Wednesday: The Freewill Defense
Daily Lesson for Wednesday 12th of February 2025
However much we don’t understand of God’s ways and thoughts, Scripture does reveal some things that help to address the problem of evil. One avenue for addressing the logical problem of evil is known as the freewill defense.
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The freewill defense is the view that evil is the result of the misuse of creaturely free will. God, then, is not to blame for evil, because evil is the result of creatures misusing the free will that God has given us for good reasons. Why, however, would God give such free will? In this regard, C. S. Lewis once wrote that “free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having. A world of automata—of creatures that worked like machines—would hardly be worth creating. The happiness which God designs for His higher creatures is the happiness of being freely, voluntarily united to Him and to each other. . . . And for that they must be free.”—Mere Christianity (New York: MacMillan, 1960), p. 52.
Read Genesis 2:16-17. How do these verses display the moral freedom granted to Adam and Eve?
Why command them unless they had free will to begin with? Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, and since then our planet has been filled with evil. In Genesis 4:1-26, the next chapter after the Fall narrative, the terrible consequences of sin are seen in the murder of Abel by his brother. The narrative of the Fall shows how the misuse of Adam and Eve’s free will brought sin and evil into the history of our planet.
All through Scripture, we see the reality of free moral will. (See Deuteronomy 7:12-13; Joshua 24:14-15; Psalms 81:11-14; and Isaiah 66:4.) Every day of our lives, to one degree or another, we ourselves exercise the free will given to us by our Creator. Without free will, we would not be recognizably human. We would be more like a machine, or even a mindless robot.
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Sony Corporation has created a robot dog called Aibo. It will not get sick, not get fleas, not bite, not need shots, and not shed fur. Would you trade your flesh-and-blood dog for an Aibo? If not, how might your choice help you better understand why God created us as He did, with free will—despite the risks? |
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The notion that God can do anything is not quite true. Consider this question: "Can God build a stone so large he cannot lift it." The issue is that the question creates a logical contradiction. We should consider the creation of intelligent beings in the same light. To create intelligent loving beings and not give them the power of choice is a contradiction.
The discussion by C S Lewis referenced in today's lesson study is quite right.
The question of intelligence and free choice has resurfaced in our discussions of Artificial Intelligence and while the current AI entities are quite smart, they are essentially statistical search engines. The ethicists among us though forsee the problem arising where AI entities may cross the boundary and start thinking for themselves and making free choices. The issue is the boundary is quite blurry and is compounded by political and commercial control. Some of the discussion about AI ethics has made us aware of the roots of the problem of evil. (I might add a link to some Christian discussion sites on this later.)
Later addition: I am adding this link because I think it adds something to this discussion about free-will. The discussion is beteween a couple of players in the IT community who have some sensitivity towards Christianity. I am subitting this as something to explore and challenge our understanding rather than providing answers:
Premier Unbelievable: Is AI Replacing Humanity
Maurice, l am intrigued and somewhat baffled by your statement "The ethicists among us though forsee (sic) the problem arising where AI entities may cross the boundary and start thinking for themselves and making free choices."
From the lesson l gleaned that since GOD is love, free will is necessary in order to have a loving relationship with Him. Also that free will is a gift from GOD. In the light of the foregoing, how can AI exhibit free will if not given and/or permitted by GOD? Would it be possible for AI to have actual rather than simulated experiences of love? Would this be another ‘life form? Created by man? This reminds me of a science fiction story l read several years ago, long before the advent of mobile phones etc. Where the computer scientists had assembled the greatest most powerful computer ever. They asked it the question "Is there a God?" Back comes the answer "There is now" It’s kind of chilling knowing that we are living in the days when men’s thoughts are continually evil, that AI is created by them, but also comforting to know that GOD puts boundaries on everything including sin. Thanks for link.
Marcia, you have made some interesting observations but I think you are reading too much into my reference to AI. All I am saying is that in the AI community there is a growing concern about the amount of control we have over intelligent machines. We find ourselves in the position where we may be able to create an entity that makes decisions ourside of our control ie Free choice. I am not advocating free choice for machines, but I find the parallels between God's creativity and our own, challenging and, given our propensity for evil, quite disquieting.
