Is There Such a Thing as Free Will?

Can we say that mankind truly has a free will? 

What exactly is free will? 

As I began to type this post, I decided to Google “What is free will?” 

The first link that came up in my search was from Princeton University’s Wordnet (a lexical database for English).  It defined free will as “the power of making free choices unconstrained by external agencies”. 

Dictionary.com defines “free will” with the following two definitions:  “1. free and independent choice; voluntary decision.  2. the doctrine that the conduct of human beings expresses personal choice and is not simply determined by physical or divine forces.”

Wordnet gives a very solid, accurate, and concise definition of free will.  Let’s use that definition for this discussion.

Free will

“the power of making free choices

unconstrained by external agencies”

It’s About Relating, Not About Doing

[I began to write this post a couple of weeks ago on August 16th.  For the sake of time and simplicity, I will not change its beginning to make the point that now it has been two weeks since this all took place.]

Yesterday, as I pondered some of the events of my past week, I began to see something and to learn what it meant. 

I had all last week to myself at home.  My husband and two of my children went on vacation to visit family.  I did not go with them because we have four dogs and to try to find someone to care for them is such a hassle, especially now that my oldest one is blind. Four weeks ago, I went on a vacation with my daughter to visit my family for a couple of weeks, and last week, my husband took one of our sons and our daughter to visit his family.  A dear friend came to visit me for the first weekend, and we had a fantastic time together.  After her departure on Sunday, I had the house pretty much all to myself for the rest of the week.  I had made up my mind that I was going to accomplish a great many things.  My plans were to catch up in areas or responsibility where I was behind and also immerse myself in some reading, studying, and writing (three of my favorite things to do).  Those were my goals.  Some were accomplished, and some were not.

The Battle with T I M E

I have this constant battle with time, and it seems to be getting worse and worse.  On some days, the battle is more like a full blown war.  Each day there are so many different things calling and needing my attention and energy.  And sometimes I arrive at days like today where I feel completely frustrated over the battle. 

Today, my focus has been upon coming up with a “doable” way for me to bring some extra income into our finances.  My husband works very hard to provide the money for our family’s needs; he couldn’t possibly work any harder.  However, living expenses continue increasing and my husband’s salary does not or it’s actually being decreased by company pay cuts or higher health insurance costs.  Such is the economy we live in today.

We are a one-income household and have been for 16 years.  Sixteen years ago, I made a commitment to my children to be a stay at home mom for them and to raise them and be their main influence and teacher in their childhood.  The decision did not come easily because of the material sacrifices it would entail.  At that time, I was cutting our income in exactly half, and we had plenty of bills to pay.  We faced our share of financial hardships and difficulties for years.  And many times, we wondered if we were going to make it at all.  However, our children never went without food, shelter, and the great love and attention of their parents.  Twelve years ago, I added another commitment along to that when I decided to home school my children.  When I was praying about that decision in 1998, it was made clear to me that there were no negatives for my children if I proceeded with home schooling.  I did realize that the one thing I needed to be very aware of was that I was giving up a lot of my time for my children.  I remember writing a list of “pros” and “cons”, with my “pros” list being lengthy and my “cons” list having one item: my time.  And so my focus for the last 16 years has been having a strong marriage, raising and teaching our children, and caring for our home. 

There have been moments over the years when I’ve toyed with the idea of working part time because our finances were in such a crunch.  Yet, every time, the idea seems ridiculous because it doesn’t seem possible to me to be able to divide myself or my efforts any further.  I feel that adding work outside of the home would certainly cause me lose focus and bring some failure at another one of my very important roles. The roles I have made a commitment to are too precious to me to set myself up to fail in any of them.  Many times, I’ve had at length conversations with God and asked Him to give me peace in one decision or another and reminded myself to trust in HIS provision for us.  He often reassures me that all is going to be okay.

