Category: Free will

A newsletter came in the mail that began: “The days we are living in are so different from the days we all once know. It seems as if the entire world has gone insane and evil seems to surround us. We have watched the world change into a place where God is no longer important and [is] slowly being removed from our everyday lives.”

And then, a couple of paragraphs later:

Everything that happens to us has first passed through the hand of God. He has allowed everything in our lives in order to achieve His divine purpose for our lives.

Further on:

Nothing is more important than knowing the living God who is in control of every detail of our lives.

I can’t be the only one seeing a disconnect. Then again, from this newsletter it would seem obvious that the distance and lack of fellowship I experience with God is a direct result of God working to achieve some divine purpose. Lovely.

Perhaps I’m the one being deceived by “fine-sounding arguments” (Col 2:4). Still, with the application of a little common sense and a bit of logic, I can’t help but think that so many Christians routinely speak out of “both sides of their mouths”. Never once have I heard someone praise God for legalized abortion. And those I know who’ve had to endure cancer or some other significant physical malady, each and every one has sought medical intervention.

With more than 300 million people in the USA, God has determined that our choice for the next president will be Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton? Seriously? And fifteen years to the day after the terrorist attacks on 9/11, I’m at a loss to understand just what it was that required God to snuff out nearly 3000 lives.

I know this organization – have read some of its material – and fully believe that the author of this newsletter is writing with good will and intentions believing he’s in the “center of God’s will”. I can’t help but chuckle just a bit thinking the author believes he’s hit a homerun with this newsletter. To me, however, it’s a swing and a miss.

A lot of politicians end speeches with ‘God bless America’ and other similar sentiments. However, when John Kasich, after suspending his presidential campaign stated that his faith is renewed and deeper (I presume from the experience of running for president) and that the Lord will show him “the way forward to fulfill the purpose of his life” – well, my eyes started rolling.

From this statement, I can only presume that Kasich got into the presidential race because he felt God leading him. To which, is Kasich is a godwillian – one who believes that whatever happens, God desires it to be and brought it about?

As an example, John Piper is a godwillian because he’s quoted in Is God to Blame (pg 48) as saying: “From the smallest thing to the greatest thing, good and evil, happy and sad, pagan and Christian, pain and pleasure – God governs them all for His wise and just and good purpose.”

Okay, so let me see if I understand Kasich’s logic:

You felt led by God to run for president.

God has now led you to stop running for president.

I can only assume that you must have thought that it was God’s purpose for your life was to be president. But now, for whatever reason, things have changed.

And for the time being, you’ll wait until the Lord reveals his direction on how to fulfill the purpose of your life.

If I were to take Piper’s logic to it’s logical conclusion, it must be that God is about to choose between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton to be this nations’ president. Ah, yeah. I’ll believe that when I see Piper praise God for legalizing abortion. Hey, “God governs them all for his wise and just and good purpose”.

And, I guess we’ll now see where God leads Mr. Kasich. 

A number of years ago I read Garry Friesen’s book, Decision Making and the Will of God and found it incredibly liberating. No longer did I have to seek, as Friesen calls it, “the dot” – or “the center of God’s will”. In part, the “traditional approach” to seeking God’s will was ever troubling to me if for no other reason than there seemed to be as many ways to seek God’s will as there were people seeking God’s will. Friesen’s approach to use wisdom in guiding decision-making, although perhaps not as “spiritual-sounding”, is obviously more pragmatic and, to me, logical. Friesen’s “methodology” intuitively made more sense.

With that in mind, I was recently given a copy of M. Blaine Smith’s book, Finding God’s Will, in which there’s an appendix challenging Friesen’s premise. There appears to be a subtle jab at Friesen when Smith writes,

Christians are more inclined to raise questions [as to whether or not the notion of God’s personal will for every believer] is an elaborate straw man than they were when I wrote [Knowing God’s Will] [because] Friesen’s [book] was published about a year after my own book.

Is Smith upset at having lost revenue from reduced book sales? Or perhaps Smith is frustrated with more people comparing and contrasting both books? Maybe both?

In any event, Smith’s critique of Friesen’s Decision Making at best seems muted when Smith himself states [pg 239],

I agree [with Friesen’s] biblical analysis – especially [Friesen’s] observation that Christians in New Testament times generally made their decisions through a rational process.