The concept of “free will” provides a significant explanation for the existence of evil but within the boundaries of human limitation. Why God created humans and angels with the provision of “free will” lies within God’s sovereign wisdom and power. Free will is not exclusively the genesis of evil. The Bible provides other perspectives on this matter (check out my comment on Sunday, “How Long, O Lord?”). While free will explains moral evil, there are other sufferings outside this sphere. For instance, natural evil (not caused by human choices), such as earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes/typhoons/cyclones, diseases and pandemics, famines, and droughts. Someone can put a spin on the occurrence of these natural events, but still, the question remains, “Why does a loving God allow innocent people to suffer?”. In the Book of Job, it is very evident that evil and suffering sometimes take place outside the concept of free will.
No matter how one views the genesis of the problem of evil, the concept of free will provides vital spiritual lessons that are essential in our faith and daily lives.
1. Love requires free will. Love cannot be forced. God requires a relationship with us and not compelled obedience. True love is a matter of choice and choices have consequences (Deuteronomy 30:19-20, John 14:15).
2. Human beings are obligated to have moral responsibility and accountability. We are answerable for our actions and the resulting consequences. Humans quite often cause suffering upon themselves by making wrong choices (Galatians 6:7, Ezekiel 18:20).
3. It is highly desirable to choose good over evil. Our daily choices shape our spiritual well-being or destruction. Our final destiny is an outcome of our daily choices (Joshua 24:15, James 4:7).
4. God is sovereign over all things including free will. Ultimately God will annihilate evil from the face of the universe. God has the power to restore what evil has tampered with. Faith gives us hope that evil will not have the final word but God (Revelation 21:4, Matthew 13:41).
5. We are being refined by the trials and tribulations that we go through. We are encouraged to hold fast to the truth that we know (evil be completely annihilated). In a little while God will establish a new heaven and a new heart where all former things will be no more Romans 5:3-4, Job 23:10).
“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all. For God will bring every work into judgment, Including every secret thing, Whether good or evil” – (Ecclesiastes 12:13 –14)
I would like to bring up the question of free will as it relates to our limited understanding. Is our free will less free when more knowledge and understanding would lead us to make a different or more enlightened choice? I am thinking of 1 Corinthians 2:14 KJV
“But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
Good question. How does Romans 1:16-32 relate to this question?
Do we have more or less information than Adam and Eve? Can you explain your answer?
In John 8:32 Jesus said, “And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free”. Is our will included in this statement?
In 1Cor. 2:14 the natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God. Can his will be considered free in this context? Am interested in any input on this question.
Hello Michael! From my understanding as a Christian, Truth is a person, Jesus Christ. Yes, it's also a concept and principle, however it finds it's ultimate fulfillment in Jesus Christ. This is separate from the will except in this one way, we must choose to believe that Jesus is the Truth, Light, and Way, not one of many choices on the buffet table of religions. Either Jesus is who he said he is, or he is a liar, and a lunatic. He won't force us to believe, thus violating our free will. We must choose to believe it. When we choose to believe then we are open to the work of the Holy Spirit to receive spiritual things. In our carnal, natural mind we cannot understand spiritual things. This is why Jesus told Nicodemus that he must be born again.
Michael, regarding 1Cor 2:14, replace "natural man" with "sinner", meaning one who does not choose to repent/confess. Now consider this with Daniel 12:10, Matthew 7:24, and Romans 8:7,8.
Only as I choose to repent and allow God's grace to make me able to overcome my natural sinfulness, am I FREE to obey Him willingly. One must choose to pray the prayer of Ps 119:33-40. God will do the rest if we allow Him. Yet once one is walking in the light, they may at any time turn away from God if they choose. God holds no one against their will. Study the prodigal son(Luke 15) and see how God lets us choose always.
As human beings we are more inclined to choose evil than good. I often hear people who have been betrayed by the people they trust saying,"He was nice to me and treated me well until he showed me his true colours". It seems like when we decide on doing good,we have actually moved away from our comfort zone or from our natural way of doing things. May God help us to choose life over destruction
So, happiness is also a matter of choice. It is in the satisfaction of faith in love, which means God. Love is the strength that manages the entire Universe. I can choose to do good today.
