Good examples Joe.
Hi Darren, here are a few emails that may help you with this.
http://forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/topic,4827.msg37299.html#msg37299 ----
I just marvel at the fact that year after year after year, 95% of all email questions and/or comments involve "contradictions." All day long I am asked to explain what my readers believe are contradictions. So far, however, no one has presented a true contradiction to the truth. It appears to most of humanity that if God Sovereign and man has no "free" will or "free" choice (that is, there is a cause for everything, and therefore whatever is caused to happen can not NOT HAPPEN, hence it is not "free"), then man has no reasoning abilities, cannot make a choice of what he prefers, and is therefore nothing but a mindless robot.
The reality is that we do have reasoning abilities, and we do choose what we prefer. You have now present a new twist that suggests neither the deceived person nor the enlightened one can know for sure what is truth, because his realization of truth is only that which God permits or allows him to have through his life experiences. I am not sure how you came to this conclusion. Try this: There was a time when most people (albeit not all) believed that the earth was flat. Now they really believed that and they really were deceived. But now that we fly space shuttles AROUND the earth in all directions, we know for a fact that the earth is a sphere. The TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE.
The deceived have NO PROOF that they have a "free will," but the enlightened do HAVE PROOF that man does not have a free will.
In fact we have two proofs: The Word of God and Nature--science. Even if there is a supposed "law of uncertainty" or "randomness," it still would not allow for "freedom" of the will or "freedom" of choice. If a person's thoughts are "free" to come into existence without any cause, from where is it that they come? You may reply: "Why they come from ME and me alone." Oh really? But from WHERE is "you?" From your mind? Your will? Your WHAT? Did you think about thinking the thought before it came into existence? All you do is take the cause back to a more distance CAUSE. What CAUSED your thinking to think a thought? "THINGS" cause you to think thoughts. Thoughts do not come from "out of the blue." And if they did, then we have merely pushed the real "cause" back a little further, only this time the cause is "the BLUE"--whatever that is.
If Science proves something AND THE WORD OF GOD proves something, then it's true, and that is how you can KNOW that it is true. If you re-read my paper on "free will," you will be given both Scientific and Scriptural proof as to what the truth is on this matter. "THY WORD IS TRUTH" (John 17:17). Hope this helps your understanding.
God be with you,
Ray
http://www.forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/topic,2697.0.html -----
If the future is dependant upon our decisions that are truly "free" and not caused to happen, then the future cannot be known, NOT EVEN BY GOD. But, since God does know all that is in the future, it is proof positive that there is no such thing an effect which did not have a cause. If an event (an effect) that WILL happen is both free to happen and free not to happen, then why DOES IT HAPPEN? If it was "free" to NOT HAPPEN, then why did it HAPPEN. What CAUSED IT TO HAPPEN against its supposed freedom to NOT HAPPEN. How could an effect NOT HAVE BEEN EFFECTED (that's freedom)? The instant an "effect" comes about, it has lost all "freedom" to have NOT come about. Therefore ALL THAT HAS EVER HAPPENED was not "free" to not happen at all. If it were, theoretically, NOTHING IN THE UNIVERSE WOULD HAVE EVER HAD TO HAPPEN. Things are CAUSED to happen and that Cause is what we call "GOD." What I have just stated cannot be argued with any wisdom, logic, or true knowledge. To argue against what I have stated is sheer foolishness. Unfortunately, precious few can see it or understand it even though the Scriptures are very clear on it.
God be with you,
Ray
http://forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/topic,4702.0.html -----------
OF COURSE we have a "choice." We, in fact, have made MILLIONS of our OWN choices. Every choice you make is YOUR CHOICE. Whose do think it is? When you decide to have apple pie for desert, who makes that choice? If you change your mind and decide that you will rather have cherry pie, who changed your mind and made the new choice? Did that choice come out of SOME ONE ELSE'S mind and mouth? Did something FORCE YOU AGAINST YOUR WILL to choose apple pie when you really really wanted blueberry pie? Well? No, of course not. You CHOSE which desert YOU preferred, did you not? Yes, of course you did. Can a "robot" choose which kind of pie it wants? No, of course not, and even if it did, it wouldn't have been based on a thousand and one emotions, circumstances, appearances, price, past memories of which pie taste the best, etc. etc., etc., etc., etc., would it? We make all our own choices and we make them from our heart. We always choose that which WE prefer to choose. God does not FORCE US AGAINST OUR WILL to choose something we do not want to choose, and that is true for choices we really don't want to make in the first place, but circumstances dictate that we must or should.
Now it is true that the final choice we made is the ONLY choice that we could have made, but so what? It is, after all, THE ONE WE WANTED TO MAKE. Can you now understand it?
Do you still think you are a robot? I hope not. It takes a lot of thought and meditation to wrap your mind around this powerful spiritual truth.
God be with you,
Ray