What is free will really, what does it mean to have free will?

[Omegaman 3.0]

People argue about free will. Most believe in it, at least to some degree. Much of that, is just a sense of it from personal experience. In a moment, I am going to choose to have a bowl of cereal, as an act of my free will. I have come to believe though, based on scripture, that I did not come to the Lord of my own free will, unassisted, I believe that it was the Lord's will, that I came to Him.

In general, I recently put together a sort of synopsis, of what I have come to believe about free will in general, in a way, where I am trying to be succinct, yet covers the idea of free will consistently over all manners of it, not just limited to soteriology etc.

I would be curious to know, if anyone has any thoughts about the statement below, and especially so, if you have some scriptural insight that would contradict what I say here in my summary statement:

I believe in free will:

You are free to choose to do what you want to do,
but you are not free to choose what it is, that you want to do,
nor are you necessarily able, to do what you choose to do!

Thanks!

Maybe you can get the idea, of how our nature dictates the choices we make, withing our free will. The illustration above, suggests that man, just like the animals in the image, chooses what to avoid, based on his nature.

[Anonymous Aristotle]

Free will. One of the most over stated falsehoods in human consciousness, if someone holds to the scriptures and the qualities of God. 

There is no such thing as free will. God, that is omnipotent and omniscient,  predestined the world, predetermined all things for his glory and according to his will. And in the beginning he set down his laws, starting in the garden with, thou shalt not eat of the fruit of the tree that would bestow conscious awareness of right and wrong and conscience.  Then he made 613 other laws to be obeyed , while knowing all things to the end of time being he is the alpha and the omega. The darkness and the light. The evil and the good. He is all things. Because in the beginning was The Word, God. 

And then depending on how we comport ourselves in the new testament laws, we shall either enter Heaven or suffer Hell. But all who enter Heaven were foreknown by God and were called by God to his son, whom they cannot come to unless God calls them to be saved from Hell. 

Free will is a myth that we tell ourselves so we think we're responsible for what we do. There is no such thing as free will within the domain of omniscient omnipresence that predetermined all things before he created the world upon which those things would unfold. 

[missmuffet]

Question: "Do human beings truly have a free will?"

Answer: If “free will” means that God gives humans the opportunity to make choices that genuinely affect their destiny, then yes, human beings do have a free will. The world’s current sinful state is directly linked to choices made by Adam and Eve. God created mankind in His own image, and that included the ability to choose.

However, free will does not mean that mankind can do anything he pleases. Our choices are limited to what is in keeping with our nature. For example, a man may choose to walk across a bridge or not to walk across it; what he may not choose is to fly over the bridge—his nature prevents him from flying. In a similar way, a man cannot choose to make himself righteous—his (sin) nature prevents him from canceling his guilt (Romans 3:23). So, free will is limited by nature.

This limitation does not mitigate our accountability. The Bible is clear that we not only have the ability to choose, we also have the responsibility to choose wisely. In the Old Testament, God chose a nation (Israel), but individuals within that nation still bore an obligation to choose obedience to God. And individuals outside of Israel were able to choose to believe and follow God as well (e.g., Ruth and Rahab).

In the New Testament, sinners are commanded over and over to “repent” and “believe” (Matthew 3:2; 4:17; Acts 3:19; 1 John 3:23). Every call to repent is a call to choose. The command to believe assumes that the hearer can choose to obey the command.

Jesus identified the problem of some unbelievers when He told them, “You refuse to come to me to have life” (John 5:40). Clearly, they could have come if they wanted to; their problem was they chose not to. “A man reaps what he sows” (Galatians 6:7), and those who are outside of salvation are “without excuse” (Romans 1:20-21).

