A Fresh Call to Faithfulness in Our Free Will Baptist Heritage

[Armchair Apologist]

Did God honor Noah's free-will not to go to Nineveh or Saul's free-will to go to Damascus to punish Christians?

I believe you meant Jonah but good point nonetheless! If you are Christ's he will not honor your "free will" to be disobedient or to bring dishonor to him!

However, when we look at Saul's conversion, do we see anything remotely pertaining to "free will" aside from God literally changing his "will?" I am certain that Paul wasn't complaining that God had violated his "free will" here!

 

[Ascetic X]

I believe you meant Jonah but good point nonetheless! If you are Christ's he will not honor your "free will" to be disobedient or to bring dishonor to him!

However, when we look at Saul's conversion, do we see anything remotely pertaining to "free will" aside from God literally changing his "will?" I am certain that Paul wasn't complaining that God had violated his "free will" here!

God does honor our free will, but is not pleased with the sin we may commit when we exercise our free will.

Demons do not honor free will, they possess and force individuals to do bad things.

When God does something to get our attention, He is not violating our free will.

God lets us suffer the consequences of sin, so we will be repulsed and return to Him.

God is honored when we obey Him by our free will.

Satan cannot accuse God of forcing people to obey Him.

 

[Wesley Briggman]

So, it is not a lack of free will that is involved, it is God doing things to thwart or divert a free will action.

Can you share any scripture saying God gave man free will?

 

[Ascetic X]

Can you share any scripture saying God gave man free will?

Every verse that commands people to do something.

Every verse that commands people to not do something.

Every verse that talks about choice or choosing.

God would receive no glory or honor if people were robots who are forced to obey God.


Joshua 24:15

And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

 

[Ben1445]

Did God honor Noah's free-will not to go to Nineveh…?

That is correct. Noah was given a pass on that one and they had to look for a floater to do the job.

Sorry I couldn’t resist.


Jonah is a bit of a different scenario. We see Jonah’s free will in that he determined that he would not go and God made him willing though inwardly resentful. But as a prophet of God, the option is not Jonah’s. What would your superiors have done to you if you ever went the opposite direction of where you were told to go with the intention of not doing the given job?
If you were told to leave Texas and go represent your company in California, and you decided to go to the Outer Banks of North Carolina on company time, what would you expect to happen?

 

[Ben1445]

I believe you meant Jonah but good point nonetheless! If you are Christ's he will not honor your "free will" to be disobedient or to bring dishonor to him!

However, when we look at Saul's conversion, do we see anything remotely pertaining to "free will" aside from God literally changing his "will?" I am certain that Paul wasn't complaining that God had violated his "free will" here!

But with Paul, he wanted to serve the Lord and didn’t know who He was. This is not, as you say against his will. It is a correction of Saul’s mistaken belief.

 

[Ben1445]

Can you share any scripture saying God gave man free will?

Romans 9:16
So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.

Salvation is not a product of the person who wills to be saved. We could not will the Saviour into the world to be our sacrifice. But that does not change the fact that we have a will that is exercised to come to salvation.

Acts 26:28
Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.

With no will, what that actually means is, God almost used Paul to bring someone to Christ, but then God rejected the call on behalf of Agrippa so that he would not be saved.


2 Corinthians 5:11
Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.

 

[Ben1445]

Can you share any scripture saying God gave man free will?

Matthew 23:37
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!

“Will” conjugated

Indicative​

presentⓘ
I	will
you	will
he, she, it	will
we	will
you	will
they	will

simple pastⓘ
I	would
you	would
he, she, it	would
we	would
you	would
they	would

 

[Armchair Apologist]

God does honor our free will, but is not pleased with the sin we may commit when we exercise our free will.

Demons do not honor free will, they possess and force individuals to do bad things.

When God does something to get our attention, He is not violating our free will.

God lets us suffer the consequences of sin, so we will be repulsed and return to Him.

God is honored when we obey Him by our free will.

Satan cannot accuse God of forcing people to obey Him.

If you wanted to exercise your "Free Will," jump off a cliff and end your life and three or four big guys came around and wrestled you to the ground, would you be upset with them for violating your "Free Will?" Perhaps at the moment but what about after you had time to gather your thoughts and in a moment of clarity you realized how stupid it would've been to end your life and despite how bad things may happen to be at the moment, you still want to live? Perhaps you would then be thankful that these men were around to prevent you from making such a dumb decision? Perhaps it is divine providence intervening on your behalf and I believe we are all grateful that God has done so regarding the manner in which each of us may have come to a saving faith in him!

Sometimes we give the Devil and his demons way too much credit than they actually deserve! We are capable of doing all sorts of dumb things without their assistance!

God would be quite merciful in having these men at the right place at the right time to stop you from doing something that was really, really dumb, right? Then again, he could've just let you exercise your "free will" and allow you to make that "leap into eternity!" We often hear in the news of similar circumstances ending either heroically or tragically. God is sovereign over both is he not?

God is glorified when people see you singing that "New Song" that he has placed in your mouth making you a new creature and having you clothed and in your right mind!

Now, I know you disagree with me regarding certain aspects of "Calvinism" but I'm sure you can say "AMEN!" to everything I have stated here right?

 

[Ascetic X]

If you wanted to exercise your "Free Will," jump off a cliff and end your life and three or four big guys came around and wrestled you to the ground, would you be upset with them for violating your "Free Will?"

You must understand that nobody can violate your free will.

All someone can do is try to prevent a free will decision from being fulfilled.

A person in prison still has free will, but their options for exercising it are limited. By their free will they choose to comply with the warden’s rules or defy them. Then the consequences occur.

To violate free will would be to hypnotize you and make you choose something you would not choose in your normal state of mind.

God does not violate our free will, for He gave that to us so we could make choices.

Our entire legal system is based on free will. A criminal cannot say someone forced him to commit a crime. He chose to commit a crime and then he faces punishment.

 

[Ben1445]

If you wanted to exercise your "Free Will," jump off a cliff and end your life and three or four big guys came around and wrestled you to the ground, would you be upset with them for violating your "Free Will?" Perhaps at the moment but what about after you had time to gather your thoughts and in a moment of clarity you realized how stupid it would've been to end your life and despite how bad things may happen to be at the moment, you still want to live? Perhaps you would then be thankful that these men were around to prevent you from making such a dumb decision? Perhaps it is divine providence intervening on your behalf and I believe we are all grateful that God has done so regarding the manner in which each of us may have come to a saving faith in him!

Sometimes we give the Devil and his demons way too much credit than they actually deserve! We are capable of doing all sorts of dumb things without their assistance!

God would be quite merciful in having these men at the right place at the right time to stop you from doing something that was really, really dumb, right? Then again, he could've just let you exercise your "free will" and allow you to make that "leap into eternity!" We often hear in the news of similar circumstances ending either heroically or tragically. God is sovereign over both is he not?

God is glorified when people see you singing that "New Song" that he has placed in your mouth making you a new creature and having you clothed and in your right mind!

Now, I know you disagree with me regarding certain aspects of "Calvinism" but I'm sure you can say "AMEN!" to everything I have stated here right?

There is a difference between will and ability. You don’t have to have the ability to have the will to do something.

 

[Ben1445]

We often hear in the news of similar circumstances ending either heroically or tragically. God is sovereign over both is he not?

Do you mean by sovereign that God determines it or allows it?

 

[Armchair Apologist]

Do you mean by sovereign that God determines it or allows it?

Allows it. He may allow you to just jump off the cliff or he may just providentially intervene on your behalf.