We are not free though. Whether you believe in God or whether you deny his existence, we are not free. Physics teaches that we are the product of an enormous chain of chemical, biological, and physical reactions reaching back to the beginning of time, and if we were diligent enough, and we were meticulous enough, we could look from the beginning of this chain and predict exactly the end of it, right here, right now, as you read this. Science teaches that you are determined.
Philosophy believes that we have free will, but what is philosophy after all? Philosophy is the reasoning of men reasoning about reason. Philosophy is a school of fish talking to each other about the world beyond the sea immediately before the fisherman catches them in a net to be eaten.
There is no fisherman.
We are not food.
Who cares what they think? They know nothing.
The one escape, the last authority that may redeem us from the ignominious and humiliating jaws of fatalism, the Word of God, also teaches that we are determined. Impersonal forces set in motion at the beginning of time have not determined our existence and the events of our lives, however. God has and wholly without apology or qualification of any kind.
Modern "process theologians" believe that God limits or denies his sovereignty in order to allow man the dignity of free will. With free will, man can thwart the plans of God. God must then adjust his plans to allow for man's freedom. Who then is sovereign? Not God by any means.
Nothing remotely similar to this "theology" can be verified through Scripture.
God rules the mind of Nebuchadnezzar:
Let his mind be changed from that of a man and let a beast's mind be given to him, and let seven periods of time pass over him. This sentence is by decree of the angelic watchers, and the decision is a command of the holy ones, in order that the living may know that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows it on whom He wishes and sets over it the lowliest of men.
Daniel 4.16-17 New American Standard Bible
Without explaining a single event, God assumes responsibility for the calamity of Job, rather than blame Satan:
Who is this that darkens counsel
By words without knowledge?
Now gird up your loins like a man,
And I will ask you, and you instruct Me!
Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell Me, if you have understanding,
Who set its measurements? Since you know.
Or who stretched the line on it?
On what were its bases sunk?
Or who laid its cornerstone,
When the morning stars sang together
And all the sons of God shouted for joy?
Job 38.1-2
Our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases.
Psalm 115.3
God leads nations as with a cattle hook in the nose (Isaiah 37.29). He sent an evil spirit to lead men to their judgment (Judges 9.23). He hardens hearts and renders men unable to respond in faith (Exodus 4.21; 33.19; Isaiah 6.9-11; Matthew 13.10-17). He creates us for His purpose, for destruction or for mercy (Romans 9.21-23).
There is no such thing as true free will. In our pride, we grasp for it and cling to it, but if we humbly seek the truth, we will realize that we do not belong to ourselves, but to God, from birth to either eternal death or eternal life.
