Hi Ricky,
This is a struggle that we all have in trying to understand the concept of no free will, when we have believed it all of our lives.
Here are a few emails that may help your understanding.
http://www.forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/topic,2943.0.html ----
I understand, Paul, that this truth is difficult for most to comprehend. And I
am not completely sure why this is so. I think possibly because we have
been trained and programmed to see too many things in only two dimensions,
when in reality there is a third dimention, but it is an illusion created by God
giving us two eyes spaced apart at the right distances to give us the illusion of
depth perception. Well, we need a little spiritual depth perception.
Theologians and clerics would have us believe that there are only two possibilities
with regards to man's either having free choice or not having free choice.
[1] We either have free will/choice and can make decisions based on no causing factors
whatsoever. We supposedly just create thoughts and actions out of NOTHING. Or,
[2] We are dumb robots.
Their is no third alternative for them. But here is the alternative truth that is in the
Scriptures and in the real work-a-day world. We have no free choice or free will
which is not caused by anything, as such a fabled idea is not only unscriptural, but
also a physiological impossibility. But........BUT, the alternative is not that we are
then "dumb robots." No, a thousand times, NO. We are intelligent. A person can
be intelligent and yet not have free will. We can think. A person can think and
yet not have free will. We can plan, think spacially, create, imagine, analyze and
manipulate difficult numbers and concepts, and WE CAN LEARN. I do not believe
that we shall ever build such robots as ourselves, and even if we did, we would have
to conclude that it was OUR INTELLIGENCE that built them, and they still would
not have free will or free choice either.
The fact that our choices are caused by some factor does not turn us into robots. And
because we are highly complicated and intelligent, it is God's purpose for us to experience evil and then learn from it and choose to do good. Suffering the pain of making bad decisions or being Judged by God for making bad decisions is a GOOD thing, not a bad.
Certainly we do not punish a robot if it malfunctions, but robots don't have hearts and minds and consciences to direct them or give them guilt when they do wrong. Humans are highly developed mechanisms, organisms, creatures, etc., plus we have a spirit at our core. Something that no robot will ever have It is right and good that God should judge us
for doing bad things from our hearts and minds within. Ask God to continue opening your mind to these difficult concepts.
God be with you,
Ray
http://www.forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/topic,3095.0.html -------
we are billions of times more complex than "puppets" or "atomatons." You fail to see that we LEARN. We have the ability to accumulate, process data, AND LEARN. That God puts us in the situations necessary to accomplish this is no sin.
We "train" our little children by our SUPERIOR POWER AND KNOWLEDGE, and we in fact, FORCE (if you want to use a strong word) our will upon them, by LOVINGLY TEACHING them right from wrong. And thankfully, THEY DO LEARN, and that is no sin on our part for having superior knowledge, wisdom, and power to enforce our will on theirs in this learning process. We ARE God's children.
You are fighting the Scriptures and the laws of physics. There are NO uncaused effects anywhere in the universe except in the deceived minds of carnal-minded men. Listen to my Bible Study from Sunday on our Forum. It is on "free will."
God be with you,
Ray
http://www.forums.bible-truths.com/index.php?topic=253.msg2134#msg2134 ---
It is within the carnal mind to do ALL the evils of the universe, and that is why carnal-minded people do such things.
Ask yourself what kinda of a God would allow YOU to be led to these same crimes of eating your own children? PEOPLE rape little girls, not God! Some people WANT to rape little girls. Others just want to DECEIVE their fellow brothers and sisters into thinking that they are powerful, or great, or spiritual, or wise, or loving, etc., but are just as evil inside as Adolph Hitler. Given the opportunity we would have all been Calvin and Hitler. But is it necessary? Yes, it is necessary. Do we think that God is playing a game?
I once placed a board across a little stream that I crossed going to school in the first grade. However, laying a board accross San Francisco Bay is a bit more involved. Creating a cat that will sit and purr on your lap is one thing, but creating creatures into the very IMAGE OF GOD HIMSELF, is quite another. Even the miracle of the Golden Gate Bridge compared to a wooden board cannot compare to what we see now and what we will be when God is through with us.
It takes incredible powers of good and evil to accomplish this. Christians cannot justify God's use of evil, and hence attribute it to what they preceive to be a greater force than God--SATAN. Supposedly God doesn't want evil, but He just can't stop Satan. Nonsense. Read my site. I told you it is a large subject.
Ray
http://www.forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/topic,2721.0.html --------
God CREATED evil (Isa. 45:6) and God USES evil all day long. Evil has no moral bias. Evil means to crush to pieces irrespective of any emotion. Men, of course, SIN when they use evil against another. God never sins when He uses evil.
It is part of the very purpose of our existence to "experience evil." "...It is an EXPERIENCE OF EVIL Elohim [God] has given to the sons of humanity to humble them by it" (Ecc. 1:12). Name me one virtue that is not the direct result of overcoming some form of evil? Sorry, but I have hundreds of unanswered emails ahead of yours. Read the material on our site for the details. Read my four-part series "The Myth of Free Will Exposed" in Installment 15 of my "Lake of Fire" series near the top of our home page.
God be with you,
Ray