Free Will and Choice

Where do the ideas of free will and choice come from? Theologically, is there a reason for us to believe that we are free to be you and me?

It would seem so, at least in some ways.

• It starts back in the garden of Eden. Eve is walking around naked (Adam can't be too far behind) and gets talked into eating a special apple, choosing to ignore God's warning about such eating and instead following the bad advice of the serpant. In the Biblical account of this first temptation and consequent sin, it appears that Eve and her husband could choose to obey God, or not. They chose the latter, with severe consequences (Eve started wearing clothes, among other things).
• In Deuteronomy chapter 30, Moses is giving Israel a final pep talk before they are to occupy the land of Canaan. Some of Moses final words to the people of God are, "This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."
• Moses' protege Joshua encourages more of the same in the 24th chapter of Joshua -- "Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."
• Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, gives this advice to his son -- "Since they [sinners] hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the LORD, since they would not accept my advice and spurned my rebuke, they will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes. For the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them; but whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm."

Interestingly, each of these examples is from the Old Testament. If you perform a word search for "choose," most of the choosing is done by God, not be man. The phrase "free will," of course, does not appear in the Bible. But from these verses, it would seem that man is sometimes presented with the decision to choose God or not. An affirmative choice leads to life, the alternative to destruction.

These choices above are specific to moral decisions. Obviously, we make many choices everyday that are not specifically a choice for God or against Him. What we wear, what we eat, our route to work, and a hundred other matters of personal taste and expression. Does God care about these things?

In my next post I want to highlight a few of the things we don't seem to be able to choose.

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