But occasionally I arrive at days like today, when I am anxious and frustrated about the finances and my seeming incapacity to do anything about helping them.  I try to come up with ideas of things I could possibly do, even considering incorporating my blogs/writing to make a few dollars to help us out.  But as I pursue trying to go about how in the world to do these things, I feel like I am in slow motion, pushing against a ton of bricks.  Where does the time come from to educate myself in how to make bit of money doing something I love and also incorporate it into my daily schedule?  I love to write and share about my experiences with God in daily life, but how do I find more time to do it?  I long for more time to study, to read and write, to minister and help others, but how do I find it?  I don’t know. 

Well, I don’t know in the relative sense of the words.  I do know in the absolute sense.  God is the one who is the Giver of time, energy, and perseverance.  If He’s not providing it, and I’m trying to force it, then it will feel like I’m pushing against a ton of bricks and going nowhere.  But I also struggle with the fact that just because something is difficult, it doesn’t mean God is not all over it and leading me that direction.  Plenty of things in my life have come with great difficulty, and it has been God taking me through those paths.  In the midst of difficulty, He accomplishes the greatest things within me.  Like I know He’s doing even now.

I’m not sure what the purpose of writing all this is, except to help me think things through.  Writing is my outlet.  It also gives me the opportunity to be sincerely honest with all who read this blog in stating that while I firmly believe in the sovereignty of God and His complete control over all, I still wrestle like everyone else in the difficulties of this human life.

Trusting Him for the answers and for all that we need…

Great Article on Home Church

I was just made aware of a wonderful article published on the Tennessean.com website about home churches.  I believe this article was very well written and that the author did a great job of highlighting some of the greatest things about participating in a home church.  The highlights mentioned are some of the very reasons why I love the home church concept and participating in a home church.

“To get to church on a recent Sunday morning, the Yeldell family walked no farther than their own living room to greet fellow worshippers.  The members of this "house church" are part of what experts say is a fundamental shift in the way U.S. Christians think about church. Skip the sermons, costly church buildings and large, faceless crowds, they say. House church is about relationships forged in small faith communities.”

Please read the article in its entirety and view some photos at the following link:

“Christians Skip Sermon, Worship at Home”.  

A Name Change

For a few months, I’ve felt the prodding to change the title of this blog.  I’ve been feeling that the current title doesn’t do justice to what this blog is all about.  I have pondered different titles for some time, yet nothing seemed right.  A few days ago, I considered the title “Discovering God” which is also the main title to another website which I have but which is also in great, great need of updating.  My “Web Meister”, my dear husband, currently has an overwhelmingly demanding schedule and is unable to work on that website for me.  And I’m not up to speed on doing web design stuff and have little time to spare myself.  The Discovering God Ministries website was created with the same purpose in mind as this blog—to express myself as I walk the journey with God and my daily discoveries of Him.  I actually had the idea for that site long before this blog.  This blog just became an easier way for me to post on the web where I didn’t have to know the ins and outs of posting on a website and all the html lingo.

So here it is… “Discovering God”…all the same ingredients with a new label.  :-)

This blog is all about my journey discovering God and sharing some of that experience with the world.  I post from what I learn in my daily walk with him and hope it will be a blessing and encouragement to others.

In His boundless grace,

Mary Ann

My Help Always Comes from God

Life is quite the rollercoaster.  We can find ourselves up in the heights and down in the lows in the blink of an eye.  I don’t know that much about rollercoasters because I don’t like them and avoid riding them.  But from the few times I have ridden on one, I remember enough to realize that life tends to be very much like one.

One moment in life, we can find ourselves at such a “happy high” and feeling like everything is just peachy!  But a moment later, we might suddenly find ourselves at a “sad low” wondering if everything will turn out all right.

It is hard for me to face the extreme lows after extreme highs.  Well…the truth is that I don’t think there is ever a time when I can face the extreme lows without difficulty.  Who wants the highs to end?  Not me!

