Man's Free Will and God's Sovereignty

Many devout Christians and their clergy rarely consider the effects that would accrue on God's omniscience, all knowing (see 1 John 3:20), and omnipotence, all powerful (see Genesis 17:1), if God decided to give all intelligent creatures the ability to make independent, uncoerced, freewill choices before they were created. However, two questions regarding this decision beg to be answered:

1. When intelligent creatures were created, either angelic or human, did God choose to allow them to make independent, uncoerced, freewill choices, not under His sovereignty, in order to give them freedom to choose?

2. Would all their choices need to be unknowable to God until after they were made to guarantee that Deity could not be accused of originating the evil?

If God could create the universe, then He certainly would have possessed omniscience and omnipotence, meaning that He had infinite knowledge and power. Therefore God, if He wanted, would have had both all the knowledge and power needed to create intelligent creatures with choosing mechanisms, the choices of which He could not know until after they were made. Any contrary notion would place a limitation on what God would have been able to create. From a human perspective, an increase in knowledge frequently has a direct, positive effect on power, indicating that an increase in knowledge often produces an increase in power. As an example, with increased knowledge of the atom, physicists learned how to tap into the energy of the atomic nucleus. With this knowledge, they soon produced the atomic bomb and the release of its huge power. However, before creation, God's omniscience and omnipotence were already infinite, so the simultaneous use of them would have resulted in a perfect creation.

A Divine Revelation

Now imagine the discussions and conclusions that would emerge from a make-believe group of modern-day Christians, if via an imaginary simultaneous Divine Revelation to each one in the group, God reenacted the last part of the sixth creation day in their collective presence. Suppose, in all of God's omniscience and omnipotence, the group was shown, during three successive episodes, how Adam and Eve had been made in God's image and three different but possible ways God could have equipped them to make choices regarding good and evil. But during each reenactment, keep in mind that if good or evil existed, both would have been powerless concepts bereft of an intelligent mind able to notice the differences and choose between the two. Then afterward, suppose that God made it possible for this group of Christians to observe what would have happened over time, if He had taken various routes with respect to how Adam and Eve had been equipped to choose.

But don't forget that human goodness from God's perspective always equates with unconditional love and unselfishness, both of which can be demonstrated by how we choose to place others. Goodness always chooses to place the other person first and itself last. Whereas, evil always is based on choosing to place oneself first and others last. In fact, when you violate any of the Ten Commandments, you inadvertently are placing yourself either above God or people. Breaking any of the first four places you above God and the violating any of last six attempts to elevate you above your fellow man. Placing yourself above someone else is a selfish act, which makes selfishness a disguised form of disrespect for the other person and usually has destructive effects on both the perpetrator and on the one to whom the selfishness is directed.

However, during each of the proposed reenactments, two questions should arise in the minds of this imaginary group of modern-day Christians: (1) Was disbelief in God coupled with selfish pride the root of Adam and Eve's original sin in the garden? (2) Is disbelief in God and selfish pride the foundation of every sinful choice that humans ever have made?

Each of the three reveled episodes that follow will show what might have occurred in the afternoon on day six of creation and for a time afterward.

Episode I

What would have happened if God had placed a restriction in the brains of Adam and Eve that would have prevented them from making any selfish choice rooted in pride? Keep in mind that even if their brains had not been pre-fixed, making it impossible to choose anything selfish, it would have been difficult for them to make wrong choices in the Garden of Eden anyway. Just think, atheism would have been ruled out every time God visited them in the cool of the day. Neither had earthly parents, whom they could dishonor. There would have been no one else but themselves to murder and no one with whom to commit adultery. In this environment, from whom could either of them steal or covet? To whom could they lie? In fact, a whole row of Trees of Knowledge of Good and Evil should not have tested their loyalty to God in the slightest.

Keep in mind that this Christian group watched Episode I while under a generalized epiphany. They noticed that Adam and Eve, whose brains were equipped with a limiting mechanism, made it impossible for them to choose prideful selfishness and evil. Therefore, these modern-day Christian observers were struck by the perfect unselfish living, demonstrated by this primordial pair. Since everyone in this group had experienced prideful selfish evil in their modern-day lives, they were forced to conclude that God had not chosen to place any restrictive mechanism in the human brain.

