Free Moral Agency

We Each Have Personal and Individual Sovereignty of Action

All persons have a will—the free choice to obey or disobey moral, ethical, and civil laws. This also includes those persons who were to love you properly and did not.

All Have Choices

In over 4,000 scriptures where "choose," "will," and other words expressing volition are used, not one suggests that God forces any person to accept Him, His love, or do His will.  Our relationship with God is entirely on a voluntary basis (Rev. 22:17; Mark 16:16; John 3:16; John 7:17; 1 Peter 5:2). If man were not a free moral agent, God would be entirely responsible for all evil, sickness, poverty, rebellion, and alike.

God has definite purposes, all working toward the ultimate purpose of bringing man back to the place where he was before the fall and purge him of all possibility of failing in the future. The Kingdom of Love is the plan of God to end evil and suffering forever (1 Cor. 15:24-28; Ex. 34:6-7; Rev. 21-22).

No one recognizing that endless decisions are necessary to daily life can deny the fact of free acts and conduct, for we know we have freedom of action—moral action—concerning right and wrong. Obedience is meaningless without the possibility of disobedience. We cannot be free if we have no choice—if God imposes His will on ours. From what would we be free?

God is Just

This is part of justice. God has a sound basis of consequence for rebels who reject citizenship in the Kingdom of Love, and of blessing those who do accept citizenship in the Kingdom of Love. God can still be just and holy in the judgment and confinement of rebels to everlasting punishment, since they have refused all merciful dealings. They have hardened themselves against all that is holy and good. There is nothing else for God to do but mete out justice according to deeds committed, for the continued good of society, forever.

God must make examples of both cases, the good and the bad, for the sake of all generations who come into existence in eternity. God cannot excuse rebels and bless them, contrary to His revealed plan, or there would be no end to the breaking of His eternal laws. He would have to continually excuse all wrongdoing forever if He should start such a program, and under such circumstances free wills would have no true restraint. If He excused some and not others, and showed any degree of bias, then where is justice or fairness? If He failed to reward for obedience or punish for disobedience, or in any degree carried on government contrary to prescribed laws and common justice to all and for the best good of all, there would be no true incentive for free wills in all eternity to conform to the eternal plan.

Once again, obedience is meaningless without the possibility of disobedience. We cannot be free if we have no choice—if God imposes His will on ours. From what would we be free? God is love (1 John 4:7-8,16). We know we have freedom of action—moral action—concerning right and wrong. If one can deny these facts, he or she can deny their very existence and prove it on the same basis they try to prove that they are not a free moral agent.  That they are and that they are free to choose their own destiny and daily moral actions are facts known to sane beings.

Whosoever

“Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:4) “Whosoever:” Used 183 times; 73 in the Old Testament and 110 times in the New Testament; it expresses free moral agency and personal and individual sovereignty of action.

All persons have the same choices—free to obey or disobey:

1.     God (Matthew 12:50; Mark 3:35)

2.     Christ (Mark 8:34; 1 John 3:6,10; 1 John 4:15; 1 John 5:1; 2 John 1:9)

3.     The Holy Spirit (Matthew 12:31-32)

4.     The Bible (Matthew 5:19; 1 John 2:5)

5.     Satan (Romans 6:16-23)

6.     Sin (John 8:34; 1 John 3:4-15)

7.     Civil laws (Romans 13:2)

8.     God's conditions of salvation (John 3:15-20; John 4:14; Acts 2:21; Acts 10:43; Romans 9:33; Romans 10:9-13; Rev. 22:17)

Humankind—Free Moral Agents

God is not responsible for evil. If we were not a free moral agent, God would be entirely responsible for all sin, the effect of sin, rebellion, sickness, and the damnation of people, demons, and angels.

Seven Facts about Free Moral Agency:

1.     We have no choice about coming into the world, but after we are here and old enough to be responsible, we are held accountable for his salvation or damnation (Mark 16:15-16; Luke 13:3,5). We have our own will to exercise in this matter (John 3:16; John 6:37; John 7:17; Rev. 22:17).

2.     It is God's will that all of us who will to be, shall be saved (Rev. 22:17; John 3:16; 1 Tim. 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9; Rev. 22:17).

3.     We are commanded [instructed] to choose God (Joshua 24:15; Luke 13:3,5).

4.     We are to be cursed [separated from blessing] if we do not choose God (Proverbs 1:29-33; Mark 16:16; Isaiah 66:3).

5.     It is impossible to serve God and Satan at the same time (Matthew 6:24; John 8:32-36; Romans 6:16-23; Romans 8:12-13).

6.     Promises are given to us upon the basis of our choice (Rev. 22:17; Matthew 16:24-25; Mark 3:35; Mark 16:16; John 3:16; John 5:40; John 7:17; John 9:31; John 12:26).

7.     In over 4,000 scriptures where "choose," "will," and other words expressing volition are used, not one suggests that God forces any person to accept Him and do His will.  Our relationship with God is entirely on a voluntary basis (Rev. 22:17; Mark 16:16; John 3:16; John 7:17; 1 Peter 5:2) No one recognizing that endless decisions are necessary to daily life can deny the fact of free acts and conduct, for we know we have freedom of action—moral action—concerning right and wrong, and that we are responsible to God for our every act.  If we can deny these facts, we can deny our very existence and prove it on the same basis we try to prove that we are not free moral agents. That we are and that we are free to choose our own destiny and daily moral actions are facts known to sane persons. 

See the 21-fold Plan of God

This site relies mostly on the “King James Version” (KJV) of the Bible. Here are some of the reasons.

Thank you Finis Jennings Dake and Dake Publishing

Thank you Derek Prince Ministries and Foundational Truths for Christian Living