Smith, however, clarifies his own belief that the early Christians’ “rational process” gives testimony to the way they went about discovering God’s specific and personal will. So far as I can determine, nowhere within Scripture is there a defined “process” indicating how believers should go about finding God’s personal and specific will. Honestly, many folks seem to make the stuff up as they go – selectively pulling individual verses that may lend themselves to some semblance of a “process”. This is unfortunate as in my opinion believers of a personal will of God are making the Bible teach something that the Bible doesn’t actually teach.

Smith states, [pg 238]

Scripture gives us the basis for embracing the full level of human freedom in decision making [without] letting go of the cherished concept (emphasis mine) of a personal will of God.

Honestly, if a book dedicated to knowing God’s specific will and finding guidance for personal decisions can be distilled down to a “cherished concept”, then the author lacks the conviction of what he’s put forth in the 248 pages of this book.

Smith writes in numerous places as to an “individual will” in God’s guidance all the while seeking a wise decision. For example:

[pg 103] First, we should study Scripture [for then] we have a responsibility to use our reason to make a logical choice about God’s will, as opposed to looking for supernatural indications or purely intuitive impressions of his guidance.

[pg 115] Human reason was the channel through which God’s will was normally known. In most cases discerning his will boiled down to a matter of making a sound, logical choice.

[pg 123] For Paul, discerning God’s will was mainly a matter of making sound, logical judgments, in light of what course appeared most glorifying to God

In light of these comments, and because Smith’s book was published prior to Friesen’s book, an inquiring mind wonders whether or not Smith feels that Friesen is more than a little guilty of plagiarism?

As to supernatural guidance, Smith seems to sum up well the reality that,

We cannot always judge the authenticity of such an experience merely by looking at its psychological nature [because sometimes] we do have a good basis for believing an episode has been purely hallucinatory. [pg 137]

Eventually, Smith surmises that we can authenticate supernatural guidance against scripture. If that guidance is outside of God’s moral will, then we can rest assure that that guidance was not from God. I would agree! As does Friesen! Any decision outside of God’s moral will (law) is not acceptable to God. To which, and this is what Friesen would advocate, I can have confidence that any decision I make which does not violate God’s moral will (his laws) is therefore acceptable (and I would go so far as to say even pleasing) to God.

A couple of quotes caught my attention as I was reading Knowing God’s Will:

Within certain boundaries, however, God allows us the adventure of seeking his will, the privilege of being partners with Christ in his work and the possibility of success or failure in the whole process. [pg 88]

So, have I got this right? According to Smith, God specifically leads and directs some to fail? As I’ve noted in earlier posts, this is Calvinistic thinking at its best – God chooses to save some and conversely he chooses to damn some. In a like manner, God chooses some to succeed and for others to fail. Simply put, if I’m made in God’s image, then I’m truly hard-pressed to desire and intentionally direct or otherwise lead any of my own kids to failure. It makes no sense.

According to Smith, when making a major decision, [pg 109] we should spend some additional time reading portions of scripture that relate directly to the decision. On the face of it, this is a no-brainer. So, let’s refer to Smith’s own experience in wanting to marry a particular young gal [pg37]. In a sub-chapter entitled, “When Visions Fail”, a 25 year-old Smith is pondering his future and begins to focus on a particular young woman. As Smith states,

• He was attracted to her. He was certain that God gave him a vision of what it would be like to be married to her. Smith “cherished the belief” that he’d seen God’s future for him.
• However, feelings were apparently not mutual and in due time this young lady became engaged to someone else.
• Then Smith began to think that he’d taken more guidance from those thoughts and feelings than God had perhaps intended and sums up his experience, “These feelings [might indicated that I should take some action] or they might simply be feelings and nothing more.”

Trust your feelings? Wow! There’s some high-level spiritual discourse. Honestly, what guy in his 20’s doesn’t have “feelings” regarding marriage? Really, I’m not criticizing Smith for those feelings if only because I’m convinced that those feelings are God given. However, it’s interesting to look at Paul’s thoughts regarding marriage. So far as I know, 1 Cor 7:1-40 is the longest passage of scripture dealing with marriage and if one is contemplating marriage, this would be a good place to look for guidance. Paul instructs that it would be better to remain unmarried. But if you are married, then do not seek a divorce. The chapter goes on about the advantages of being unmarried and being able to more fully serve God. Of interest to me within this passage is that at no point does Paul indicate any manner to discerning whether it’s God’s will to marry or not. Paul explains that if one isn’t able to control himself (sexual temptation, I presume) then “it’s better to marry than to burn”. This, to me, isn’t discerning God’s will. Rather, this is simply a matter of wisdom. To which, I find it astonishing that throughout these 40 verses, Paul never mentions or indicates through the entire passage anything related to a specific, personal or individual will? It’s as though – maybe – we get to decide for ourselves.

