Does Man Actually Have Freedom of Choice?
The concept of “free choice” was never completely a part of God’s Plan for Man, at least not in the beginning. It seems free choice was a very small part of the plan. Whether we realize it or not, God has a very active influence on the nature of our decisions.
Adam and Eve didn’t consciously choose to “disobey” God and eat of the “forbidden fruit”. God did tell them what would happen if they did break the rules, and they didn’t yet perceive the consequences of that. It was impossible for them to perceive that it was wrong — since they didn’t yet have the concept of “good and evil”.
But, it was all a part of the Great Plan for Man. God knew the man that He had created and He also knew that man would break the rules that God created. Man couldn’t yet have had the freedom of choice — God actually made that choice for them.
Adam and Eve didn’t “Fall”
After that, God revealed to man how his life was going to be, after the choice was made for them. But God didn’t curse Man and Man didn’t “fall” since he was only placed into a part that he was destined to play. Adam and Eve didn’t break the rules out of their own free choice, it was all a part of the way God created Man and the way God set up his plan.
God Planned it All to Happen That Way
God knew what Man was capable of having made Man, and what he would do — it was all a part of God’s plan. There was nothing wrong with eating fruit, in and of itself. But eating that certain fruit was a choice God made for them. God commanded them not to do it, while all along knowing what they would do — because that’s the way God planned it in the very beginning.
God created the rules; God made the act forbidden; God created the “evil” that he let Man commit. God created the tree called the knowledge of good and evil and planned for Man to eat of it. If it wasn’t a part of the plan, it would have never happened in the first place.
The “Serpent” Was a Part of the Plan
God even let the serpent be there to tempt Eve to eat of the forbidden fruit, otherwise she may not have tried the fruit and offered some to her husband (Then God cursed the serpent for doing it!). If it hadn’t been for the serpent, Adam may never have eaten the forbidden fruit on his own.
Since it was all a part of the Great Plan of God, it was God who put all the pieces in place so it would all happen the way that He planned it. That does sound a a bit unbelievable, I know, but there is no other way that it could have been. Keep reading and you’ll see how I know this to be true.
Then when Man had disobeyed God which he knew that he would do, He told the man and the woman how their lives would be from then on. He told them exactly what his plan was for their lives: how the woman would have sorrow in birth, conception and bringing forth children. He told her that her desire would be to her husband and that he would rule over her. That was all a part of God’s Great Plan for her.
“Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee” (Gen 3:16)
Adam and Eve Were Never Cursed
The Bible never says that this was a curse. He does say that “because you disobeyed” what I said not to do, the ground is cursed and you will eat of in sorrow all the days of your life. But before Adam and Eve ever “disobeyed”, and before he was even created God knew — he had to have known — what Adam and Eve would do and He also knew the plan he had created for him.
To the man God revealed His plan of how he would work hard all the days of his life and would have sorrow in his work and that he would work all his life and in the end return to the dust of the ground from where he came. And all of these thousands of years it has happened exactly the way that God had planned it from the very beginning. It has all been part of the Great Plan of God from the very beginning.
The Ground was Cursed for Adam’s Sake
“And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;” (Gen 3:17)
God didn’t curse man, but he cursed the ground — for man’s sake. The definition of “for thy sake” means he did it in order to help Man to learn through his labor. And, if in working God did this to help him, I don’t understand how working to eat would make him sorrowful, unless the sorrow is the hard toil to make the ground produce food. Work is a necessity to be able to survive in this physical environment.
It Had to Have Been the Way God Planned it
However… if it didn’t happen the way God planned it, then God isn’t all-knowing and all-powerful. But it did happen that way and it had to be the way God planned it and it couldn’t have been by any accident or something that was unforeseen by God — like the “fall of man”. Otherwise, then God would have made a mistake.
Could it be that God did not plan things the way they happened and the so-called “fall of man” took place without God knowing that it would happen? There is no other way it could have been. Did God make a mistake or was that the way He planned it from the very beginning? It had to be one or the other. I don’t believe that God makes mistakes.