But how can man, limited by a sin nature, ever choose what is good? It is only through the grace and power of God that free will truly becomes “free” in the sense of being able to choose salvation (John 15:16). It is the Holy Spirit who works in and through a person’s will to regenerate that person (John 1:12-13) and give him/her a new nature “created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:24). Salvation is God’s work. At the same time, our motives, desires, and actions are voluntary, and we are rightly held responsible for them.

https://www.gotquestions.org/free-will.html

[Anonymous Aristotle]

And yet, Got Questions did not write the Bible. God inspired the Bible wherein we are told God predestined our lives. Pre-destined = pre-determined, our lives. It is illusion that we freely act in our own lives when how we act and the choices we make have predetermined consequences under God's dominion. 

[MissTury]

1 hour ago, Anonymous Aristotle said:

Free will is a myth that we tell ourselves so we think we're responsible for what we do. There is no such thing as free will within the domain of omniscient omnipresence that predetermined all things before he created the world upon which those things would unfold. 

So then, you did not post that reply because you chose to, you just did some automated writing that God predestined and then just now, pulled your strings? I am not sure I am understanding you correctly, or, did I fairly represent your position?

[Omegaman 3.0]

1 hour ago, Omegaman 3.0 said:

I would be curious to know, if anyone has any thoughts about the statement below, and especially so, if you have some scriptural insight that would contradict what I say here in my summary statement:

I guess that was not clear enough. I am not hoping to see, what people can find on the web and then cut and paste. I was looking for people to write their own thoughts, and if they have scripture which contradicts what I laid out as a synopsis of what I believe, please post them. I can check websites and Google things myself.

[missmuffet]

8 minutes ago, Omegaman 3.0 said:

I guess that was not clear enough. I am not hoping to see, what people can find on the web and then cut and paste. I was looking for people to write their own thoughts, and if they have scripture which contradicts what I laid out as a synopsis of what I believe, please post them. I can check websites and Google things myself.

Are my own thoughts and opinions more important than scripture or what God says?

[Anonymous Aristotle]

16 minutes ago, MissTury said:

So then, you did not post that reply because you chose to, you just did some automated writing that God predestined and then just now, pulled your strings? I am not sure I am understanding you correctly, or, did I fairly represent your position?

Perhaps defining free will first would have helped this discussion.

Free Will : the power of acting without the constraint of necessity or fate; the ability to act at one's own discretion. 

Maybe what is hoped to be communicated as in the grasp of human choice is indeterminism. (the doctrine that not all events are wholly determined by antecedent causes.) And yet, scripture that relates God's will predetermining all things, including those who would be called to salvation through his grace and son, would then impact the antecedent factor. 

Then there is perhaps the idea of rather than free will, the human has free choice.  

But even that is not a true elective act on the part of the human , created in the image and likeness of God, that predetermined, predestined, all that he foreknew before he created humans or the world. 

The dominion, the sovereignty, of God, in his omniscient characteristic also, precludes our doing anything of our own free will. Meaning , outside his awareness or control. Because as we read also, all acts are judged by God who predestined, predetermined, and foreknew , us. 

So yes, God knew I would post this. And he knows my heart as I do.Just as he knows all things at all times everywhere forever and from beginning to end. Because all things are God. How then can any thing occur outside of God's gnosis? 

 

[Omegaman 3.0]

On 7/10/2017 at 2:44 PM, missmuffet said:

Are my own thoughts and opinions more important than scripture or what God says?

No, not at all, but I do not need you to tell me what God says, or what Got Questions says, nor do I need Got Questions, as fine a site as they are, to tell me what God says, unless . . . 

You or they notice something that I missed, which contradicts what I posted in my statement. If you care to address that, the topic of the thread, i am all ears! Thanks for the reply, and for taking the time to look at the thread.

[hmbld]

6 hours ago, Omegaman 3.0 said:

 

I believe in free will:

You are free to choose to do what you want to do,
but you are not free to choose what it is, that you want to do,
nor are you necessarily able, to do what you choose to do!

Thanks!

 

John 6:44 No man can come to Me unless the Father who hath sent Me draw him; and I will raise him up at the Last Day.

"can" does not mean "will".  This seems to indicate there is still a choice after being drawn?