With regard to getting married, how come Smith didn’t put out a fleece (Judges 6) or roll the dice (Prov 16:33)? These things are in the Bible. And yet, I know of no one who’s ever “fleeced” or “rolled the dice” in the course of any decisions. Think of the godly focus (I say this facetiously) that would occur in people’s lives if when looking at a prospective spouse, the respective parties tossed dice. Or a coin. Heads I win and get the pretty one. Tails I lose – and, well, I lose.

Smith does discuss the putting out of a fleece [pg 132, pg 156] and believes that

Scripture points us away from fleecing as a healthy approach to knowing God’s will. [pg 157] I would agree. What Smith does not discuss, however, is the obvious inference from the passage in Judges 6 that Gideon KNEW exactly what God wanted him to do. Gideon, according to scripture, was one of those rare individuals who received direct revelation from God. Gideon was being disobedient to what God had instructed him to do. I can only surmise that it appears as though God “played along” Gideon and perhaps even “messed” with him by way of keeping the ground dry but the fleece wet.

The study of scripture, according to Smith, brings about five things: [pg 105]

1. Deepens our consciousness of God
2. Brings us into contact with God
3. Informs us of God’s principles
4. May inspire or conform [us] to a particular decision
5. Invaluable aid in praying for guidance

I have no doubt as to these statements – particularly in relation to decision making. And I would submit that the more Christ-like we become, the more our decisions will reflect his nature and not our own.

I’ve heard many reference Rom 8:28 that God’s intention for an individual will is paramount to understand his love and care for his creation. However, I would submit that this verse, and others used in similar ways don’t diminish God’s love and care. Instead, these verses are more oriented to God’s sovereign will. If anything, it seems to make more sense to realize that God doesn’t stipulate an individual will in order to sovereignly work out his purposes in the life of a believer (Matt 6:25-34). Furthermore, there are many passages related to Paul making a decision without any indication of a seeking-out of God’s specific will. For instance, twice in 1 Thess 3 Paul makes decisions:

(vs 1) So when we could stand it no longer, we thought it best (emphasis mine) to be left by ourselves in Athens.

(vs 5) For this reason, when I could stand it no longer, I sent to find out (emphasis mine) about your faith.

If, as Smith says, one applies Scripture and wisdom to every decision, the end result will resolve in sound decision-making. What Smith calls God’s individual will, Friesen calls godly and wise decision-making. The terminology, I believe, is paramount to whether or not one accepts responsibility for decision-making or is more inclined to “be the victim” and otherwise “blame someone else” (i.e. God) when things don’t go as well as might be hoped.

In conclusion, then, I find Smith’s Knowing God’s Will (as I find so many other books on the subject of determining God’s personal and specific will) confusing and ultimately not helpful. For every methodology Smith discusses or otherwise outlines on how we ought to discover God’s will, there’s a corresponding caution on using that methodology. This leads me to think that Smith is playing with theological constructs trying to prove something that, at least in my opinion, is either a) unknowable, or b) easily changeable to accommodate personal whims and desires. Ultimately, then, I think it best to focus my attention on that which is knowable; God’s moral will. Let God be God. Let God deal with that which is sovereign to him. Let me focus on the joy that inevitably comes by way of the fruits of the spirit when I live my life in holiness according to God’s moral will.

This post came about as a response to a ten page term paper written by a friend. I regret I’m unable to link to the paper in which is presented a defense of knowing specifically how God is leading each and every individual. Although not specifically stated, the overtone from my Calvinist friend is that God not only leads believers, but that he also leads and directs non-believers.

The three main themes from An Approach to Knowing God’s Will is that God:

1. Has a will for all people
2. Has a will for all Christians
3. Has a specific will for each Christian

I’m in agreement with the first two parts that God has a will for all people which is – to be saved. Obviously, even if I’m not a Calvinist. I’m also in agreement that God has a will for all Christians – which I’d refer to as the “moral will”. The book of Proverbs & Rom 12 immediately come to mind as to general conduct for believers (and, I’d also add, non-believers, too).

The third point that God has a specific will for each Christian is our main difference. Your conclusion states that the Spirit leads specifically “as to the type and place of service.” In addition, you add that God leads and directs individuals to any number of other things including the church one should join, what one’s spiritual service should be, whom to marry, which house to buy, what car to purchase, etc. After all, “[God] knows what’s best for me.”