However, I am also very well aware that without the valley lows I would never appreciate the mountain highs.  Too easily we take things and people for granted in this life.  We like to complain all the time about things we shouldn’t complain about, and we tend to forget all the goodness we have been blessed with day in and day out.  Often times, the only way we can learn to appreciate what we have been given so abundantly is by having to live without it for a time.  The lows of life play a very important role.  Through those lows, we learn and grow in our character and in our faith much more than we ever could during any “happy high”.  “Happy highs” are mini vacations in the “work of life”, and they don't last indefinitely.

A little over a week ago, I was experiencing a wonderful happy high time for a few hours.  But the next day, some circumstances and difficulties with one of my children brought that high time crashing down to a difficult low.  It’s a valley low time for one of my children right now, and I travel the valley with that child.  My child has no idea or current ability to understand that in my heart, mind, and soul I travel the valley with her; but I certainly do.  That’s just the kind of person and mom that I am. 

In that valley low, I cry out Psalm 121 for myself, my child, and our family: 

I will lift up my eyes to the mountains;
From where shall my help come?
My help comes from the LORD,
Who made heaven and earth.
He will not allow your foot to slip;
He who keeps you will not slumber.
Behold, He who keeps [us]
Will neither slumber nor sleep.
The LORD is your keeper;
The LORD is your shade on your right hand.
The sun will not smite you by day,
Nor the moon by night.
The LORD will protect you from all evil;
He will keep your soul.
The LORD will guard your going out and your coming in
From this time forth and forever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtZX7a44fMI

I love You, O LORD, my strength.

The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,

My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge;

My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. 

I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised,

And I am saved…

By God’s Power (Ponderings in Colossians 1)

Colossians 1:9-11

 “…we…do not cease praying for you and requesting that you may be filled full with the realization of His will, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, you to walk worthily of the Lord for all pleasing, bearing fruit in every good work, and growing in the realization of God; being endued with all power, in accord with the might of His glory, for all endurance and patience with joy…”

Are we in need of understanding and wisdom?  Then seek and ask God for it and wait for Him to grant it in His perfect timing.  It is only God who can fill us with understanding and wisdom and grant us the growth of realizing Who He really and truly is.  He is the One who grows us up and brings us to a realization of the truth of Himself—Who He is and what He is all about.

“…and growing in the realization of God; being endued with all power, in accord with the might of His glory…”

I have some thoughts and notes written about that phrase from when I was studying it four months ago.  And I started to type them up for this post.  However, even as I was typing and thinking about their meaning, I realized that the phrase could be read and understood in at least two different ways.  The difference takes place with regards to where the punctuation is placed.  Punctuation can certainly change the meaning of a sentence.

Do you know that punctuation had no part whatsoever in the original Scriptures?  Paul’s letter to the Colossians did not have neat punctuation marks, and it certainly did not have chapter numbers or verses!  These have all been added by man over the years for ease in readability and study.  E.W. Bullinger states the following in his book How to Enjoy the Bible on pages 37-38:

“One other mode of dividing the Word as to its Literary Form is by Punctuation; which is a still more important manner of dividing the Word, as it seriously affects the Text by dividing its sentences, and thus fixing its sense…

…The Greek Manuscripts have, practically, no system of punctuation: the most ancient, none at all; and the later MSS nothing more than an occasional single point even with the middle, or in line with the top of the letters.  Where there is anything more than this it is generally agreed that it is the work of a later hand.

So that in the Original Manuscripts we have no guide whatever to any dividing of the Text, whether rightly or wrongly.  Indeed, in the most ancient MSS there is not only no division at all, but there is not even any break between the words!”

Let’s take a closer look at the phrase:

“…and growing in the realization of God; being endued with all power, in accord with the might of His glory…”

The word “endued” stands for the original Greek word “dunamo” literally meaning to make-ABLE.  Reading the verse with the punctuation in place, I understood it to say that God is the One who enables us with power in accordance with the strength and power of His glory.  I read it this way because Paul is telling the Colossians that he does not cease praying for them and requesting that they may be filled full with the realization of God’s will  in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.  He also writes of his desire that they may walk worthily of the Lord, bearing (carrying) fruit in all their good work, growing in the realization of God.  I read his words as expressing different things he is praying for them to receive from God and of the spiritual life he desires for them to live out in Christ. 