Episode II

Next, contemplate, if, under similar conditions, God had allowed the Christian onlookers to see what would have happened if no restriction had been inserted into the brains of Adam and Eve. Instead, in this situation, the newly created pair would be allowed to make independent, uncoerced, freewill choices, not under God's sovereignty, as long as every choice was foreknown to Him prior to its occurrence.

Having found that the restriction presented in Episode I had produced results that did not agree with their experience, this group of Christian observers became somewhat reluctant to accept this new condition until it could be tested against what they knew to be real in their modern-day lives.

In spite of the hesitation, one of the observers, Dave, said, "This seems more like our everyday earthly experience. We intuitively know we can choose whatever we want at any time we want, and since God is supposed to be in charge of the future, what difference would it make if He knows ahead of time every choice we humans are going to make?"

Bill, with a deep penetrating voice, then interjected. "What I have trouble getting a handle on is this: If God created all intelligent creatures with the freedom to choose anything and if He knew in advance what each person's choice was going to be, even before the person was created, then every choice would have been prefixed in His omniscient mind."

"So what?" Gary emphatically inserted. "We make good and bad choices every day. These prove that God made us so we can make freewill choices. Tell me then, what would be wrong with His having prior knowledge with respect to every good or selfish choice we make?"

Turning to Gary, Bill replied, "Well, the problem is this: If God knew in advance who was going to make the first selfish choice before He even created that person, and if He went ahead creating him anyway, then knowingly, God would become responsible for having created the first evil anywhere in the universe."

"God wouldn't really create any evil, would He?" Gayle questioned.

"No, He wouldn't, Gayle. That's why God could have used His foreknowledge to prevent any evil from contaminating this terrestrial globe," Linda observed.

"Well, He didn't use His foreknowledge to prevent evil on this earth," Annie said emphatically, "because we see it everywhere we look. I've seen plenty of it in my life."

With a slow drawl, Ted pointed out, "The only way God could give us free will without being the inevitable originator of evil would be by creating us so He could not know what any choice was going to be until after it was made."

Karen, who had been listening intently, interrupted. "How could God not know what choices we are going to make when He can read our minds?"

"That's right," Barbara commented. "Unless God created us so He could read our minds up to just before we chose, and then He wouldn't know for sure what choice we were going to make until after we made it."

With that comment, there was silence for a few seconds as each person thought it over.

"I hate arguments about theological topics," Loran said quietly. "So why don't we just watch what God is doing right now in this present reenactment? Maybe we can learn something."

"Yes, I see what's happened," Janice, the leader of the group, noted.

"We got so involved in our suppositions that we took our eyes off God's second reenactment. Perhaps we should consider the quality of His work and not argue about the subject matter."

When they looked, all were surprised to see that God had already abandoned Episode II and had started the next one. Obviously, He didn't want to use any part of His foreknowledge to condemn Himself.

Episode III

However, before the group could return to the basics of watching God in the third reenactment of human creation, Lee, one of the observers who frequently arrived late, entered just in time to hear the last part of the conversation. Thinking he had an answer to the dilemma in which the group seemed to be caught, he said loudly, "Let me tell you what John Calvin, one of the early Christian Reformers, taught."

"Oh no!" shouted Bill and Dave simultaneously. "We're Catholics."

"It won't hurt you to look at the other side of this metaphorical theological coin, so bear with me for just a minute," Lee retorted.

"Okay, just for a minute."

"Calvin believed, from his study of two New Testament texts, the first in Romans 8:28–30 and the second in Ephesians 1:1–14, that God Himself, by His foreknowledge, determined in the beginning, before the creation of the world, that He would predestine some humans for eternal life and others for damnation. I just happen to have a quote of his right here in my smart phone. Give me a sec, and I'll pull it up."

As he hunted for it, Lee kept on talking. "John Calvin, a Frenchman, wrote this statement, along with many others, while living in Basel, Switzerland. (Later, he moved to Geneva.) He, with several others, led in the reformation against the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church.

When we attribute foreknowledge to God, we mean that everything has always been and forever remains in his full view, so in terms of his knowledge, there is nothing which is either future or past ... We call predestination God's eternal counsel by which he has determined what he wishes to do with each and every person. For he does not create them all in like condition but appoints some to eternal life and others to eternal damnation. Thus, according to the end for which a person has been created, we say that he is predestined to death or life."

"According to Calvin's interpretation of these texts," Lee continued, "the destiny of all humans has been predetermined before the foundation of the world by divine fiat. Therefore, humans have no choice in their eternal outcome. Three other New Testament texts are often cited to bolster this theological doctrine of double predestination. They are Romans 11:2–4, 1 Peter 1:1–2, and Acts 2:23 (all NIV), where words such as 'foreknew' and 'foreknowledge' are found. These also indicate that God knows in advance what choices humans are going to make."

"This is heretical!" Ted yelled out. "It indicates that God capriciously has chosen each person's eternal destiny before their creation, maybe half of them good and half evil."

"You mean to tell me, Lee, some Christians believe this stuff?" questioned Tom, who was new to the group.

Before Lee could answer, Ted inserted, "Yes, sadly, millions do. It's because they take what the clergy tells them without reading the Bible or thinking things out for themselves. If the above were true, evangelism would be worthless because everyone's eternal destiny would have been predetermined by a deity, who randomly chose to create some of us with desirable outcomes and others for, well, you know what. In addition, by pronouncing everything good at the end of day six, God would have lied if He just had created someone to be damned. Worst of all, if God had created some intelligent beings predestined for damnation, He would have denied the existence of His unconditional love for everyone. If this concept is true, then there could be no such thing as a 'rebel' because God would have chosen to create some people as 'rebels.' A decision like that would have made it impossible for any 'rebel' to 'repent' and receive forgiveness. So why would it be necessary for Jesus to die to save sinners who could never be lost or die to clean up the mess that supposedly God the Father had caused in the first place? In these circumstances, mercy and grace could not be involved in anyone's salvation? Many Christians don't realize that when God created intelligent creatures, He gave them the ability to make free will choices for a reason."

"And what could that possibly be?" asked Kathy.

With that question, everyone was quiet again for a few seconds, so Loran, right on cue, said, "Let's look at what's happening in Episode III."

The group turned their attention just in time to see God put the final touches on a clay model of what looked like a man that was soon to be Adam. Then God "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life," and the lump of clay "became a living being." Then God gave Adam the responsibility of naming the fish, birds, and animals, over which he was to rule, and placed him in the garden, for which he was to care. Next, God anesthetized him and took one of his ribs, from which He created Eve. Then God brought the woman to the man. They both were naked. The first thing Adam saw, while recovering from God's anesthesia, was Eve's beautiful face.

Suddenly, all eyes of the group became riveted on the scene.

"Look at the expression on Adam's face!" exclaimed Carole. "He can't believe his eyes."

"Their faces seem full of wonder, and neither one appears to be ashamed," Hans pointed out.

Then Bob exclaimed, "Look! Adam's trying to stand up, and Eve is helping him."

The observations soon became self-sustaining with different ones participating all at once.

"Now they're just standing there trying to size each other up."

"Look! Adam's taking hold of her right hand with his left."

"And Eve has put her left hand around Adam's waist."

"Adam, with his right hand, is taking hold of Eve's chin, turning her head up a little as he leans over for his first kiss."

"Oh, Adam is such a lover. I can't imagine what Eve's thinking." Gayle sighed.

"You dummy!" Pat exclaimed. "I know what she's thinking. 'Be fruitful and multiply.'"

"This is too taxing for me," muttered John.

"They're making a lot of good free will choices right before our eyes," Janice noted. "But don't forget it was God who created husbands and wives to act this way, and He was nearby watching. I wonder, however, what choices they'll make if confronted with an actual temptation to be selfish?"

That situation wasn't long in coming. Perhaps one day Eve wandered a short distance from Adam's side and found herself adjacent to the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. A beautiful talking snake was up in the tree.

It said, "Did God tell you not to eat the fruit from this tree?"

"Yes," she replied. "If we do, we will die."

"You won't die. I didn't, and see, now I can talk. You're smarter than me, so if you eat it, you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

"When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it." (Genesis 3:1–7)

Eve thought, God told us we'd die if we ate the fruit. The serpent said we wouldn't. Also, if I ate it, I'd be as smart as God. So she chose to believe the serpent instead of God, thus ended the imaginary simultaneous Divine Revelation of this group of modern-day Christians.

Discussions Resulting from the Imaginary Divine Revelation Episodes

"This proves that God, at creation, gave mankind the ability to make independent, uncoerced, freewill choices, but how could He do this without condemning Himself, and why?" Hank asked.

"And that's what I want to know," iterated Kathy.