DO We Have Free Will?

[sunlover1]

Is it God's will for me to sin?
Do I sin.

I'm looking for Scripture., but more than that, I'm looking for the Scripture
to be "rightly divided" as well.


I do sometimes sin, much as I hate to, much as it makes me sad.
It makes me sad because I don't believe my Father is blessed or glorified when I sin...

 

[MoneyGuy]

Of course we do.

My wife says I am allowed to say this.

 

[Rubiks]

Yes, we do. Even Calvinists believe we have some degree of free will

 

[RisingSpirit]

I don't remember what made me will the things I do. It stirred up in my spirit by the Spirit before I recognize them. Once I recognize them, I don't call it free cause I can't freely remember how I thought of doing things

 

[sunlover1]

Of course we do.

My wife says I am allowed to say this.

LOL
Nice to meet you.
Did wifey pick out that interesting screenname or is
it some sort of vocational descriptive moniker?

Yes, we do. Even Calvinists believe we have some degree of free will

Oops, I should have named it, "Is it God's Will for me to sin"
I had a conversation on another board where folks were certain
that God DOES will us to sin sometimes in order to bring
about His Will.
I am sort of familiar with Calvinism, but I was hoping to stick
more to Scriptural arguments in this thread if possible, Rubiks.

I don't remember what made me will the things I do. It stirred up in my spirit by the Spirit before I recognize them. Once I recognize them, I don't call it free cause I can't freely remember how I thought of doing things

Interesting POV RisingSpirit

 

[Ronald]

Do we have free will?

The potential of making the wrong choice had to be given to Adam and Eve. But the wages of sin is death and so there is a cost. If there wasn't a cost for our sins in this life or after we die, then we would be free to do what we wanted.
Jesus paid the price for our sins, so He bought us, we are His ... a slave to God. And in Christ, we are free to do His will and thankfully free of a future judgment of future sins. He set us free from the bondage of sin. Those who are not saved are slaves to Satan, that doesn't sound free, temporarily maybe, but then they have to pay in the end.
The other aspect of our will is that there are spiritual forces influencing our will to do good and evil --we are not free from those influences, so your will is not so independant. It has God guiding you and nudging you to do right and then Satan deceiving you and derailing your life.

 

[sunlover1]

The potential of making the wrong choice had to be given to Adam and Eve. But the wages of sin is death and so there is a cost. If there wasn't a cost for our sins in this life or after we die, then we would be free to do what we wanted.
Jesus paid the price for our sins, so He bought us, we are His ... a slave to God. And in Christ, we are free to do His will and thankfully free of a future judgment of future sins. He set us free from the bondage of sin. Those who are not saved are slaves to Satan, that doesn't sound free, temporarily maybe, but then they have to pay in the end.
The other aspect of our will is that there are spiritual forces influencing our will to do good and evil --we are not free from those influences, so your will is not so independant. It has God guiding you and nudging you to do right and then Satan deceiving you and derailing your life.

Very nice.
Thanks for that great post!
Do you believe that it's ever God's will for me to sin?
Don't feel obligated to answer, just wondered.
Personally I don't believe it.
But I've been wrong before.

 

[Gregory Thompson]

if we hadn't scared off all the ancient tradition people one of them might point out that free will OR predestination confusion did not exist until the reformation . so just some food for thought. if the scripture speaks of both . it's okay to believe both

and let it be a mystery

 

[Ronald]

Very nice.
Thanks for that great post!

You are welcome.

Do you believe that it's ever God's will for me to sin?

Never. He allows evil in the world for a purpose. He knows we are going to stumble and blunder through life. We just need to get up and focus on things above and follow Jesus the best way we can.
We can't prevent our kids from every single error. We have to let them stumble and fall and learn from their mistakes, just like God wants us to.

 

[Rev Randy]

if we hadn't scared off all the ancient tradition people one of them might point out that free will OR predestination confusion did not exist until the reformation . so just some food for thought. if the scripture speaks of both . it's okay to believe both

and let it be a mystery

Your not that scary, Michael. I'm still here. Yes we have that free will. We sin even though we know not to sin.