I am reading “Ye Shall Receive Power” - this is a portion of today’s reading: “ Candidly and seriously we are to consider the question, Have we humbled ourselves before God, that the Holy Spirit may work through us with transforming power? As children of God, it is our privilege to be worked by His Spirit. When self is crucified, the Holy Spirit takes the brokenhearted ones, and makes them vessels unto honor. They are in His hands as clay in the hands of the potter. Jesus Christ will make such men and women superior in mental, physical, and moral power. The graces of the Spirit will give solidity to the character. They will exert an influence for good because Christ is abiding in the soul. ”
When Adam & Eve used their free will to disobey God, they opened the world to sin and suffering. Everything changed, gradually at first, but then sin took control of planet earth. They surrendered their dominion over this planet until Jesus came and took back dominion from Satan. God could have destroyed Adam and Eve when they sinned as surely as he could have destroyed Satan in heaven. If Adam had resisted Eve's temptation to eat the forbidden fruit, how would that have played out? Adam placed Eve before God by joining her in her naive rebellion. She was deceived, he wasn't. Perhaps he thought that he couldn't live without her and so he would die with her. It was God’s mercy and grace that kept them from dropping dead immediately, however, they did begin to die, and they died before the end of the first millenium had passed. It seems like such a simple test with overblown consequences. In reality it was a choice of two "masters." Who do we choose as our master (Lord)? Sin and Satan, leading to eternal death, or obedience through the grace of God leading to eternal life? God loves us so much that he has given us the freedom to choose which side we are on in this "great controversy. " If the "devil made you do it", you blew it! He cannot make you sin, he can only tempt. Neither can God make you choose righteousness, He can only appeal to you to believe and obey His word.
Since Calvary, we live in the death throes of the dying serpent. A dying serpent is still a deadly serpent.
I respectfully disagree with C.S. Lewis’ statement:
“Free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having.”
“The happiness which God designs for His higher creatures is the happiness of being freely, voluntarily united to Him and to each other …. And for that they must be free.”
'Free will does not make evil possible'. Evil is the spiritual outcome of one who defies God. This particular ‘freedom’ is the freedom of ‘confusion’, ‘lostness’, and death. I do not see human exercising 'free will' as valuable unless it is spiritually aligned with God’s will. No matter how much a person wills their actions for good, they fall short unless they are in His Will. Before we can 'choose' to live by it, we must first know and then accept God’s will - Rom. 12:2.
The second part of the quote, in my view, blurs the line between the spiritual and physical aspects of life. It suggests that happiness, designed by God, must be embraced 'freely and voluntarily' to unite with Him and others. Yet true happiness, I believe, requires that we accept God’s will as our own; which we cannot do by ourselves – John 6:44.
What is God’s good, acceptable, and perfect will? Matthew 6:33 tells us:
“Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” There is no other way to come to God than by being drawn by and responding to the Spirit of God, who has united man with his Creator since the Beginning.
Emphasizing man's 'free and voluntary action' as the path to God diminishes/compromises the role of the Holy Spirit. It is only by His promptings that man is drawn man to his Maker as He softens the heart’s response.
John 15:5 - ”Without Him, we can do nothing.” This Truth applies not only 'after' we have been found, but even more so before whiles still wandering in the wilderness of sin; lost and unaware of our need for rescue.
Man's will can never be truly free. I consider the greatest gift to mankind to be that God has taken our compromised will out of the equation to receive Salvation. He does not expect us to exercise our ‘free’ will, but to give Him all authority to align our will with His. And so it is God’s Will which is allowed to come to the forefront as we rest in faith - Isaiah 30:15.
Brigitte, without free will Lucifer, nor Adam and Eve would have been able to rebel and cause evil to enter God’s creation.
You said, "He does not expect us to exercise our ‘free’ will, but to give Him all authority to align our will with His." From my perspective the proper term would be permission, instead of authority. God will never violate our freedom to choose, even if we choose to reject him by doing so. He will not choose for us but will enable us to fulfill his will when we submit ours to him. This is how Jesus made it from Gethsemane to Calvary.
