The Mystery of Creation: Chapter 6: Limited Wills: The Free Will Paradox

The Free Will Paradox

                Now, at this point, some may say, “God knows the future.  You said that it only makes sense that the future is already written.  God exists forever throughout all time.  Therefore, like a video game, it has already been written and we are just walking through the story.  Like a video game, our destinies have a set path.  That’s what makes sense.  If God knows all then He must know the future and it is already written. 

                Therefore, isn’t that just like saying that God wrote the whole story and that He makes us do bad things and then punishes us for them?  After all, what choice does a character in a book or video game have but to obey the will of the writer or programmer?  If the character does what the writer makes them do and then is punished for it, how is the character to blame?  He/she had no choice but to do those terrible things because it was the will of the author who wrote them into existance.”

                For example, I created a character named Taleorith for my book series Carneian Saga: Sparks of Rebellion.  I made him a villain in my story.  Now, in my story, when he dies he will go to the Abyss, which is Hell.  He is evil.  Therefore, he must go to Hell.  However, who made him evil?  Was it Taleorith’s fault that I made him evil?  If he was a real person, would I be terrible for sending him to Hell?  How could I be a good creator if I first created him to be evil only to then punish him for being evil?

                This is deep!  However, we can still work this out.  I am confident that if we just reason this out, we will come to a logical conclusion.  However, please note that this has been something people have struggled with forever.  The Bible even addresses the issue in Romans 9, so we know it goes back that far and probably even farther than that.  It says in verse 17, “For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.”  Therefore, He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens.”  And in verse 19 it says, “You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault?  For who has resisted His will?”  But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God?  Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?”  Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?”

                Then in verse 22 it says, “What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory, even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?”

                I found this passage very interesting because it didn’t really answer the question in my mind.  It tells you simply to not question God.  Don’t ask why He sends people to Hell for crimes they commit that God wrote in their destiny beforehand.  Simply know that God is in charge and whoever He decides will go to Heaven will go to Heaven and whoever He decides will go to Hell will go to Hell.

                Please understand that I am not saying that this scripture is wrong nor am I saying that I find fault with the writer at all in his response.  There is always the possibility that God simply did not reveal the full truth to the writer and there is also the possibility that the writer knew everything there is to know about this but he did not feel that God wanted him to explain it all.  Maybe the people he was writing to simply couldn’t handle such knowledge and they might twist it or get it confused and it might mess up their lives.  Whatever the case, he makes a very good point.  God is supreme.  Ultimately, whether you can fully understand it or not, trust that He is the Sovereign God, ruler of all things.  He created everything and He has the full right to do whatever He really wants.  Even IF He truly wanted to be evil and mean and terrible and unjust, that’s up to Him.  I mean…after all…if He is truly unlimited, which we determined He must be…then who could truly ever question His motives and His purposes and His actions.

                And yet…what we will soon find out later in this mystery, there are lots of people, not just humans, who question God’s character and His fairness.  In fact, Satan himself, we will discover, has challenged God’s character, and anyone who challenges God’s character, who doubts that He is good and just…they are indeed more like Satan than God.  We will soon see why, so even if you disagree with me here, don’t quit reading.  It’ll all make sense eventually…I hope!

                Because of scriptures that clearly indicate free will, what we have today is division over this topic.  I believe God wants to provide an answer to this debate so that division can be undone.  God wants unity in His church.  He does not want us to be dividing over this type of issue.  The point of the above passages, and the writer’s response, was basically to say, “Trust God, people, that He is good and right.  If He casts people in Hell they deserve it and He is right in doing it.  His mind is higher than your mind.  He created all things.  You are the created.  He is the creator.  Trust the creator that He knows what He is doing and that He is right in doing it.  Even if it seems wrong to you and even if it hurts, just trust God.”

                This is totally true!  Again, you may not believe it right now, but hopefully by the end of this you will see.  When we don’t know something about God, when something in the Bible doesn’t make sense, this is the approach we should take: “I trust that, God, You are right.  It may not seem like it here with what I am reading or what someone is teaching me, but I trust that YOU, God, are right.  There must be a good reason for it that I just don’t understand.”

                For example, as a kid, I never could understand why God demanded that the Israelites slaughter everyone in Jericho including the women and children.  Later, as an adult, I realized why.  They were a truly wicked people.  Allow their children to live and those children will grow up to be like their fathers, and they will hate the Israelites and strike back against them, creating war and division and destruction.  It may seem horrible and harsh, but to leave an enemy’s family alive during war was to invite trouble, rebellion, dissension and the like later on.  Those women and children were just as wicked as their men were, and to let them live would have meant no end of grief for Israel.

                And God had other reasons for it as well!  God wanted Israel to be set apart from other nations.  He knew that if those people were kept alive they would tempt Israel to sin.  We see examples of this happening later in Judges when Israel failed to do as God commanded.  The people Israel let live, they rose up later and caused Israel to do evil. 

                Until God revealed this to me, though, I had to simply say, “Jesus, I’d like to understand this.  Please help me understand it.”  Then I continued to read scripture and pray about it until God revealed to me the reasoning.  He even revealed to me that He didn’t like giving the command either.  It grieved Him to tell Israel to slaughter all those people and wipe out the women and children as well.  However, for the greater good of all mankind, God had to give the order and Israel needed to carry it out, no matter how unpleasant.  This showed me that if you diligently seek the answer to something like this then God will give you the knowledge that you seek, as I believe He has given it to me.

                Here is what I believe God has revealed to me, then, about this whole issue of free will versus God’s justice:

                Many would say that a person really has no choice.  Your final destination, Heaven or Hell, is decided for you by God.  You, therefore, have no real choice.  Either you were made bad and will wind up in Hell or you were made good and you will wind up in Heaven.  You have no choice whatsoever.  They use the above passage in Romans 9 to support their argument.  They also use passages like John 15:16 which says, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you…” 

                Then there are others who debate that you have the ultimate choice in the matter.  You choose your fate.  God really doesn’t have a choice because of free will.  He has limited Himself in that He does not force you to make any choice.  You choose all things in life.  You decide your destiny.  After all, how can God be just and yet punish someone if He is making the person do bad things?  Again, a child should not be punished if the child’s parent is the one telling them to steal.  The parent should be punished, for the child is just obeying the parent and doesn’t know any better.  They site scriptures as well that clearly indicate that man has free will.  So which is it?  The Bible seems to indicate that God has predetermined, beforehand, who will be saved and go to Heaven and who will be condemned and go to Hell, but it also seems to clearly indicate that mankind CHOOSES whether or not to accept Christ and go to Heaven or reject Him and go to Hell.