 

[Frogster]

the very fact the law came in, shows free will, cursed if they don't keep it, they made a choice. behave keep land, don't, no land.


joshua 23:14 “And now I am about to go the way of all the earth, and you know in your hearts and souls, all of you, that not one word has failed of all the good things[a] that the Lord your God promised concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one of them has failed. 15 But just as all the good things that the Lord your God promised concerning you have been fulfilled for you, so the Lord will bring upon you all the evil things, until he has destroyed you from off this good land that the Lord your God has given you, 16 if you transgress the covenant of the Lord your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them. Then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and you shall perish quickly from off the good land that he has given to you.”

 

[Gregory Thompson]

Your not that scary, Michael. I'm still here. Yes we have that free will. We sin even though we know not to sin.

i guess there's confusion over "what that means"

but the energy in your phrase "free will" seems reasonable.

like a capacity to just do whatever coupled with a sense of reason and concern for others .

quite often the energy i read is like the "sin within me that sins" and i hardly see the edification in it.

 

[Jipsah]

Is it God's will for me to sin?

Kind of a silly question, isn't it?

And yes, you demonstrate your Free Will every time you sin.

And of course, you could use your Free Will to forbear from sinning and be as righteous as our Lord.

Give it a shot and let us know how it turns out.

 

[Jipsah]

if the scripture speaks of both . it's okay to believe both

Scripture have much to say about Free Will?

 

[Ave Maria]

Of course we have free will. When you are deciding what you want to eat for lunch you either say yes to a certain item or no to it. The very fact that you are able to do this is proof that you have free will. If we had no free will we would basically be robots that only did what we were programmed to do.

 

[Jake255]

Kind of a silly question, isn't it?

And yes, you demonstrate your Free Will every time you sin.

And of course, you could use your Free Will to forbear from sinning and be as righteous as our Lord.

Give it a shot and let us know how it turns out.

Good post!

 

[Gregory Thompson]

Scripture have much to say about Free Will?

Yes . We have the mind of Christ. therefore we should use it . we have been born again, given new life, a new heart ..

but what is usually referred to as "free will" has nothing to do with what the bible describes as "freedom"

 

[sunlover1]

if we hadn't scared off all the ancient tradition people

Shame on ya, scaring off old folks

one of them might point out that free will OR predestination confusion did not exist until the reformation .

Point?

so just some food for thought. if the scripture speaks of both . it's okay to believe both

and let it be a mystery

Scripture speaks of both?
Thank you Michael.

You are welcome.

Never. He allows evil in the world for a purpose. He knows we are going to stumble and blunder through life. We just need to get up and focus on things above and follow Jesus the best way we can.
We can't prevent our kids from every single error. We have to let them stumble and fall and learn from their mistakes, just like God wants us to.

I agree.

Your not that scary, Michael. I'm still here. Yes we have that free will. We sin even though we know not to sin.

Thank you RevRandy
Glad you're not scared!

the very fact the law came in, shows free will, cursed if they don't keep it, they made a choice. behave keep land, don't, no land.


joshua 23:14 “And now I am about to go the way of all the earth, and you know in your hearts and souls, all of you, that not one word has failed of all the good things[a] that the Lord your God promised concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one of them has failed. 15 But just as all the good things that the Lord your God promised concerning you have been fulfilled for you, so the Lord will bring upon you all the evil things, until he has destroyed you from off this good land that the Lord your God has given you, 16 if you transgress the covenant of the Lord your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them. Then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and you shall perish quickly from off the good land that he has given to you.”

There he is!
The grace guy
Hey!

 

[sunlover1]

Kind of a silly question, isn't it?

Evidently it's not silly at all.
Some folks believe that we don't have free will.
Thought by now you'd have heard of them

And yes, you demonstrate your Free Will every time you sin.

And of course, you could use your Free Will to forbear from sinning and be as righteous as our Lord.

Weren't you baptist before?

Give it a shot and let us know how it turns out.

We all know how it turns out, it's in the Book.
Personally, I NEED the mercy and grace of God.

 

[granpa]

freewhim is an illusion which is why you should not judge others when they err
but if you err you should expect to receive correction.