Tim, Christina, Maurice, and Inge – respectfully, I consider using the term "permission" instead of "authority" to reflect the hubris of man who believes he is something when, in reality, he is not. The only aspect that truly is and can remain in man is God’s living Presence; everything else fades with time.
It would have been more correct to say we "acknowledge" His authority rather than "give" it to Him; being willing to surrender error, we can accept His Truth. He already possesses all authority — we cannot give that which is not 'ours'. When 'acknowledging' His authority by faith and start walking in His Truth, we demonstrate that we believe His Truth.
We do not possess anything that is ours to give — not even our "free" will, for the mind is part of the body, and its “will" is influenced by spirit; it is not 'ours' to surrender. I see the power of God's Grace reaching out to man made from the dust of the earth to again awaken His breath of 'life' within - the Holy Spirit - for the living soul to be able to glorify Him as His 'spiritual' children.
The mind and heart can see and acknowledge God only through/by the revealing power of the Holy Spirit. This was true in the Beginning and remains true now. As a creature - a living soul, I see us to be entirely His creation to do with as His perfect will determines. From the beginning He made us with the ability to recognize our Creator in Spirit and Truth - 1 Cor. 6:17; Rom. 8:10; John 14:19-21.
The unity of Christians in faith and love is essential to the church’s mission and witness in the world. Only these aspects of our Christian Faith testify to the Truth of the gospel and the transformative power of Christ’s work in the heart and mind[will] of man; they are our Creator's spiritual gifts to man.
Brigitte, I don’t see it as hubris. I see it as a freedom loving God giving us the freedom to choose whether or not we will acknowledge Him and give Him "permission," "authority," whatever you want to call it to work in our lives. While God lavishes His love upon His children, He doesn't force it upon them. That would be assault, not freely choosing to receive His love. God doesn't operate on the basis of force or compulsion. According to 2 Cor. 5:24, His love constrains us in the fact that it causes us to choose rightly because we know and trust Him, that whatever He says is for our own good. He is not threatening us into a relationship with Him. For love to truly be "love" it has to give the other party the right to say,"no." God doesn't do "shotgun weddings." To know Him as the Scriptures portray Him, and especially in the Incarnation of Jesus, is to love Him.
Tim, I appreciate your concern, though, please allow another attempt to explain my view about 'free will' and you might find it might resonate with you.
As you can see, explaining what it means to be a 'wholly created' being can be challenging, especially since we perceive ourselves as having 'free' will. Yet, if we distill human existence to its essence — what makes us "alive" — we find that nothing in us originates from ourselves; therefore - no 'free' will - as we possess nothing of our own to give, take, or keep.
Everything we are, including our will, is created by God. To call our will "free" simply because we can choose is, I believe, a misunderstanding. Scripture teaches that, in spirit, we are either children of His adversary or children of our heavenly Father - 1 John 3:1-10; Galatians 3:26.
All human impressions — thoughts, perceptions, ideas, and knowledge — are merely ‘reflections’ by the mind of that which has reached the mind formed by our Creator. However, our ability to perceive God's spiritual Truth is granted through the work of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit does not give authority to the mind to judge His Truth, which considering our will to be 'free' implies; but fallen man does anyway – 1 Cor.2:14-16; 1 Cor.3:19.
I consider Solomon was wise, but not enlightened. While God gives us the capacity to say "yes" or "no," to choose one path or another, all inclinations are shaped by the spirit our heart yields itself to. 'Self' reigns in the unredeemed heart unto perdition, but the heart yielding to the Holy Spirit's influence is saved by Grace. The yielding — whether for good or evil — determines the will’s direction/'choice' - Jeremiah 17:9.
I consider the disposition of the ‘heart’ of man far more significant for our salvation than our 'will'. It is the heart that our heavenly Father addresses when He declares His Love for us and calls upon us to walk in His Way. Therefore, we should earnestly and humbly entreat Him to create in us a clean heart and renew the RIGHT spirit within us – Psalm 51:10-19; Matthew 22:36-40.
