Tag Archives: "free moral agency"

Many are clamoring to know the secrets of the universe. They want to know the deep mysteries of life. Questions arise in the hearts of seekers and non-seekers alike: “What’s it all about? Why am I here? Is it just to live, die, and go to heaven? Is that all there is?

The answers to these questions are written down in a book found in hundreds of millions of homes around the world. But few crack the Holy Book. When they do open it, they try to understand it, but they get discouraged when comprehension does not come. It is as if God is saying: You do not realize that I “have poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and have closed your eyes…And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed” (Isa. 29:10-11). [There is your sealed book, the same one found in Revelation 5 and 6. Only Christ can loose the seals.]

The writings in the Bible are the words of the Spirit of God. Their purpose is to teach us the answers to the questions above. They explain God’s plan to accomplish His purpose to reproduce Himself in certain human beings.

God Is Sovereign

First, we must understand that there is a Creator/Supreme Being, and He is sovereign. He has created everything as it has pleased Him. We exist according to His pleasure. “You have created all things, and for your pleasure they are and were created” (Rev. 4:11). This earth and its inhabitants are not here by accident. We exist to please Him, whether we know Him or not.

He has a plan, and it pleases Him to use us to fulfill it. His plan to reproduce Himself (Love) in us will come to pass, whether we, mere specks of dust, believe it or not.

It pleased Him, the Scriptures of Truth say, to use certain humans in our dispensation to complete His purpose. It is like a movie director casting actors and extras for a film. He has a vision of what he is looking for in an actor. In fact, he has an actor in mind. Another actor may audition for the role, and may be accomplished, but the director has already chosen an actor since the conception of the film project. He makes his choice according to his pleasure. We get it; he is the director.

Chosen Ones

Likewise, God has known those whom He has chosen, before they were ever conceived in their mother’s womb. He has “foreordained them to be conformed to the image of His Son.” They are “predestinated” for this glory. He knew of us before we were born (Jer. 1:5). He knew we would respond to His pulling us out of the quagmire of sin and degradation. He foreknew us and gave us a destiny before time on earth began. And that destiny is to be just like His Son—same glorious likeness. Christ is the firstborn, and those whom He has chosen will be like Him (Rom. 8:29-30).

And so, He calls those whom He has predestinated. Then He justifies them, making them righteous in His sight. Those whom He has justified He then glorifies. Through believing this, we realize that God is for us! And with God for us, “who can be against us (v. 30-31)?

It is to us that He shall reveal the great mysteries of God. His chosen ones He calls His “elect.” He will crown them, and they will take a seat upon His throne at the establishment of His soon coming kingdom/government (Rev. 3:20). These are His elect, the first fruits, the remnant. Their destiny is to be His cadre of rulers who will have overcome all things—“after they have suffered a while.”

They Have No Choice

God is sovereign. His word is law. He says that He has chosen certain people to fulfill His purpose. Their destiny to be like Christ is sealed. It is pre-determined. They do not have a choice. It may seem to them that they have a choice when they are first called. But they do not. God’s will is stronger than the waves and currents in the sea of man. His desires for His elect are irrefutable. His goals for us are pre-destined to be ours. He is omnipotent.

If we are chosen for the 100 fold fruit bearing role, He will call us, making Himself real to us. If we become lazy and stay too long at the fair, He will create material and physical challenges that will make us industrious for His things.

Free Moral Agents?

But many followers of Christ have declared themselves to be “free moral agents.” Free? The Scriptures only speak of “being made free from sin” (Rom. 6:18). Christ said, “Whoever commits sin is a slave of sin” (John 8:34). But in Christ we are free from sin and sinning because “we are buried with him by baptism into death.” We then believe that Christ was raised from the dead and rose the third day. Through this belief, our sin nature dies on the cross with our sin sacrifice Christ, thus freeing us from sin. Then through His grace, we become “the slaves of righteousness.” We willingly lay down the old life and take on us the form of a servant [“slave” in the Greek and most English translations].

But, I agree that it seems like we humans are “free moral agents.” We have been told that we are “the captains of our fate,” that we choose our own destinies, that we call the shots. They have trained us to be good little existentialists, thrashing out our own destinies. They tell us that everything hinges on you. They say that your destiny remains to be seen, that it is still to be determined—by you.

There is one major problem with this existentialist philosophy. A Supreme Being does not enter the picture. Humans are left to flounder around trying to be their own god that can solve life’s bitter trials. But that is not what the Good Book declares. Not at all. Just the opposite, in fact.

“Free moral agency” has you being your own god, your own savior. But the written word of God declares Him to be omnipotent (all powerful), omniscient (all knowing), and omnipresent. Most of us Christians will agree that He has these qualities. If these qualities faithfully describe Him, then is it a big stretch to believe that He can and does choose whomsoever He wills, to bring them into His great house, making them vessels of honor?

Since He is all knowing of future things, His foreknowledge of our destinies secures them in His book of life. If we are predestined to be His elect, the ones that He has chosen to reveal His Son in—then He will put it in our hearts to seek Him out.

If you are still reading this and wanting more, then you have come to a clear pure stream, where God does not want your money, but rather your heart. It is a spiritual place far from material things and away from phony philosophies, theories and fears. It’s a place cradled in the bosom of Omnipotence and sheltered in His unfathomable omniscient Love.     Kenneth Wayne Hancock