much needed talk (part 3; are humans truly "free"?)

I always found it amazing that when it comes to plants is that it appears that they grow how they want, but thats not entirely true. When I was in grade school we were given an experiment to do at home over a weeks time at two separate points in the school year. The first was to grow a plant and I personally found a couple interesting things about this; one, that a plant will not grow unless it is watered, given light and nurtured by the planter the plant will not grow and if it does it will last long. Its amazing that the perception that we have in accordance with plants and how they grow is a misunderstood perception that they grow how they want to.

For me to make a complete likeness to humans is a impaired imagery but a necessary one in the proper understanding of there being an outside influence upon humans. I bring this up as necessary cause most think and believe that God doesn't know our steps before we take them but must look into the future to see what we will do. First this limits God as Omniscient (all-knowing), second it makes God equal with man and man equal with God in the understanding of what is going to happen. God would then become less then God but scripture says that "even before a word on on my tongue behold, O Lord, you know it" (Ps. 139:4) and scripture even says God knows our path and the way we would walk (Ps. 142:3).

What an amazing concept that the God who created all things knows all that will come to pass and even causes them to happen. The prophet Isaiah says that "I am the Lord, and there is no other; Beside me there is no God. I will gird you though you have not known me; that men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun that there is no one beside Me. I am the Lord, and there is no other, the one forming light and creating darkness, Causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the Lord who does all these things" (Isa. 45:5-7). Think about this, Imagine a bird that has a broken wing and the bird really wants to fly but the wing has made it unable to fly, but again the bird really wants to fly but again the wing makes it unable. No matter what the desire of the bird is, there is something outside the bird making it unable to fly. The inability of the bird keeps the bird from flying not is will, just as humans may have eternity set in their heart  and long in some way to worship "god", they are unable to seek God (Rom. 3:10-11). The very nature by which man is bound makes them unable to choose God, but only to choose that which they obey (Rom. 6:16).

This brings up the question of does man have a "free" will? I will say that man does makes choices through out each day he walks, but to say that man is "free" in choices as he/she goes throughout each day is absurd and a violation of the doctrine of man and sound theology about the sovereignty of God (to which I will talk directly on at another time). To understand who man really is we must put our personal experiences in the back seat for a second. This is not to exclude them but most look at humanity and see people do good things to which I see the same sometimes, but that would only give people a half hearted look at the nature of man. First this doesn't get to the heart of man (where the nature lies), second we only see what people put off as who they are and third at the heart of every man is pride (this comes in different forms and can't be judged by the human eye).

In the end is all comes down to who man is! The doctrine of man today is looked at in just a marred image of God and not "dead" as scripture says (Eph. 2:1-3), having a depraved heart (Jer. 17:9) and a depraved mind (Eph. 4:17). For this to be lost leaves us lost about man and all we can do is speculate as to man's ability to do good which scripture does not speculate and says very clearly "there is no one who is good" (Rom 3:10) and Jesus also says "Why do you call me good, no one is good but God alone" (Mark 10:18). Granted all I say is previous to the work of the Holy Spirit in regeneration of man. I fully believe man has a new nature after regeneration to which I will talk about at a later point in this blog.

For now though we must stand on what God says in His word about mankind in that we are a slave to sin and has the inability to choose God, for Jesus himself says "You did not choose me, but I chose you" (John 15:16) and "that the intent of man's heart is evil from his youth" (Gen. 8:21). This is a very foundational understanding about man and who man is and must never be lost or changed; much love in our Lord's name!