Question said:
Jeremiah 13:23
Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.
Jeremiah 17:9
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
Matthew 6:27
Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
Matthew 5:36-37
36 Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. 37 But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.
James 4:13-15
13 Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: 14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
15 For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.
Romans 7:14-25
14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.
17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Those bes but some examples; there bes others.Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.
Jeremiah 17:9
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
Matthew 6:27
Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
Matthew 5:36-37
36 Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. 37 But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.
James 4:13-15
13 Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: 14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
15 For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.
Romans 7:14-25
14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.
17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The question raised bes interesting in that an example follows, one of starting a new routine to which one bes not accustomed. Begging the question theoretically, of course theoretically anyone can begin a new routine ... IF. And that IF encompasses WAY more than just whether they want to or have sufficient motivation to do so, but those bes good places to begin. Without the desire, without the motivation, where shall these be obtained to provide impetus or focus? Without the facets that have enabled person X to make that selection -- including but not limited to his own proclivities both born in him and bred in him through the combination of things we call fate, luck, circumstances, grace, and the positive and negative reinforcements received throughout his life from persons of influence or power over himself as well as from Life itself as an Instructor -- how will person Y ever make the same selection?
Again we come back to the original dilemma: one may choose, but one cannot choose what one will choose. In other words one has no ability to make a choice outside of what one would choose given one's innate configuratus. Who wills the will to will what it wills? Deux ex machina? The notion of "free" will -- or even will in itself -- breaks down and becomes absurd where one realises he cannot step outside the system in order to affect the system. He bes not objectively rigging his will from without, causing it to will as HE might choose, but rather, it bes made up already of a black box full of determined, pre-determined, and indeterminate factors too innumerable to name and catalogue or to work with effectually. So while you "will" something, wiggling majestic, what exactly wills your will to will what it wills, seeing as you yourself bes trapped therein and cannot will other than YOU will?
Maybe there bes some profound reason for praying "Not my will but THINE be done." Ya think?
If we could simply will whatsoever we pleased whenever we pleased, we would never make a single mistake unless we willed to do so. The worship of will puts us on extremely dangerous and heretical ground. Everything depends upon the right action of the will? Certainly -- provided we bes talksy about GOD'S will. Of a truth everything depends upon the good and right(eous) action of HIS will. There bes only one free will in the universe. God's.
