Can We Really Exercise Free Will?
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The gospel is foolishness to the natural man, since he can neither accept nor comprehend the spiritual things of God. It is impossible for his incurably wicked heart to grow the seed of God’s Word into the good fruit of faith while he is captive to the will of the devil. Along with the rest of the world who does not know God, he is blinded to the truth and under the power and influence of Satan, rendered incapable of submitting to or obeying God, with Whom he is inherently hostile toward in his mind, for he craves what is contrary to the Spirit. He suppresses the truth in unrighteousness, refusing to come into the light because he is a slave to sin, a lover of darkness, defined as darkness itself, and his deeds are evil.
Cheers GWH and so hope you mean that for real, sure you can understand my suspicions at this moment but hopefully, they'll soon be gone.
Ah! One doesn't need free will for choice and intention, God knows what's in our hearts and minds, he holds us accountable for them too. Which is absolutely right in my opinion.
Ah! One doesn't need free will for choice and intention, God knows what's in our hearts and minds, he holds us accountable for them too. Which is absolutely right in my opinion.
It is unfortunate perhaps that so many who claim to believe the Bible are so really absolutely clueless about the difference between the natural man and the spiritual man. Their total lack of discernment in this regard is made abundantly clear when they repeatedly ascribe to the former what is only true of the latter. Some claim (as we just saw) that the things said of the natural man do not even apply to all men prior to regeneration! Perhaps they feel they belong in some special group? What ever it is, they reject the words of Jesus Christ and a lot of the Bible on this subject while making their false claims.
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Since the other link concerning "free will" was mainly from the perspective of psychology and brain science, here's another from philosophy which just from the entry statements has shown me in the past why I typically avoid the phrase "free will" unless I define it narrowly in an attempt to state what the actual choice is that we want to discuss.
Free Will (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
So, to the OP, "can we really exercise free will?":
Yet here we are millennia later having joined into the debate with secular philosophy, assumed their language and all the baggage of the unanchored to God discussion trying to assert God into the talk.
Yet when I read God's Text, He seems quite clearly to have taken to Himself language such as righteousness and holiness, good and bad, sin, etc., which He defines in His Word while mostly setting aside the Greek philosophical reasoning and barely even using the word "moral" which stems from a word which, again as I recall, was coined by Cicero before the time of Christ and thus readily available for use when the NC was written, but God didn't use it in any way that seems that meaningful.
Moral of the story for me has been to set aside as much of this philosophical baggage as possible and just discuss Biblical things with Biblical words. It's difficult by this point, but not impossible.
What's impossible is trying to make sense of the phrase "free will" unless we define it ourselves for our purposes.
Free Will (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
So, to the OP, "can we really exercise free will?":
- Please define "free will"
- Since at least one or maybe more proposed definitions have been rejected by some, is there a definition that can be agreed upon?
- Is this a discussion of science, philosophy, or since it's posted on a Bible discussion forum, does it concern something specific within theology and if so, what is the specific question theologically?
Yet here we are millennia later having joined into the debate with secular philosophy, assumed their language and all the baggage of the unanchored to God discussion trying to assert God into the talk.
Yet when I read God's Text, He seems quite clearly to have taken to Himself language such as righteousness and holiness, good and bad, sin, etc., which He defines in His Word while mostly setting aside the Greek philosophical reasoning and barely even using the word "moral" which stems from a word which, again as I recall, was coined by Cicero before the time of Christ and thus readily available for use when the NC was written, but God didn't use it in any way that seems that meaningful.
Moral of the story for me has been to set aside as much of this philosophical baggage as possible and just discuss Biblical things with Biblical words. It's difficult by this point, but not impossible.
What's impossible is trying to make sense of the phrase "free will" unless we define it ourselves for our purposes.
What you mean is that was possibly the first time it became part of a discipline. When i say possibly, the only history i know which is immutable, is contained in the Bible. As a keen historian, i can tell you for a fact secular history often turns out to be false/inaccurate and needs revision.
Debate and discussion aren't skills of yours currently, you're yet another who thinks whatever you believe is, well, Gospel. I'm very open minded and love discussion, have often learned something new and useful through it.
You're probably a lot younger than me, think most people become more laid back and open minded as we age.
Debate and discussion aren't skills of yours currently, you're yet another who thinks whatever you believe is, well, Gospel. I'm very open minded and love discussion, have often learned something new and useful through it.
You're probably a lot younger than me, think most people become more laid back and open minded as we age.
"I'm very open minded and love discussion"
"for a fact secular history often turns out to be false/inaccurate and needs revision."
Only God can act and determine all outcomes of His action.
Agree.
No debate/discussion as I already stated.
"for a fact secular history often turns out to be false/inaccurate and needs revision."
Only God can act and determine all outcomes of His action.
Agree.
No debate/discussion as I already stated.
Going to play chess too now, it's one of my daily essentials, so probably won't immediately answer comments for a while.
The Biblical concept of will is clearly delineated in the differences made between the natural man and the spiritual man, but those who support the unBiblical notion of the natural man being free to choose to believe aside from Jesus setting them free lack the spiritual discernment required to accept what the Bible actually says on the matter. There are also quite a few Pelagian heretics among FWers.
Some of these FWers even prefer to blaspheme God rather than admit what the Bible actually says.
Some of these FWers even prefer to blaspheme God rather than admit what the Bible actually says.
