The opposite of free will is not predestination, but God’s sovereignty. C. S. Lewis explains predestination in his essay, Miracles:
“When we are praying about the result, say, of a battle or a medical consultation the thought will often cross our minds that (if only we knew it) the event is already decided one way or the other. I believe this to be no good reason for ceasing our prayers. The event certainly has been decided—in a sense it was decided ‘before all worlds’. But one of the things taken into account in deciding it, and therefore one of the things that really cause it to happen, may be this very prayer that we are now offering. Thus, shocking as it may sound, I conclude that we can at noon become part causes of an event occurring at ten a.m. (Some scientists would find this easier than popular thought does.) The imagination will, no doubt, try to play all sorts of tricks on us at this point. It will ask, ‘Then if I stop praying can God go back and alter what has already happened?’ No. The event has already happened and one of its causes has been the fact that you are asking such questions instead of praying. It will ask, ‘Then if I begin to pray can God go back and alter what has already happened?’ No. The event has already happened and one of its causes is your present prayer. Thus something does really depend on my choice. My free act contributes to the cosmic shape. That contribution is made in eternity or ‘before all worlds’; but my consciousness of contributing reaches me at a particular point in the time-series.”
Thus, predestination misconstrues how God and time relate, which is easily misunderstood because we live in time and He does not. The harder question is this: if God is sovereign, how can we have genuine free will to obey Him or, more importantly, to defy Him? The answer seems to be, because He sovereignly respects our choices.
But why? Why does a sovereign God allow us free will? Adam and Eve wanted to choose for themselves, instead of accepting God’s choice. They wanted to be like God. (Genesis 3:5-6) The builders of the Tower of Babel planned a tower to reach heaven, in their own power, not trusting God to get them there. (Genesis 11:4-6) God allowed these choices to be made, but limited the consequences of ambitious choices. Not that amateur gods could supplant Him (even Satan could not do that!), but in mercy He did not allow the fruit of errant free will to ripen fully.
Why did God create humankind with free will? We cannot discuss this meaningfully because God is beyond our comprehension, the uncreated creator of the universe. However, He revealed His nature and character in the Incarnation of Christ. In this context, we can choose for ourselves or accept His choices; we can try to exert power of our own, or trust that He will use His power on our behalf. Ultimately, it is His universe.
Even if we complain or say it is unfair, justice is a concept He gave us and commands us to observe. (Genesis 18:25, Zephaniah 3:5) He apparently finds our struggle to overcome human frailty and temptation, to be like Him in nature and character, so desirable that He created the universe so it would happen. And we succeed only when we receive His grace. What does this say about our future? It is entirely up to the participants, not predestined. Do we trust God enough to do what He says, to ask Him what He wants? Grace is readily available to all who ask, but will never be forced on anyone. There is no predestined outcome. But there is a sovereign and omnipotent God who says, in effect, to receive His grace, or we will reap what we sow. As Solomon wrote, The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. (Ecclesiastes 12:13)
To focus on predestination is to miss the primary point. Consider the Virgin Mary. We often see her as a young, sheltered girl to whom an angel was sent to announce to her that she would bear the Messiah. But isn’t it much more consistent with God’s modus operandi that she had an active life of faith as a child? My inference is that while growing up, she knew His voice, interacted with Him and talked with Him frequently, did what He asked, and learned that she could trust and lean on Him through experience. So that when the time came, even though the virgin birth was miraculous, she was prepared to trust God and continue her daily walk with Him. I think this is the only way she could have raised Jesus as a child. This was not predestined, but simply her loving God as the basis of her life.
So how should we respond to this rather theological question? If believing in predestination encourages or causes us to accept what is wrong, especially in our own life, then James’ advice is to obey God and resist the devil. (James 4:7) Perhaps it takes the form of honoring others when you really are unhappy with them, for the sake of Christ and others (Romans 13:7), or abstaining from a lawful activity because it is a stumbling block for others. (1 Cor 8:7-13) Believing in free will does not free us from God’s sovereignty in the practical outworking of our daily lives. Obeying and trusting Him is a decision that must be made afresh every day.
No comments:
Post a Comment