FREEWILL (NOT)
JEREMIAH 10:23 I know, O Lord, that a man’s life is not his own; it is not for man to direct his steps.
So do you really believe we have freewill, I did too until I researched the bible.
LUKE 22:3 Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve.
Do you think that Judas chose for Satan to enter him? Or what about Saul (in 1 Samuel)?
1 Samuel 18: 10
The next day an evil spirit from God came forcefully upon Saul.
Also notice that the evil spirit is from God.
JOHN 5:19 Jesus gave them this answer:
“I tell you the truth,
the Son can do nothing by himself;
he can do only what he sees his Father doing,
because whatever the Father does the Son also does.
Did not even Jesus have free will?
JOHN 6:43-45 “Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus answered.
44 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him,
and I will raise him up at the last day.
45 It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’
Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me.
How can we have free will if the Bible says "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him"? Do you still believe you made a free will decision or that it is up to you?
JOHN 6:64
64 Yet there are some of you who do not believe.”
For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him.
JOHN 6:65
65 He went on to say, This is why I told you that
no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him.”
If "No One" can come to Jesus unless the Father draws him, then how can that be free will,
God must first draw (drag) you before you can even begin to think about coming to Jesus.
JOHN 15:16 -17
“You did not choose me,
but I chose you and
appointed you to go and
bear fruit-- fruit that will last.
Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name
17 This is my command: Love each other.
No free will in this scripture. You and I did not choose Jesus, He chose us. And He chose us to go and bear fruit. No just any fruit but fruit that will last. And our reward for producing fruit that will last is "the Father will give us whatever we ask in my (Jesus Christ) name". And how do you think we are to bear this fruit that will last? I think the answer is in the next verse when Jesus says "This is my command: Love each other."
ACTS 17:24-31
The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth
and does not live in temples built by hands.
25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything,
because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.
26 From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and
he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.
27 God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and
find him, though he is not far from each one of us.
28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’
As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’
29 “Therefore since we are God’s offspring,
we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone-
- an image made by man’s design and skill.
30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance,
but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.
31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with
justice by the man he has appointed.
He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.
ROMANS 8:6-7
The mind of sinful man is death,
but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace;
7 the sinful mind is hostile to God.
It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.
The mind of sinful man is death. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so.
No...no free will here either. So if we don't have free will, why are we held accountable for "every idle word"?
ROMANS 9:14- 16
What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all!
15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and
I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.“
16 It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy
Wow, "It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy"
ROMANS 9:17
. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose,
that I might display my power in you and
that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”
How many believe Pharaoh will burn in hell?
ROMANS 9:18
18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and
he hardens whom he wants to harden.
God harden Pharaoh's heart, Pharaoh was prepared to release God's people but God harden Pharaoh's heart so that he wouldn't release them yet! Pharaoh probably believed he made the decision on his own.
But actually he obeyed God! God used Pharaoh to display his wrath and make his power known.
EXODUS 9: 16
But I have raised you up for this very purpose,
that I might show you my power and
that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.
EXODUS 10: 1-2
Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart
and the hearts of his officials so that I may perform these miraculous signs of mine
among them that you may tell your children and grandchildren how I dealt harshly
with Egyptians and how I performed my signs among them, and that you may know
that I am the LORD.
ROMANS 9:19-23
19 One of you will say to me; ”Then why does God still blame us?
For who resists his will? 20 But who are you, O man, to talk back to God?
“Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?”
21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay
some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?
ROMANS 11:25
I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers,
so that you may not be conceited:
Israel has experienced a hardening in part until
the full number of the Gentiles has come in.
God has harden Israel in part. But only until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.
Free will?
ROMANS 11:25
26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written:
“The deliverer will come from Zion;
he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.
Well now we know "All Israel will be saved" because we sent all our tithe to the ministry, I think not.
Maybe because of free will and they all just decided on their own to turn from godlessness, I think not.
They will all be saved because "The deliverer will come and HE will turn godlessness away from Jacob."
ROMANS 11:32
For God has bound all men over to disobedience
so that he may have mercy on them all.
We have all been bound over to disobedience. None of us can obey God, because we have been bound to disobedience. I see no free will in this verse. Mercy sounds real good.
2 CORINTHIANS 4:4
The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers,
so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ,
who is the image of God.
