Hello all, I've been working on
this logical argument for some time now. I was wondering if I could have
your thoughts and ideas. Please point out what you see wrong with it or
right with it or what doesn't make sense. I'm trying to refine this argument. Calvinists welcome! Please feel free to point out what you see
wrong.
Exploring Freewill
Overarching Principles
-God is bound by nothing but himself.
-Sin is the absence of God.
It is not an entity of itself.
Under these principles please consider the following:
A. People sin on earth.
B. Sinning is against God's will.
C. Therefore God's will is directly in opposition to what is happening on
earth.
The resulting phenomenon
-If C is true then God must allow people to commit acts that go against his
will. We say God allows this because nothing, even humanity, can bind God.
Defining the above phenomenon
-God's allowance for freewill
The resulting possibilities
-the questioning of direct control
A) If God is in direct control of
all things then he is also in control of the fact that people sin. If this is so, then God actually directly
controls people to sin.
B) However, If God gives up some of
His control and ordains an environment of freewill then God does not lead
people to sin. What He does is allow for
the choice of sin to exist.
-the questioning of predestination
A) If God created people to be
elected by Him, then this suggests that God created people to be rejected by
Him. Therefore, if people are
predestined to be elected or rejected then God does not allow for freewill.
1) If the above statement is true
then a rejected individual can not choose to sin, rather, the life of sin is
chosen for the individual and in fact is forced upon the individual. This forced sin is due to the reality that we
have established that God does not allow for freewill.
a) This can not be true due to the
overarching principle of the definition of sin.
God declares his purpose and existence with the statement “I AM”. God just is, but whatever is not God is
sin. This is due to the fact that sin is
the absence of God and not an entity in and of itself. Therefore, under the above statement, God
would be forcing sin upon His creation.
He would be forcing the absence of Him upon something that was made in
His image. How could God force something
that He is not?
B) One could accept that God
created people in His image. This means
that God created people to be like Him.
In order to be like God you must not have sin. This is the story of Adam and Eve. However, we know in the story that God sought
a loving relationship with man. Love
requires freewill, otherwise it isn’t true love. True love requires that both parties accept
the covenant. In order for this
acceptance to take place there must be choice introduced into the
equation. This is introduced by God when
he creates the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This tree is the allowance for freewill.
1) If God allows for freewill so
that a true loving relationship can exist, then God can not predestine who will
choose Him. This predestination would
negate the existence of freewill.
a) The character of God remains
intact due to the fact that He is giving the gift of choice. He is not forcing some of His creation to
choose sin.
Complications of freewill
-God’s role in the world
A) If the environment of freewill
is accepted then one has to also accept that an unwanted intervention by God (in
our daily lives) would negate freewill.
Therefore, if God is to intervene then the individual must ask for it in
some way. Basically, one must have faith
that God will intervene in order for God to do so. This is not to say that God would choose to
intervene all the time when asked.
However, there arises a paradoxical question out of this assumption.
1) Why did God save man in the
environment of freewill when man chose sin?
Under the environment of freewill, this grace has to be asked for. Did Adam and Eve ask for grace and
forgiveness? Is that what we do when we
accept Christ?
a) This is where exploring
freewill becomes fuzzy and nebulous. How
can one action of freewill override the previous action? How can the rejection of God with sin be
overridden with asking for forgiveness later?
Is this Christ? Is being saved
having some “overriding will”? Is your
will to follow Christ a general principle and your stumbling just a temporary
distraction? What in the world separates
the difference between your actions of freewill? How can mercy be defined in this environment? | 
