Christian free will is a lie

Free will

: voluntary choice or decision

: freedom of humans to make choices that are not determined by prior causes or by divine intervention 

Many Christians like to use the term free will when discussing salvation and damnation in the context of their religious beliefs. But based on all of the arguments I have seen for and against the existence of free will in a religious context I have come to the conclusion that many theists don't quite understand its meaning. In this post I want to put the concept of free will under the microscope and bring to light what it means and how it is applied to religious beliefs. I will be using biblical citations and examples to further clarify my points of discussion. 

The first thing we need to do is to put the idea of free will into perspective. As the definition I have cited above the word will refers to your ability to make choices. When you refer to free will then the words together expand on its original meaning. It is the ability to choose or make choices freely without any prompting or threats. With this in mind many Christians have implied that we have the free will to choose to worship God (good) or to live as we please without him (evil). But is this really a choice or is it an ultimatum? 

Ultimatum

: a final proposition, condition, or demand; especially : one whose rejection will end negotiations and cause a resort to force or other direct action  

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

Christians want you to believe that without a belief in their god you are incapable of living a good life, or of even knowing right from wrong. They claim that objective moral values come directly from God and that if you don't have him in your life then you cannot possibly live  accordingly because by default your are a sinful creature. This is what the idea of salvation is all about. It's not only about saving you from eternal damnation which we will get to later, but about saving us from ourselves.

5The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. 6The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. Genesis 6:5-6

 10As it is written:“There is no one righteous, not even one;11there is no one who understands;there is no one who seeks God.12All have turned away,they have together become worthless;there is no one who does good,not even one.”  Romans 3:10-12

Basically, even today the above mentioned quotes are the biblical deities opinion of mankind as a whole. You see in the eyes of God man is inherently corrupt and in dire need of salvation from himself. I have written about the concept of sin before and have determined that outside of a relgious concept it like the idea of the existence of God does not make sense. It takes a belief in God to accept the concept of sin. You have to believe that you are a filthy vile creature whose very existence is an offense to God because he is holy. Christianity like Islam requires that you recognize your need for a god in your life. Not only that but you have to also be willing to submit completely to the god of your choice in order to be redeemed and ultimately forgiven. With this forgiveness comes eternal reward but without it the consequence is eternal punishment. 

40“As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. 41The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. 42They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.  Matthew 13:40-42

The above mentioned quote is a parable which speaks of the end of the age. It indicates that those who do not submit to the Lord will be tormented and burned for their disobedience. This parable is explained in its entirety in the paragraph that precedes it. 

37He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. 38The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one, 39and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. Matthew 13:37-39 

Given this explanation man is divided into two groups the righteous (good seed) and the unrighteous (weeds) Notice how it refers to the people of the "evil one." It further explains that this evil one is the devil. The reason for this is that in the mind of a believer you are either a servant of God or an enemy of God. There is no middle ground, when it comes to Christianity and some other religious groups there is no neutral position. If you don't serve one then you automatically are considered a servant of the other. The Bible refers to nonbelievers specifically as enemies of God. 

10For if, while we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Romans 5:10

I've heard believers state often that we are given free will and that God does not force us to worship him but rather gives us the choice to do so. I am convinced that this is not true at all. In fact, I can think of several instances in the Bible where God violated an individuals so called "free will" to carry out his own purposes. For the sake of brevity I will turn to the tale of the Hebrew exodus from slavery in Egypt. After seeing all of the signs and wonders that God had done in Egypt like the 9 plagues that they were hit; with it is impossible not to ask why did Pharaoh take so damn long to give in to God's demand to let his people go? The answer is clearly given within the text itself.

1Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials so that I may perform these signs of mine among them Exodus 10:1

God made it so that Pharaoh would not give in to his demands so that he can show off his power to both Egypt and to the Hebrews. In other word he made him an obstinate man and in doing so violated his so called free will. No rational leader would sit back and watch his people suffer what Pharaoh supposedly saw and lived. Before closing I want to put God's offer on the table by bringing to your attention the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. I will only quote the pertinent points but I suggest if you have the time or the interest to read it in its entirety, you will find that it is quite illuminating.

This story can be found in Daniel chapter 3 most theists use this tale to demonstrate the power of God's salvation to those who remain faithful even in the face of imminent death. But we are going to look at it quite differently and parallel it to the plan of salvation that the New Testament endorses. According to the story King Nebuchadnezzar made a golden image. He then commanded that all who were under his reign had to bow down and worship this image as a god. 

4Then the herald loudly proclaimed, “Nations and peoples of every language, this is what you are commanded to do: 5As soon as you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe and all kinds of music, you must fall down and worship the image of gold that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. 6Whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace.” Daniel 3:4-6

In our telling of this story God represents Nebuchadnezzar who commands all nations to worship his idol. But in this case God wants all nations to worship him. All those that refuse to do so are thrown into a blazing furnace (hell). Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in our retelling represent atheists and agnostics who refuse to bow down to God. The only difference between us and them is that they were faithful to God and in the end they survived the flames of the furnace because God was with them in the fire and no harm came to them! But as atheists and agnostics we do not have another God who will come to our rescue. According to the scriptures our end will be painful and horrible and without end. Come to think of it what is the difference between King Nebuchadnezzar demanding that everyone worship his idol and God demanding that everyone worship him? None!

In all reality, the only free will you have in the entire plan of God is to choose to worship him or not. That is it! Once you choose to worship him then you have to work towards pleasing him by doing his will to the best of your ability. You life is no longer yours you now live to edify your spirit and not your flesh. You seek your reward in heaven and no longer on Earth. You must submit to God and live and obey his word. Too bad that that word is not so clear and is often so contradictory that it is impossible to do so. The Lord's prayer has a line in it that confirms this.

6your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Matthew 6:10

36"Abba, Father," he said, "everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will." Mark 14:36

As his hour of death was approaching Jesus prayed to the father for deliverance. But he ended his prayer with the above mentioned quote: "not what I will, but what you will." You now live for the Lord and every decision you make in life has to be with the famous what would Jesus do question behind it. What would the Lord want me to do in this situation? 

So in closing, is the idea of free will as it relates to Christianity and belief in God true or is it an illusion? My answer is that it is an illusion and at the same time a false conclusion. If it were really about a free choice (free will) then there would be no negative consequences for our choice. We would simply live our lives for better or for worse and die when our time came. But the Christian God threatens eternal torment as a consequence for disobedience or choosing not to worship nor believe in him thus making this an ultimatum. This monster of a deity will punish you for not believing in him, and even for having the audacity to ask for evidence of his existence before committing your life to him!

Note: All biblical citations are taken from the New International Version of the scriptures. All word definitions are taken from the Merriam Webster online dictionary.