Unbelievers have been blinded by the god of this age. This doesn't say sinners, it says unbelievers! Are you an unbeliever. Do you not believe what the Bible says God will do.
EPHESIANS 2:1-5
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,
2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and
of the rulers of the kingdom of the air,
the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
3 All of us also lived among them at one time,
gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and
following its desires and thoughts.
Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.
4 But because of his great love for us,
God, who is rich in mercy,
5 made us alive with Christ
even when we were dead in transgressions--
it is by grace you have been saved.
It is by grace we have been saved even though we were dead in transgressions!
EPHESIANS 2:8-9
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--
and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--
9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
A gift of God, so that no one can boast.
So no, your free will did not save you. You did not make the choice to turn to Jesus. You did not freely choose anything. You were drawn (dragged) by God and you were given the free gift of grace by God, not by your works (free will?).. And he did this so that No One can boast "I did it". And yet if you believe in free will you are saying exactly that.
PHILIPPIANS 2:13
for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.
God is working in you to will and act according to what he needs to happen.
And he is doing the same thing in everyone else, too. Even in those that we would consider sinners.
EPHESIANS 1: 4
For he chose us in him before the creation of the world
to be holy and blameless in his sight.
In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ,
in accordance with his pleasure and will-to the praise of his glorious grace,
which he has freely given us in the One he loves.
EPHESIANS 1: 11
In him we were also chosen,
having been predestined
according to the plan of
him who works out everything
in conformity with the purpose
of his will ,
in order that we,
who were the first to hope in Christ,
might be for the praise of his glory.
And you also were included in Christ
when you heard the word of truth,
the gospel of your salvation.
COLOSSIANS 2:13-14
When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature,
God made you alive with Christ.
He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code,
with it regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us;
he took it away, nailing it to the cross.
He forgave all of us our sins, even though we were yet sinners. God made us alive with Christ.
He forgave everyone all their sins while they were still sinning, before they were even aware they were sinners.
2 TIMOTHY 1:9
God, who saves us and called us to a holy life--
not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace
This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time,
Grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time! Had nothing to do with any of our desires or effort. Still thinking you have free will. Lets see what else we can't control.
JAMES 3:6-12
The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body.
It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
7 All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and
have been tamed by man, 8 but no man can tame the tongue
. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men,
who have been made in God’s likeness. 10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing.
My brothers, this should not be.
PROVERBS16:1-2
To man belong the plans of the heart, but from the LORD comes the reply of the tongue.
2 All a man’s ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the LORD.
PROVERBS 16:9
In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.
Proverbs 16:33
The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD.
Proverbs 20:24
A man's steps are directed by the LORD.
How then can anyone understand his own way?
Looks like we can not control the tongue. Which means you can not control if you confess Jesus as Lord unless you have been drawn (dragged) by God to do so.
We cannot determine or direct our steps or our decisions, both of which are needed to if you are to use freewill as we define it.
MATTHEW 15: 18-20
But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart,
and these make a man unclean.
For out of the heart come
evil thoughts,
murder,
adultery,
sexual immorality,
theft,
false testimony,
slander.
These are what make a man unclean
but eating with unwashed hands does not make him unclean.
Jeremiah 17:9
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.
Who can understand it?
I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind,
to reward a man according to his conduct,
according to what his deeds deserve.
Romans 7: 14-25
We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.
I do not understand what I do.
For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.
And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.
As it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me,
that is, in my sinful nature.
For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.
For what I do is not the good I want to do;
no the evil I do not want to do --this I keep on doing.
Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it,
but it is sin living in me that does it.
So I find this law at work: When I want to do good,
evil is right there with me.
For in my inner being I delight in God's law,
but I see another law at work in the members of my body,
waging war against the law of my mind and
making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.
What a wretched man I am.
Who will rescue me from this body of death?
Thanks be to God-- through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law,
but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
Paul says of our own we can not even control "What I do"
ROMANS 8:1
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,
because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life
set me free from the law of sin and death.
Romans 8:9
You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature
but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you.
You are controlled either by 'the sinful nature' or the 'Spirit of God'.
ISAIAH 46: 10-13
I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come.
I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.
From the east I summon a bird of prey;
from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose.
What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do
Listen to me, you stubborn-hearted, you who are far from righteousness.