I find it ever curious that the Bible is replete with general principles and apparent guidelines for (what I believe to be) the express purpose of decision-making. It seems self-evident that God wanted us to have an “instructional guide” to make wise decisions. To which, we’ve been given the Book of Proverbs. By using biblical principles, I can make wise – and I would even say, godly decision as to any number of things – personal, financial or moral.

I don’t believe that I’ve been led to a particular church. In fact, we’ve attended five different churches in the 32 years we’ve lived in the Twin Cities. The reasons we left a given church are perhaps not germane to this discussion. However, suffice it to say that different churches have appealed to me at different times in my life. Ultimately, my criteria for a church is rather simple:

1. Do I like the overall configuration of the service?
2. Is the church evangelical in nature?
3. Can I be “fed” or otherwise grow spiritually?
4. Is there a ministry where I can serve?
5. Is the church within reasonable proximity to where I live?

Lastly, as to what line of work (spiritual service) – how’s ‘bout whatever’s within your “bent” or natural abilities? For me, I can’t work with kids. I hate the chaos and occasional talk-back and discipline issues. On the other hand, I have no fear of walking up to someone and introducing myself. I must have the gift of hospitality. To which, I’m a greeter. My “job” each Sunday is to intentionally seek out people I don’t know for the express purpose of welcoming them. 

Decision-making is often difficult and stressful if for no other reason than there is incomplete information. And, the full impact of decisions can’t always been known. Obviously, some decisions made are better than others. However, as I look at some of Paul’s writings, it’s apparent that God allowed Paul to freely make decisions. Below are some instances where Paul exercised decision-making. I’ve included a paraphrase for the issue/concern at hand:

• Phil 2:25 (I think it’s a good idea)
• 1 Cor 16:3-4 (If it seems the right thing to do)
• Acts 6:1-7 (We need to do something about this)
• Acts 15:24-29 (People got together, debated, decided, and acted)

A letter sent from our church’s board of elders to the congregation illustrates Paul’s examples: 

After evaluating recent giving patterns to the general fund, the elders have determined (emphasis mine) that we must take a decisive step toward “right sizing” our current staffing numbers.

Clearly, the board didn’t “wait upon the Lord”. Nor did the elders indicate any divinely received indication as to whose employment should be terminated. Rather, they have given this difficult decision its due consideration and, I believe, exercised care and concern by way of:

• Analysis – “After evaluating recent giving patterns”
• Collective wisdom – “After much prayer and discussion”
• Decision – “We must take a decisive step”
• Reflection – “This was not an easy decision”

Nowhere are there passages where Paul explains such things as open doors, closed windows or otherwise how God guides individuals. Nor do I find a “method” by which one can ascertain the “will of God”. Instead, Paul describes in various places just what comprises the “will of God”. Interestingly enough, there’s no ambiguity or uncertainty. Romans 12 is a clear and concise outline of God’s will for how we should live:

Rom 12:1      Dedicate your body to God

Rom 12:2      Be transformed. Put on new man

Rom 12:3      Don’t overestimate yourself. Rate your own ability soberly

Rom 12:6-7  Use your gift and give yourself to it

Rom 12:9      Love with sincerity

Rom 12:9      Hate evil and turn from it

Rom 12:9      Hold fast to that which is good

Rom 12:10     Love one another. Prefer one another

Rom 12:11     Never lag in zeal and earnest endeavor

Rom 12:11     Be aglow with the spirit, serving the Lord

Rom 12:12     Rejoice and exult in hope

Rom 12:12     Be steadfast under pressure

Rom 12:12     [Be] Patient in suffering

Rom 12:12     Constant in prayer

Rom 12:13     Give

Rom 12:14     Bless those who persecute you

Rom 12:15     Share others’ lives, give of yourself

Rom 12:16     Live in harmony – adjust

Rom 12:17     Repay no one evil for evil

Rom 12:17     Be honest and above reproach. Avoid the appearance of evil

Rom 12:18     Live at peace with everyone

Rom 12:19     Avenge not yourself

Rom 12:20     Do good to your enemies

Rom 12:21     Overcome evil with good

In conclusion, I don’t see the Bible teaching that God routinely directs the decisions we make. That said, I would agree that it has been the rare exception when God directly intervenes with someone i.e. Paul’s Damascus Road experience. And even for those actually guided directly by God, so far as I can tell, that guidance appears only related to evangelism. To paraphrase Garry Friesen from his book, Decision Making and the Will of God: Any decision made that does not violate God’s moral laws is acceptable to God and even brings about honor and glory to him.