Brigitte, that's a lot to digest and while there are elements that I agree with you upon, the bottom line, I just can't make that leap, of what I consider illogic. If all of what you say is true, then we really don't have any choice in the matter. Our free will is merely a mirage, a misconception. We don't really have it. We are merely pawns to be used even against our own will in some strange kind of "battle chess" between God and Satan. This makes God into a bigger monster than the devil, because he arbitrarily determines who he likes and dislikes, and who will or will not be saved. Personally, I can't love, or even like such a "God." It sounds more like a mythological god than the God of the Bible. It seems to me that your pardigm of Christianity has been "colored" by theologians that had bits and pieces of the puzzle but just couldn't admit that the Sovereign God of Creation would actually allow humans to choose their own eternal destiny free of force or coercion, and whether they would believe God words over the devil's words. We simply don't have a say in the matter. That's a bridge way too far for me to cross over. Anyone that is lost in the end will have no one to blame but themselves, they have chosen to forfeit their redemption. They have chosen to believe the Satanic lie that God isn't love at all, but a grand cosmic control freak. Perhaps that is your conscious or subconscious concept of
God. I hope not. Too often the "broken roads" of our lives prejudice us against the truth of the Bible that God is love. Satan intends for those "broken roads" to forever turn us away from God as One that simply doesn't really care. Conversely the Father wants to use those "broken roads" of our lives to lead us straight to him. John 3:16-17 seals the deal for me. "Whosoever" involves the freedom to choose. Jesus didn't come to condemn the world, but to save whomever chose to believe the good news that God is indeed love and he has made a way to reconcile the broken people of this broken planet to Himself. Blessings friend!
Brigitte, I feel there are differences in free will among sinless beings and sinful beings. The verses you quoted are in relation to humanity after hundreds of years of sin. And yes, today, we cannot do God's will apart from the Holy Spirit. I don't think that was the case for Adam and Eve. They weren't created with a hostile will to God. They chose to go a different way.
For us today, we cannot do God's will apart from the Holy Spirit. But still the choice to accept God's leading or not is fully ours. Anything less than that leads down the path to predestination.
You wrote:
You are essentially saying that giving Him all authroity to align our will with his is not a free choice. If it is not a free choice then it is coercion. I dont have a problem with giving God authority to align our will with his, but it is our choice to allow that to happen.
Brigitte, you wrote that "The second part of the quote, in my view, blurs the line between the spiritual and physical aspects of life." That appears to be in line with your comments that suggest a clear distinction between "spiritual and physical aspects of life." But I do not see the Bible making such a distinction.
The philosophy for which you advocate in many of your comments (a clear distinction between the spiritual and physical aspects of life) appears to come from pagan philosophy and entered Christianity after the New Testament church. It is, unfortunately, alive and well in many Christian churches today. Indeed, I believe it was Satan who attempted to overthrow the Advent Movement by injecting that philosophy into the early movement, resulting in a fanaticism that included a belief in "spiritual marriage."
By contrast, I see the Bible teaching that God created humans with physical and spiritual aspects that cannot be separated, because they affect each other. The first human sin illustrates this clearly. The physical eating of the forbidden fruit was an outward manifestation of a spiritual choice.
Thank you for pointing out that C.S. Lewis agrees with this foundational Adventist understanding of biblical truth.
In your final paragraph you write that "Man's will can never be truly free" which is correct with an additional phrase or two: "Because of sin, man's will can never be truly free until it is united with God's will." That's why Jesus said "the truth shall make you free." John 8:31-34 Without God we are slaves to sin. It is only by uniting our will with His that we can be truly free. And that involved making a choice - a freedom Christ purchased for us on the cross.
Hello Saints.
I'd love to get your feedback on the following. I'm wrestling with this statement "The freewill defense is the view that evil is the result of the misuse of creaturely free will." I am of the thought process that free will can't be misused.
'Misuse' is to use something wrongly/incorrectly. So it's like saying God gave us freewill to ONLY Choose Good, and if we do choose Evil then we've misused the thing that he ONLY gave to be used one way. And if this is so, then it was never freewill. Does this make sense?
Freewill means that there is a possibility to choose something outside of God so if we are freely given this option how is it then misuse if we choose one of those options?
OR am I reading the quote wrong and it's actually saying that because we have Freewill we have the choice to choose something outside of God- eg. a lie - however if we choose to indulge a lie then we 'misuse Freewill' and this results in evil?
Thanks in advance for your feedback!🙏