{"id":393,"date":"2009-08-28T10:04:58","date_gmt":"2009-08-28T16:04:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/?p=393"},"modified":"2009-08-28T10:04:58","modified_gmt":"2009-08-28T16:04:58","slug":"do-we-have-free-will","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/2009\/08\/do-we-have-free-will\/","title":{"rendered":"Do We Have Free Will?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>My friend, <a href=\"http:\/\/andynaselli.com\/theology\/\">Andy Naselli<\/a> (research asst. to D.A. Carson), has put together a few very helpful resources on the thorny topic,\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Do We Have a Free Will?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/media.crosswaybristol.org\/DifficultIssues\/Summer2009\/DI-20090610AN.mp3\" target=\"_blank\">MP3<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0(1 hour and 45 minutes including Q&amp;A)<a href=\"http:\/\/media.crosswaybristol.org\/DifficultIssues\/Summer2009\/DI-20090610AN.mp3\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/andynaselli.com\/theology\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009_free_will_handout.pdf\">Handout<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0(7-page PDF)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/andynaselli.com\/theology\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009_free_will.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">Condensed Essay<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0(4-page PDF, which\u00c2\u00a0<em>Reformation 21<\/em>\u00c2\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.reformation21.org\/articles\/do-we-have-free-will.php\" target=\"_blank\">reprinted today<\/a>)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>His basic outline is this:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What is \u00e2\u20ac\u0153free will\u00e2\u20ac\u009d?<\/li>\n<li>What have noteworthy theologians thought about \u00e2\u20ac\u0153free will\u00e2\u20ac\u009d?<\/li>\n<li>What are biblical and theological reasons for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153compatibilism\u00e2\u20ac\u009d?<\/li>\n<li>How does \u00e2\u20ac\u0153free will\u00e2\u20ac\u009d relate to the origin of both sin and conversion?<\/li>\n<li>Concluding Applications on the Free-Will Debate<\/li>\n<li>Recommended Reading<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>He gives the following theses to summarize the biblical teaching:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Bible never says that humans are free in the sense that they are autonomously able to make decisions that are not caused by anything.<\/li>\n<li>God is absolutely sovereign.<\/li>\n<li>Humans are morally responsible, which requires that they be free.<\/li>\n<li>God\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s absolute sovereignty and human freedom and responsibility are simultaneously true.<\/li>\n<li>The Bible condemns some people for acts not done with a libertarian free will.<\/li>\n<li>God is omniscient (e.g., he predicts future events).<\/li>\n<li>God breathed out Scripture through humans without violating their personalities.<\/li>\n<li>God enables Christians to persevere: Christians work\u00c2\u00a0<em>because<\/em>\u00c2\u00a0God works.<\/li>\n<li>God himself does not have a free will in the libertarian sense.<\/li>\n<li>God\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s people do not have free wills in heaven in the libertarian sense.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>That&#8217;s just a quick overview. I highly recommend taking the time to work through some or all of Andy&#8217;s material. Some terms (like <em>compatibilism<\/em> or <em>libertarian freedom<\/em>) might be new to you or seem\u00c2\u00a0unnecessarily\u00c2\u00a0technical, but they are often a part of any thoughtful discussion of this issue, and Andy introduces and explains such technical terms gently and clearly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My friend, Andy Naselli (research asst. to D.A. Carson), has put together a few very helpful resources on&#8230; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/2009\/08\/do-we-have-free-will\/\">Continue Reading &rsaquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[39],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=393"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":399,"href":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393\/revisions\/399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}