Everything is determined in some respect by something. The question is whether our will is restrained or not in the process. If I do something to you that causes you to do something as a direct result, that can be a sort of determination. According to Jonathan Edwards, God is 100 percent sovereign and there are no "maverick molecules" in the universe, (Edwards says, "I like to ascribe absolute sovereignty to God"), to use an illustration. God never forces us to do something we don't want to do, though (that would be coercion or determinism), but He does influence us and let us act according to His plan. Like Joseph said, "You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good." This is concurrence or the working together of our wills with God's ultimate will. The Pharisees were playing right into God's plan when they arrested Jesus and had Him crucified. So even the most dastardly act in history was foreordained by God.
"God is at work within you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure." (Phil. 2:13) We are moral beings responsible for our decisions, but things of a mere matter of taste or preference we are not. You are not going to die before your time even if you make a bad choice, like Chinese food and choking on it. A good Bible verse is Ps. 110:3 which says " Your troops shall be willing in the day of Your power." Col. 1:29 says God is mightily at work in us. Who made you prefer Chinese food? All our freedom means is that God doesn't force us to do something we don't want to do, but can change our nature and make us willing to do what He wants us to do.
Self-determination is at the heart of our will in this sense. No one can say, "I didn't make that decision!" We also reap what we sow (the law of the harvest) and God lets us suffer the consequences of choosing Chinese food if we don't know how to chew that well in our eating habits. God, of course, is free to intervene, but He doesn't have to (that would be mercy). The Westminster Confession states that everything that happens is God's ordained will or decree and that in allowing it to happen it has to be His will in some sense.
Wycliffe's tenet was that "everything comes to pass of necessity." It is fore-ordained to happen in God's divine decrees. God is both sovereign and we are free agents in the sense of having a will that makes choices. We make decisions on what seems best to us at the moment, all things considered. God manipulates the circumstance.
I'm not a fatalist, but I believe God's will must be done. There are different kinds of wills of God. The will of disposition is what God desires or what is pleasing to Him. He desires all to be saved in this sense. But God doesn't act according to this since all are not saved. God has a preceptive will, which we read about in the Bible. God also has a secret or decreed will which is none of our business. For instance, God never explained to Job why he as suffering. We do not have the ability to frustrate God and God is not so impotent that He cannot accomplish whatsoever He wills. God does what He pleases, both in the Heavens and on the earth (Ps. 135:6). This is one of the perks of being God--He can do as he wills. God is never frustrated in His will either.
I know I elaborated a little, but I don't think anyone understands the sovereignty of God, just like the Trinity or the glory of God. He is incomprehensible. The finite cannot penetrate the infinite. Nothing outside of us ever forces us to do anything we don't want to do. There is no effect without a cause! God is not an effect! (He is self-existent, has no history, and is not confined to time, matter or space, which He created.)
"God is at work within you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure." (Phil. 2:13) We are moral beings responsible for our decisions, but things of a mere matter of taste or preference we are not. You are not going to die before your time even if you make a bad choice, like Chinese food and choking on it. A good Bible verse is Ps. 110:3 which says " Your troops shall be willing in the day of Your power." Col. 1:29 says God is mightily at work in us. Who made you prefer Chinese food? All our freedom means is that God doesn't force us to do something we don't want to do, but can change our nature and make us willing to do what He wants us to do.
Self-determination is at the heart of our will in this sense. No one can say, "I didn't make that decision!" We also reap what we sow (the law of the harvest) and God lets us suffer the consequences of choosing Chinese food if we don't know how to chew that well in our eating habits. God, of course, is free to intervene, but He doesn't have to (that would be mercy). The Westminster Confession states that everything that happens is God's ordained will or decree and that in allowing it to happen it has to be His will in some sense.
Wycliffe's tenet was that "everything comes to pass of necessity." It is fore-ordained to happen in God's divine decrees. God is both sovereign and we are free agents in the sense of having a will that makes choices. We make decisions on what seems best to us at the moment, all things considered. God manipulates the circumstance.
I'm not a fatalist, but I believe God's will must be done. There are different kinds of wills of God. The will of disposition is what God desires or what is pleasing to Him. He desires all to be saved in this sense. But God doesn't act according to this since all are not saved. God has a preceptive will, which we read about in the Bible. God also has a secret or decreed will which is none of our business. For instance, God never explained to Job why he as suffering. We do not have the ability to frustrate God and God is not so impotent that He cannot accomplish whatsoever He wills. God does what He pleases, both in the Heavens and on the earth (Ps. 135:6). This is one of the perks of being God--He can do as he wills. God is never frustrated in His will either.
I know I elaborated a little, but I don't think anyone understands the sovereignty of God, just like the Trinity or the glory of God. He is incomprehensible. The finite cannot penetrate the infinite. Nothing outside of us ever forces us to do anything we don't want to do. There is no effect without a cause! God is not an effect! (He is self-existent, has no history, and is not confined to time, matter or space, which He created.)
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