Therefore, when he states “growing in the realization of God; being endued with all power, in accord with the might of His glory”, I initially understood him to be saying that his desire is for them to grow in the realization of God and that God may endue them with all power necessary for all endurance and patience with joy.  The power that God endues us with is not so finite and earthly focused as merely describing a “controlling power” over someone.  It speaks of power much greater than that.  It speaks of a power to be able to do or endure in countless different situations.  It speaks of a power to remain silent when we are being cursed and attacked or the power to speak when we are feeling terribly afraid to do so.  It may be the power granted to us so that we put someone else’s best interest before your own, even when they could care less you are doing so or could care less about you as an individual.  Or, as in this case, Paul is saying that his hope and prayer is that God will enable them with all power “for all endurance and patience with joy”.

So, what happens if we take the punctuation out of the phrase and take the phrase out of its context?

“…and growing in the realization of God being endued with all power in accord with the might of His glory…”

Now, I can also read the phrase as stating that there will be a growing in the realization of God, but that God is being endued with all power in accord with the might of His glory.  One of the definitions of endued is “to be clothed”.  Can we read this to say that God is being clothed with all power in accord with the might of His glory?  We could.  I firmly believe that God IS ALL-powerful.  He is The One with ALL power regardless of how much power man thinks he has.  However, being faithful and careful to read these words in their context of what Paul is expressing and to whom, we can see that in this situation he’s not speaking of God being endued with power.  Digging further into the Greek text, we can gather more information. 

The Greek language is quite complex and rich in its expression.  I am FAR from being some kind of Greek scholar, but I do like to dig deep into trying to understand the original word in its original language and what it literally meant.  I use online Bible study tools such as Blue Letter Bible and the Interlinear Scripture Analyzer to help my understanding.   And I also make great use of the excellent concordance at the back of my Concordant Literal New Testament.  The Greek language has different “tense”, “voice”, “mood”, and various other grammatical divisions for words.  Depending on these factors, the exact meaning of one word can vary.

Looking up “endued” on Blue Letter Bible, we discover the Greek “tense” is in the present, the “voice” is in the passive, and the “mood” is in the participle.  The present tense of course states that the action of “endued” is taking place right now, in the present.  The passive voice tells us that the object of the sentence is receiving the action of this verb without the object having anything to do with making it happen.  And the participle acts like “-ing” added to the word; hence, the CLNT translating “dunamo” in this case as “being endued”.

Tying those facts together along with the fact that no one endues God (He is all powerful Himself) and with the context of the phrase in this letter where which Paul is expressing of list of things which he is praying for the Colossians to receive from God, it is clear to see that Paul is saying that “the saints and believing brethren in Christ in Colosse” are “being endued with all power” by God, according “with the might of His glory, for all endurance and patience with joy”.  They are being enabled with all power that they may have “endurance”—the ability to remain and persevere under whatever circumstances come into their lives.

This stands true today for Christ believers today!  We are being enabled by God, with all power, in accordance with the might of His glory, for all endurance and that we may have patience with joy in any circumstance that we find ourselves in on any day.

Thank you, Mighty God!  Thank You for Your amazing power that carries us through the most difficult of circumstances and helps us to endure when we would rather give up.  Thank You for Your graceful and patient power that carries us when we can’t seem to carry ourselves.  Some days I grow so tired of persevering, the circumstances wear me down, and I feel like throwing my arms up in the air and saying, ”Forget it!  I give up!”  But there You are, holding me up, carrying me through, enduing me with all the power I need to take one more step and walk in the direction that You have chosen and prepared for me to walk.  Thank You for the path You have masterfully designed for me.  There are many difficulties on this path, but I know You are there every single step of the way.  Not one thing I come across on this path is out of Your control.

Related posts: 

Filled Full (Ponderings in Colossians 1) 

Carrying Fruit (Ponderings in Colossians 1)