:11
"In Whom (GOD) also we have obtained
(‘obtained’ not ‘earned’) an inheritance,

being PREDESTINATED
(our ‘destiny’ was ‘pre’ arranged by God, not us)

according to the PURPOSE OF HIM
(not the free will, OF US!)

Who WORKS ALL THINGS (EVERY thing)

AFTER THE COUNSEL OF HIS OWN WILL
(not OUR OWN WILL)

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