On Sunday evening, we had a discussion on free will at Charis Worship.  How much freedom are we given by God to make our decisions in life?

If we are truly given free will, this limits God's power or control over the universe.  God grants us the ability to choose either wisely or poorly our own course of actions.  Thus, you may have some people decide to crash an airplane into a building.

Why did God allow this to happen?  Because we are not puppets and have the free will to live our lives the way we see fit.

We listened to a song at Charis by Rush entited, "Free Will".

This song allows us to ask the question, do we blame other things for actions that are really our responsibility, as in "the devil made me do it" or "it was just fated to happen"?  I do see some people attributing awful things to God simply to defend God's sovereign power.

For instance, when NFL player Donte Stallworth struck and killed Mario Reyes with his vehicle which Stallworth was operating while intoxicated, someone may say, "well, God must have needed Mario in heaven" which tacitly implies that God was behind the death rather than Stallworth's poor choice to drive drunk.

By allowing Stallworth free will, God chooses to self-limit divine power. 

Furthermore, our Wesleyan tradition upholds the notion of free will with specific examples coming from John Wesley's sermon entitled "Free Grace" which really takes a strong stand against predestination.

Donald Haynes, a professor of United Methodist studies, claims that Rick Warren's theology in his popular book, A Purpose Driven Life, serves as an apologetic for God's sovereignty when Warren states that God chooses "...the exact time of your birth and death..."  This would imply that Stallworth was merely acting as God's agent in the divine scheme of things when he ran over poor Mr. Reyes.  Maybe that's why Stallworth only got 30 days in prison.

I don't believe that we're a vast computer program, running through the motions.  I'm not even that big a fan of puppets when human beings control them let alone thinking that I might be one.

Even when the studies of birth order, generational dynamics and genetic predisposition tend to force us into a behavioral box, I still assert free will and personal responsibility.  After all, isn't this the true gift parents finally relinquish to their children?  The gift to make their own decisions?

In the words of John Rusco, "Thank God for that gift!"