God’s Great Plan was not only for Adam and Eve but for all humanity
Not only was it God’s plan for Adam and Eve, but it was also His plan for all their descendants — every person who has ever been born, lived and died. We have been taught us from the time that we were old enough to understand that we were given the freedom of choice — our parents, our schools, our religions — but in many ways that’s been untrue.
You were “born in sin”.
If you had your freedom of choice would you chose to be “born in sin”? And even if you were born in this condition, if God hadn’t planned it that way and made the rules in the first place it may not have been that way. Wouldn’t you have rather have been born perfect?
Freedom of Choice
Did you even choose to be born? Where is the freedom of choice in that? If you had had the choice would you have chosen to be born, live a life of sorrow, hard work, and after your short life was finally over: fear and death? If you had known beforehand and had had the freedom to chose, would you have chosen to be born into a world where you would have had sorrow in childbearing or had to have multiple childbirths? Would you (women) have chosen to have to be subject to your husband and have him rule over you? (Maybe not!)
And what choice have all the billions of decedents of Adam had in the decision of being “born into sin”? How is it that all of mankind throughout the ages have all had to pay the price for the sins of Adam? Was it all Adam’s fault? The reality is that though “sin” did come into the world by one man, but it was all a part of God’s great plan from the very beginning that Man, and not only Man, but all of creation, was subjected to corruption.
Man Was Subjected to Sin
“For the creation was not willingly subjected to vanity (depravity), but because of Him Who subjected it on hope, that the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:20-21)
What it is saying here is that God subjected His creation to sin, but He also subjected his creation to the hope in that Man would be liberated from it. The plan was that man, was to be “bound to corruption” and then eventually liberated from it.
The freedom of choice comes into play when, though Man did not chose the condition he is in, by his on free will decides to break free from the “bondage of corruption”. If God hadn’t made the rules, there wouldn’t be sin or evil. And there wouldn’t even be good for that matter, because there is no way that there could be good unless there were evil.
God Created Evil and Evil Men
He created them the way they are. That’s what the Bible says, believe it or not:
“I am the LORD, and there is none else; forming the light and creating darkness; making peace and creating evil. I the LORD do all these things” (Isaiah 45:6-7). The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil. (Pro 16:4)
Subjected and Delivered from the Bondage
But the creation was subjected (a key word here) in hope, looking unto the day when we all will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of freedom from sin. (subjected: to cause to undergo something, to bring under the control of)
(Definition of “subject”: to cause or force a certain experience or form of treatment)
So the fact is that all Men were “unwillingly subjected to vanity”, being born into sin — all Men being a part of the Great Plan. Therefore it is only logical that all Men will be delivered from the bondage of sin — eventually — which is also a part of the plan.
“For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope” (Rom 8:20)
Sin (breaking the rules that God created) is a necessary part of the experience of life that Man was created to pass through in order that he could learn and grow from. God created the rules which was a very necessary part of the Great Plan that He devised to make Man evolve into what He wanted Man to be.
Man’s Freedom of Choice is not 100%
The only choice that Man actually has the “freedom”, if you will, to make is between good and evil and he is constantly learning that there are consequences to any “choice” he may make. Man is still breaking the rules. In this sense he is free to choose. But even in this, Man’s choice is strongly influenced by God’s will. This fact is evident throughout the Bible. God hardened Pharaoh’s heart so the he wouldn’t let the people go:
Exo 4:21 And the LORD said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go.
God put it into their hearts to cause them to do his will. There is no free will in that:
Rev 17:17 “For God hath put in their hearts to fulfill his will, …until the words of God shall be fulfilled.”
It’s all a part of the Great Plan. He puts it in Men’s hearts to do his will until the whole of God’s plan has been fulfilled. It’s mostly God’s will and a little “free will”.
Next: The Great Plan | The Story of Creation