The best definition for freewill is the ability to act on our desires and make choices and decisions accordingly. So while there is freedom to act, are the desires we have really ours? Our desires matter because they are usually the basis of our choices. So are our desires a good foundation for our decisions and where do they come from. Based on observation of newborns our personalities are predetermined based on generational inheritance. It has also been proven that our desires are also acquired along the way from external influence and socialization. Children are often reffered to as strong-willed or compliant, referring to how they respond to being told what to do. Can a desire be good or evil. this is usually determined by whether we act on it or not and how it affects others.
19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. 20 These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”
Mathew 15 v 19-20
Can we use our desires to make good choices
To make good choices we would therefore need to have good desires and to have good desires we would either need to be born with them or acquire them after birth. To be born with them we would need to be born from a perfect seed. To acquire them we would have to be surrounded with perfect people. I am sure you can see how impossible that is. We all have a natural propensity to desire evil. There are some desires which are natural such as desire for food and sex and then there are desires that are related to our peculiarities. Choices are not always made based on our desires they can be made by listening to the advise or instruction of others or being forced to.
There is a difference between subjugation and submission. Slavery is a form of subjugation because it forces people to comply with the desires of others. Submission is different because it allows the individual to choose to listen or obey others if they want to. We were created in the image of The Almighty and at our best we make decisions for ourselves about our own lives. This is absolutely necessary so that we can be judged after we die.
And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
Hebrews 9 v 27
Without the ability to make independent choices one cannot be blamed or given credit for what they do.
Choices matter: they usually result in different outcomes
See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. 16 For I command you today to love Ahayah your Almighty, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.
17 But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, 18 I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.
19 This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live 20 and that you may love Ahayah your Almighty listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. ( Deuteronomy 30 v 15-20)
Our usual default mode
Ever since Adam chose to violate the boundaries set by the Almighty he automatically passed on that propensity to us.
“Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.” … I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.”. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
John 8:21, 24, KJV
“There is no one righteous, not even one;
11 there is no one who understands;
there is no one who seeks The Almighty.
12 All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.”[a]
13 “Their throats are open graves;
their tongues practice deceit.”[b]
“The poison of vipers is on their lips.”[c]
14 “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”[d]
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16 ruin and misery mark their ways,
17 and the way of peace they do not know.”[e]
18 “There is no fear of The Almighty before their eyes.”[f]
What is the solution
Since our inner compass is broken it is in our best interest to take up the offer of The Creator to obey Him and live
: “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” .
Romans 6:16,
Our inclination is to choose evil because of what we have discussed before. We are like a car that need alignment, that will go off the road if it is not stared. If we follow our natural inclination and desires we will live in a way that destroy our own lives and that of others.
All our choices have consequences we are either servants of sin or servants of righteousness. May we choose life that we and our children may live. The Mashiach came to fix our brokenness by paying the price for the misdeeds of our ancestors and giving us the option of being led by The Set Apart Spirit, and submitting to Him.
For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14For all who are led by the Spirit of Ahayah are sons of Ahayah. 15For you did not receive a spirit of slavery that returns you to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”…
Romans 8v14
Will you choose life today?