Free Will

Did God create humans to be like robots designed to run the programs that he gave us and unable to do otherwise? Did he create humans to be like marionettes that are only able to function as we are manipulated? In answering questions like these many people, like myself, are convinced that we have a Free Will that enables us to take action as we decide to take action. We are able to make choices regardless of what God wants us to do. The Christian then is to pray to God, “Your will be done…” understanding that in doing so the Christian must release his or her own will and let God’s will dominate. Yet, the theology of Free Will is much more complex than that.

As a Lutheran, I have encountered Luther’s understanding of Free Will in the sense of salvation. Can anyone free themselves from the bondage of sin by their own free will? Luther answered that with a resounding no! And he truly meant it. During the 16th Century it was understood that we are dead in sin and God’s Grace quickens us, making us alive in Christ. This teaching stems from Romans where the apostle wrote about being crucified in Christ and being made alive in His resurrection. Romans 6 speaks about being baptized and united into His death and being united with Christ in His resurrection. Grace frees us, makes us alive and Grace comes from God alone, therefore our will is useless for our salvation.

Despite the fact that Luther made his point of Free Will strong and clear, his friend and student, Philip Melanchthon believed that an individual could prepare to receive God’s Grace. His teachings echo Matthew 7:8 “everyone who searches finds.” The image is that we have the ability to turn away from the world or worldly things and make ourselves open to receive Grace. I do not understand Melanchthon to be saying that we participate in our salvation because Grace comes from God. However, I do understand him to say that we can open ourselves. We can till the ground in our souls in preparation for it to be sown with spiritual seeds.

We can block our ears to the Truth, or let Word enter us and depart from us like a passing breeze. We have the will to refuse God. In fact, humanity is that proverbial boulder that God made that He can not move. Our will is strong enough to resist God, yet both Augustine of Hippo and Martin Luther believed that our will is not strong enough to come to God, that God comes to us.

Perhaps God is always there, beckoning us, pleading with us giving us signs to look at Him and to turn toward Him. Trusting our reason and our logic we ignore these signs. All too often we act as the world acts and focus on money and success ignoring the spiritual aspects of our lives except when it is convenient for us to do so. We go to church and attend the worship service on Sunday morning but far too many of us spend the rest of the week doing what we always do and live as is if the good news of God’s love for us had never reached our ears.

Even if He put his hand on our heads and turned us so our eyes would fix on what He wants us to see, we could stubbornly close our eyes and refuse to see. If we did indeed see it we could still ignore it. Humanity’s will is strong. Hence we pray in the Lord’s prayer, ”Your (Our Father’s) will be done.

The Christians attitude should be a submissive one, where we submit our strong wills to God’s. All we need to understand of God’s will is that God intends for all to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. This means that now we no longer use our will to get what we want, but we willingly do what God wants. So we eat, drink and sleep as we always have but knowing that our every action and our every moment can and should be a sign or message that God’s love is present in the world so that through our existence others may be drawn to seek God.

In this point of view I can see how no one can come to receive Grace by his or her own free will. I can also see how someone can come to understand Grace through the actions of someone else. But the question remains; can we know God’s Truth on our own? Can humanity save itself?

I have to answer no we can’t. Proverbs 6 shows how we can ensnare ourselves and with our own actions we can be freed, but only if we follow the ways of Wisdom. We can gain Wisdom through various and strange avenues even through studying ants. Only when we have Wisdom are we able to say and do what is necessary to make ourselves free.

It may seem or even feel to an individual that he or she is able to be wise unto the ways of God, and to have Grace by his or hers own means. To me this shows the mysterious and mystical methods of God. If I understand that without God giving me Grace that I am manacled in sin, then I am free to explore the many mysterious and mystical methods that God has been revealed in my life, such as dreams, spine tingles, the words of friends, visions, music and nature.

Anyone at anytime can turn their back to the way of the world, and the moment they do they will see all the signs and wonders God has been putting in their path for their entire lifetime. Once he or she focuses on any one sign or message a new universe is revealed. This does not mean that they have been saved by their own free will, but rather that they have no longer submitted their own free will to the will of the world. This action no matter how dramatic and insightful one its own it is does not constitute salvation.

Salvation comes from God. There are many gods but only one true God. The mind is opened to the spiritual realm the moment it is closed to material concerns. When this happens the person may have an epiphany but It takes an action on God’s part to make salvation possible. I believe that God is always present in more ways than neither I can know nor anyone can ever know. Turning away from the world can bring salvation only when it means fully turning toward God’s mysterious and mystical Grace, which has been there since the foundation of the world.

To accept this it must be understood that there is a need for Grace in our lives that we do need to be released. Grace is always present among us, we just don’t always see or feel it. We are blind to it through our concerns of food, clothing and shelter. The daily struggles in the human condition make it difficult to always focus on God’s Grace, but the Holy Spirit is always there to remind us. It can come through inner sensation of tugging or a vision or hearing words. To some we might sound insane, but to us we know it’s God directing us, comforting us, strengthening us.

Today there are many techniques and methods available to us to cease worrying and to stop focusing us from focusing our daily concerns and struggles. These include but are not limited to Yoga classes, meditation groups, and massage therapy. Although all of these types of methods can allow us to turn away from worldly matters and open our eyes and unblock our ears they are not a means of God’s Grace. Remember God speaks the words and shows us the signs and gives us His Grace.

As we continue to think of Free Will, we should always think of God’s Will. God wants us to freely choose a path but always invites us to walk on the path that leads to Him. His invitation can come to us through personal mystical and spiritual experiences. We can open ourselves to the spiritual realm but we are unable to reach out and grab Grace. We must let it come to us.