My “go-to” attempt at theodicy for the problem of suffering and evil being allowed by a kind, just, and benevolent God has always been free will. I like to point out things like without pain, we would have no way to conceptualize pleasure, and without sorrow we could not truly appreciate joy.
Likewise, some of my best evidence that the New Testament is true is that half of it was written by Paul, who persecuted and murdered Christians when he still called himself Saul. Few serious people question whether Paul was a real historical figure or that he went from being an executioner of Christians to ultimately become an early Christian martyr.
However, I’m not the least bit afraid of challenging my own beliefs on a regular basis, and the question recently popped into my head: did God interfere with Saul’s free will? Saul hadn’t been looking for God — in fact, he was actively searching for more Christians to murder when Jesus appeared on the road to Damascus and completely changed his life.
Yet if it weren’t for Paul, Christianity would not be what it is today.
So, how do we solve this conundrum? Atheists like to argue for determinism, but if determinism is really true, how can we as a society justify putting criminals into prison if they have no choice except to rob, rape, and murder other people? That doesn’t seem fair, if we really and truly cannot choose between right and wrong.
My counterargument has been that without free will, humans would become slaves to their DNA and their environment. But if determinism is true and we really are slaves to our DNA and environment, what explains the son of Madelyn Murray O’Hair becoming a Christian?
Sometimes Muslims become Christians, and vice versa. Sometimes Christians become atheists, and vice versa. Obviously, free will must somehow be involved because not every Christian is a knuckle-dragging moron and not every atheist is an amoral jerk, yet examples of both do exist.
Despite a popular public misconception, many Christians are accomplished, intelligent professional people that include doctors and scientists. Many atheists are equally intelligent people and brilliant doctors and scientists. Atheists don’t have a monopoly on intelligence. Nor do theists.
Other than free will, what might explain the polar opposite conclusions of theism and atheism when two people have comparable intellects?
There are simply too many anecdotal accounts of people raised in a Christian household who become atheists and accounts of people brought up in an atheist environment who became devout believers to believe that determinism is the driving force behind our existence. It would seem like if God really didn’t exist and determinism really was true, there would only be atheists and no theists.
Free will makes sense for most people…but is it for everybody? What about Saul? Did Saul lose his free will when Jesus appeared to him in a vision while on the road to Damascus and blinded him?
At first I thought God had interfered with Saul’s free will, but then it occurred to me that Saul didn’t necessarily have to become Paul. His temporary blindness would have probably become permanent, but in reality there wasn’t anything stopping Saul from remaining Saul and continuing to murder Christians while choosing to remain blind. He even could have had his eyesight restored and tried to revert to his old lifestyle except for his newfound fear of God.
But then it occurred to me, how stupid would Saul have to have been to personally experience an omnipotent entity that could blind him and restore his sight and then double cross this all-powerful being? Saul had never been an atheist, so perhaps God felt justified about influencing his future because He knew Saul’s heart intended to do the right thing. But in reality Saul was doing the exact opposite of the right thing.
We know that when Saul got on the road to Damascus he was looking for letters from synagogues about some of the early Christians he wished to capture and take to Jerusalem as prisoners. That was his choice from exercising his own free will. But Saul never made it there intact. He was literally blinded by the light. In a metaphorical sense, Saul died on the road to Damascus and was born again three days later as Paul the apostle of Christ.
As I reflect on the Bible as a whole, it occurs to me that Saul/Paul isn’t the only example of God appearing to interfere with man’s free will. Jonah really didn’t want to go to Ninevah until God raised a terrible storm and Jonah was thrown overboard, swallowed by a giant fish and spent the next three days in that fish’s belly.
God doesn’t seem to have any problem with interfering with the free will of his chosen messengers. I don’t even want to start talking about Job and free will because this short essay isn’t supposed to become a book, and the Book of Job is a conversation all on its own.
My point is this: without free will, it would seem that people of reasonably equal intelligence would have no choice except to become atheists or theists. Does that sound like the choice of a loving and benevolent God? No, it does not. On the other hand, there are multiple instances in the Bible where it appears God chooses a certain person to become His vessel and, like with Saul becoming Paul, doesn’t appear to grant the same free will to his chosen ones.
It seems obvious if God gave us the gift of free will, He has the ability to exercise that same gift for Himself. Remember the Bible says we should not put the Lord our God to the test, but also remember Gideon was allowed to ask God for multiple signs to prove he’d been chosen to be God’s messenger.
The moral to the story seems to be if God wants you to do something, you’re going to do it because His free will trumps your free will.
Libet’s experiment to allegedly prove free will doesn’t exist did no such thing. If free will did not exist in some form or fashion, this world simply wouldn’t make any sense. The world might still have atheists and theists, but we should not expect atheists to become theists or vice versa without the presence of free will. People have to be able to think, and choose freely.
Unless God decides to interfere with your free will in order to accomplish a greater good, like leading the nation of Israel out of captivity in Egypt. Moses had been running in fear of his life, and it wasn’t like he was a willing and eager volunteer to return to face the Pharaoh.
Moses didn’t really have much choice, did he? He’d seen the burning bush.
I wrote this piece only to reinforce the notion that I don’t have all the answers about God. I’m not even sure I’m asking all the right questions. But I won’t ever stop asking questions and seeking answers as long as there is breath left in my body. As always, I’ll be eager to see some alternative opinions expressed in the comment section because I’m eager to learn from other people.
The problem with God is He thinks He’s God and as a result, His will is more important than your will. If your idea of free will clashes with God’s free will, whose free will do you think is going to triumph?
Exactly how big is your ego?
By the way, even though my latest novel Atheist’s Prayer had nothing to do with the discussion of Saul and his free will, I nevertheless included a link and an image of the cover in this article. Why would I do that? To be blunt, shameless self promotion. I hope to attract the attention of potential readers and build an audience for my newest book, which I believe is quite good.
Because I have free will, too.
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