Does God Have "Free Will"?

On The Freedom of God:

In His proclamation to Moses in Exodus 33:19, God gives some information about what it is for Him to be God. In saying, “ I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy,” (Exodus 33:19 ESV) God is declaring His freedom to be Himself.

He chooses to be gracious and merciful to Moses (and, perhaps, Israel) because He has freely decided to do so. God is absolutely free in a way we cannot imagine. He is bound only by His nature (ie. He cannot lie) and His promises (His promises must be fulfilled). He is not “required” to respond to anyone. There is no one in the entire universe who can rightly question God. God is not subject to anyone--ever. Period. Even when He must fulfill His promises, He is subject to Himself, not an outside person or reality.

God’s freedom demonstrates that He is always the Creator and man is always the creature. The creature is never free of the Creator’s universe (its natural laws, its Creator-given rules, etc.), therefore the creature is never really “free” in a total sense because he or she is subject to something outside himself or herself. Only the Creator can be totally free because it is His universe and He controls it and is not subject to it.

Blessings,

The Archangel

 

The #1 giveaway someone is a Reprobate is they call themselves Elect and others Reprobates.




Actual total depravity wouldn't care to war with God. You would deal more with a great apathy rather then a hatred. Hatred is too CARING.

Hatred wants attention, you know. They will run you over the car when they see you and they very much care about what you think of them, its very social.


Apathy.....the opposite of love......Doesn't give a rats patoot about anything.23But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better; 24yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake. It would laugh its way into hell just as bad as heaven.

 

Your working from a false premis and failed view when stating that apathy is the opposite of love.

Apathy is the opposite of caring. The opposite of total love is total abhorrence.

The apathy and the abhorrence may be simultaneously expressed, and may be enlarged in various areas, but one is not the other.

For example:
The typical “Freedom From Religion Foundation” is not merely apathetically inclined toward believer’s expressions of religeon, rather their abhorrence drives them to action to remove all things Godly.

 

Strawman....

It's fine if you have no answer to the issue.

 

Absolutely. He is also omnipotent and omniscient.

The issue that you seem to have avoided above I have copied here for our convenience.

So, while we certainly believe that God possesses all of the above attributes, we believe that He is still God and can do as He wills - even if it is beyond our logic and ability to comprehend.

 

I apologize. I assumed you believed in the deity of Christ.

We are speaking now of omniscience, not omnipresence. See my post above dealing with omnipresence.

God is impeccable.

 

When God the Son became Jesus, was all of Him in Jesus, or was He also present in heaven also?
Had someone ask me that before!

 

Do you mean that He exercised His free will when He voluntarily limited Himself?

After considering all of the passages posted here, I am going to concede this point. Although I believe that God certainly could remove His presence from anywhere He may choose, I do not think that He would.

 

Dan 4:35 KJV And all the inhabitants of the earth [are] reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and [among] the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?

 

No. God can do anything that is possible, but not things that by definition are impossible. God cannot create a a triangle with four sides because a triangle, by definition has three sides. If it had four sides, it would not be a triangle.

So, did you ever answer the question about whether God has free will? (I just started reading the thread).

 

No, not by THAT definition of Free Will. God cannot choose to do evil because that would be God acting contrary to His nature which would make him ‘not-God’. God cannot stop being God (Holy).