Freewill (Part 6)

December 23, 2008, 7:27 am by dc-agape.

It is time to end the topical series on Freewill.  All six of these posts will be available under Freewill in the archives.  In the previous posts I have looked at what the Old Testament and Jesus have had to say about freewill.  I have also used examples from both the Old and New Testament.  I have included how both YHWH and the Holy Spirit are responsible for control over our “freewill”.

To end this series I want to look at what the father’s of the 1^st century church had to say about freewill.  Luke, Paul, and James have all chimed in.  I will start with what all three authors have to say about how YHWH has chosen those who will live with him forever in heaven.  I will finish with two verses that will be the finishing touch to freewill.

In Acts, Luke talks about the appointed:

^{Acts 13:48} When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed.”

By this time the Apostles in Jerusalem had already heard from Paul.  They were in agreement that all people, Jews and Gentiles, were to be “saved”.  But Luke also knew that only some of the people were chosen by YHWH to be “appointed”.  Divine intervention is required before anyone becomes a TrueChirstiansTM.

In Romans, Paul tells of predestination:

^{Rom 8:28-30} And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the first born among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

YHWH has a purpose for those he called to love him, isn’t that sweet?  It is his call, not ours.  We have no choice in the matter.  What is interesting here, other than the freewill part, is how those he foreknew were to be conformed to be like Jesus.  “Conform” is a powerful word.  It means that if someone has been chosen by YHWH to love him they will act in accordance or harmony with Jesus.  Today, as an Atheist, the christians I see do not act in harmony with Jesus.  If anything, what I see are people filled with traditions just like the Sanhedrin in Jesus’ time.  All I see is lip-service!  Where is the love that Jesus commanded?  Where is the love that Jesus showed to the tax collectors, the prostitutes, and the lepers?

So just how early did YHWH chose those to be “saved”?  Paul answers that question in Ephesians:

^{Eph 1:4-5} For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ in accordance with his pleasure and will – to the praise and grace, which he has freely given us in the Ones he loves.

So here we have the answer, before the world was created YHWH knew who would be “saved” and who would not be.  And it is in accordance with YHWH’s pleasure!  It is his pleasure to see his creation in hell!  He freely gives it arbitrarily to some, but to many he condemns them to hell at his pleasure.  What a loving creature!

But the Word of God is not finished yet, here is what Jesus’ own half-brother had to say about freewill:

^{Jam 1:18} He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

Even James, the leader of the Jerusalem council, agreed that YHWH chose who would be “born again”.  Many hundreds of millions of people have died and are in hell, because of a loving YHWH which choose who would have eternal life and who would not.

I am getting close to finishing, but I want to bring up one more passage from Paul:

^{2nd Co 4:3-4} And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

Those that are perishing have been blinded; we could not see the gospel even if we wanted to!  There is no such thing as freewill in the Christian religion.  If YHWH chose who would be saved before the creation of the world, and Satan blinds all the rest of the people, the game is over.  It never even started in the first place.  We have no choice, we have no freewill, and we have no control!

I will end with a verse that has confused me since long before I began to see through the façade called YHWH.  In fact, this one verse may have been the starting point:

^{Luke 19:9-10} Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”

Everyone in Jesus’ time was lost!  How can the Son of Man have to seek for those who are lost when everyone is lost?  We aren’t talking about “bobbing for apples”; we are talking about draining the water out and picking up the entire crate of apples.  But when we apply the concept of YHWH choosing certain people out of the multitude to be saved, then Jesus has something to seek.

Boys and girls, if your god exists, we don’t have freewill!

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