I am bringing my righteousness near, it is not far away;
and my salvation will not be delayed.
I will grant salvation to Zion, my splendor to Israel.
ISAIAH 45:22-25
Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth;
for I am God, and there is no other.
By myself I have sworn, my mouth has uttered in all integrity
a word that will not be revoked:
Before me every knee will bow;
by me every tongue will swear.
they will say of me, "In the LORD alone are righteousness and strength.
All who have raged against him will come to him and be put to shame.
But in the LORD all the descendants of Israel will be found righteous and will exult.
ISAIAH 33:22
For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver,
the LORD is our king; it is he who will save us.
God is the one who will save us, He is the judge, lawgiver, king and Savior.
ISAIAH 42: 23-25
23 Which of you will listen to this or pay close attention in time to come?
24 Who handed Jacob over to become loot, and Israel to the plunderers?
Was it not the LORD , against whom we have sinned?
25 So he poured out on them his burning anger, the violence of war.
It enveloped them in flames, yet they did not understand;
it consumed them, but they did not take it to heart.
I hope by now you will at least consider the possibility that just maybe you don't have free will. There are tons of scriptures in the Bible that say we don't. Check it out for yourself.
Ecclesiastes 7:13-14
Consider what God has done:
Who can straighten what he has made crooked?
When times are good, be happy;
but when times are bad, consider:
God has made the one as well as the other.
Therefor, a man cannot discover anything about his future.
PSALM 54:6-7
I will sacrifice a freewill offering to you;
I will praise your name, O LORD, for it is good.
For he has delivered me from all my troubles,
and my eyes have looked in triumph on my foes.
PSALM 53:2-3
God looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if
there are any who understand, any who seek God.
Everyone has turned away, they have together become corrupt;
there is no one who does good, not even one.
So what's the deal? Are we just mindlessly going through life until we die? I don't think so.
God is our Father in Heaven! Our fathers (dads) on earth do not allow us as children to have our own free will. We are not allowed to come and go as we please, eat our desert before our meal, etc. You may or may not be given choices in the matter, depends on what it is. Oh and we are punished for not obeying.
Galatians 4:6
Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts,
the Spirit who call out, "Abba, Father."
So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son,
God has made you also an heir.
We are the children of the Most High God and as such He directs our path as any good father would do for his children. We are rebellious children! I know you think I'm just talking about sinners here, but I'm not, I'm talking about all of us, everyone who has ever been born on this earth with the exception of Jesus.
(and not to confuse matters but also Enoch. Jesus died for our sins, Enoch was no more, because God took him).
With no free will then what do we have?
Deuteronomy 30: 19-20
This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you
that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses.
Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and
that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him.
For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore
to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
Deuteronomy 11:26-
See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse--
Proverbs 19:21
The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.
Proverbs 19:20
From the fruit of his mouth a man's stomach is filled; with the harvest from his lips he is satisfied.
Proverbs 12:14
From the fruit of his lips a man is filled with good things as surely as the work of his hands rewards him.
Okay, so if we will eat the fruit of our mouth lets explore what the Bible says about the mouth, tongue and speaking.
What Does The Bible Say About The Tongue?
I want to take a moment and share with you the prayer Jesus prayed in John 17
First Jesus prays for himself,
then for those God gave him,
for those who will believe and
then for the world.
“Father, the time has come.
Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.
2 For you granted him authority over all people
that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him.
3 Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God,
and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
4 I have brought you glory on earth
by completing the work you gave me to do.
5And now, Father, glorify me in your presence
with the glory I had with you before the world began.
6-19 FOR THOSE YOU GAVE ME
6 I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world.
They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word.
7 Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you.
8 For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them.
They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me.
9 I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours.
10 All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them.
11 I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you.
Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name-- the name you gave me.
-- so that they may be one as we are one.
12 While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me.
None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.
13 I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world,
so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.
14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them,
for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.
15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but
that you protect them from the evil one.
16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.
17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.
18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.
19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.
20-24 FOR THOSE WHO WILL BELIEVE
20 My prayer is not for them alone.
I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message,
21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.
May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one:
23I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know
that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
24 Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am and
to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
25-26 FOR THE WORLD 25 Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26 I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them
As you can see he didn't forget anybody.
Deuteronomy 30: 19-20
This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you
that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses.
Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and
that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him.
For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore
to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
