Puppets?

The discussions on the forum continue unabated about subjects such as the origin of evil and the “free will.” In the past month an average of 47 messages per day were posted on the forum. The majority dealt with these issues.

Recently I read a message from someone who had compiled a list of Bible texts in which the word “willingly” occurs. That was a long list because the word appears no less than 40 times in the Bible! With that it is demonstrated that the word “willingly” is thoroughly Biblical. Yet there is a catch here… For to what extent does man have a free will? Is the free will of man absolute? Would God then not also have authority over man’s will? There is the catch! – for “the doctrine of free will” indeed entails this latter point. Let me therefore first mention a number of passages of Scripture where we read that God most certainly, truly does have authority over the will. No matter whose. Believer or unbeliever.

“…and a certain woman, by name Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, worshipping God, was hearing, whose heart the Lord did open, to attend to the things spoken by Paul;” (YLT)
Acts 16:14

“…for God it is who is working in you both the willing and the working for His good pleasure.”
Philippians 2:13

“The heart of man deviseth his way, And Jehovah establisheth his step.”
Proverbs 16:9

“Rivulets of waters is the heart of a king in the hand of Jehovah, Wherever He pleaseth, He inclineth it.”
Proverbs 21:1

“‘And I (=GOD) harden the heart of Pharaoh, and have multiplied My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt,”
Exodus 7:3

“And He (= the LORD) turneth their heart to hate His people, To conspire against His servants.”
Psalm 105:25

Did Lydia willingly pay attention to the things Paul had to say? Undoubtedly! Was Pharaoh willingly disobedient to God’s command? Undoubtedly! In both of their experiences there was no question of compulsion or anything of that kind. Nevertheless, it was God who in both cases worked upon the hearts of these people (i.e. opened or closed them). The point is namely that God has no need at all to use compulsion in order to bend man’s will. Just consider. There are two kinds of factors underlying every choice: external and internal factors. By external factors I mean our environment (in what part of the world do we live? in what age? which country? which social class? which religion? which family? which parents? which events? which school? which friends? which books? etc. etc.). By internal factors I especially mean our genes (thus hereditary traits) and thereby also our sex, intelligence, temperament, etc. Concerning virtually none of these factors does man have the slightest influence! Yet they do determine who we are, how we think, and thus also what we choose. “The free will of man” is a product of trillions of factors and influences together. Whether we like this or not. We did not make ourselves. That we would come to this humble acknowledgment! EVERYTHING that we have, who we are, and what we choose is determined by countless factors that only ONE Person has completely in His hand… GOD. Therefore the Bible says that even the heart of a mighty king (see above) is in His hand, like a little stream of water: He directs it to every place wherever He wills.

Once there was an atheist who, in the presence of an audience, clenched his fist, raised it upward, and shouted: “If God exists, let Him strike my hand down at this very moment.” At that same moment a small fly landed on the man’s nose, and as in a reflex he drove it away with his raised hand…

God did not need lightning or any other force to make the man lower his hand. A small fly was sufficient to cause the man’s hand to go down! That is “the free will” for an almighty GOD. People complain that an all-determining God makes them into puppets. That is because they do not want to realize that they are not the Maker but “only” the product. And that there is ONE who has ALL the strings in His hand. Precisely that is the guarantee that everything proceeds “according to the counsel of His will” and that one day every tongue (not: lip!) shall confess: Jesus is Lord!
To the glory of God the Father!

Delen: