Free Will

[Craig]

> Hi Ray,
> I really like your site. I agree with everything you've said that
> i've read so far, and I think it's great that you are so dedicated to
> discrediting blasphemous crapemous. In reading some of your e-mail
> replies, I've noticed that there are a quite a number of people who
> e-mail you in confusion with regards to free-will. I think you may
> unintentionally excacerbate people's confusion on this subject when
> you answer them such as you recently did here:
>
> "You will stop being dominated and reigned over by lust when it is
> God's time for you to do so, and not a minute sooner. And the fact
> that God is keeping you waiting is for a purpose that you do not
> necessarily need to be fully informed of at the moment."
>
> There is certainly no lie in what you have said here. But, i don't
> think it helps people to understand the truth they are OFTEN (not
> always) yearning for, which is that they themselves have the power to
> change their own life, and that they don't have to "wait" for God to
> change it for them. If a
> smoker asks you when he will stop smoking, it would not be incorrect
> to tell him "you will stop when God wants you to and not a moment
> sooner." But isn't it often so much better to say to him, "YOU can
> stop smoking anytime YOU want!"?? I mean, both the first and the
> second are true, but so many of the people you respond to are in a
> depressed state and i think really need to hear the second. I just
> think that all this free-will stuff gets people believing the lie that
> the fact that God is in total control (because he planned and created
> the universe and everything in it) means they are totally out of
> control. God causes peoples hearts to be hardend, the same as God
> causes people to watch TV, or take a shower, or write an e-mail. God
> planned/caused everything that will ever happen, and at the same time
> it is true that i can do whatever i want, and that I (not God) watch
> TV and that I (not God) take a shower and that I (not God) write an
> e-mail, and that I (not God) SIN, and therefore I (not God) should be
> blamed for it! Ok, that was longer then i thought. Keep up the good
> work, maybe i'll hear from you??
>
> Sean


Dear Sean:

I am afraid I have to disagree with you on the grounds that it is NOT BETTER
to lie to someone in order for them to feel better about themselves or their ability
to accomplish anything they desire.  Many people DO desire to quit smoking and
are totally unable.  Unfortunately, most of those who do quit when they decide or
desire to quit, think that they accomplished this feat by their own power.  True,
God does not FORCE you to whatch a TV show that you do not want to watch. But
that is only half the truth. The other truth is that the one you DO desire to watch
was preselected before you were born;  it's just that you are totally ignorant of the
process by which you came to DESIRE the TV program that you decided to watch.

You will not corner me on the subject of God's Sovereignty and man's total lack of
"free willl."  It is a spiritual truth that can never be successfully challenged under
any circumstances.

God be with you,

Ray