Free Will: Do we NEED to talk about this?
“Before even preparing to present what the new church teaches regarding free choice, I must first lay out what the church of today says about it in its doctrinal texts. Otherwise, devout and rational readers may think there is no point in my trying to write something new about it, since they would say to themselves, “Who doesn’t know we have free choice in spiritual matters? Why else would ministers preach that we need to believe in God, turn ourselves around, live according to the precepts of the Word, fight against the lusts of our flesh, and prepare ourselves as new creatures, not to mention many other things of the same kind?” They cannot avoid the conclusion that if there were no free choice in matters of salvation, such words would be nothing but hot air; and that it is insane to deny free choice, because such denial goes against common sense.” (True Christianity, paragraph 463, Rose)
Find the Formula of Concord at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formula_of_Concord
“… there are three [things] which make up the essence of His love – loving others than oneself, wishing to be one with them, and devoting oneself to their happiness.” (43)
“God himself is the design. Because all things were created by God, they were created by the design, in the design, and for the design. There is also a design into which humankind was created, which is that whether we are blessed or cursed depends on our own exercise of free choice in spiritual matters.” (502)
“People who have become earthly because of false beliefs about the spiritual teachings of the church cannot help thinking that divine omnipotence is above and beyond the design [of the universe], and therefore that divine omnipotence exists outside that design. As a result they lapse into deranged thoughts such as the following: “Why did the Lord come into the world and why was this a redemption, when God’s omnipotence could have allowed him to accomplish the same thing from heaven as he did on earth? Why wouldn’t he, through his redemption, have saved the entire human race down to the last person?” (502)
“the Lord protects our freedom the way we protect the pupil of our eye.” (Divine Providence, paragraph 97)
“All the freedom that comes from the Lord is true freedom. The freedom in us that comes from hell is slavery.” (495)
“If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” [John 8:31,32]
“Once someone has been regenerated he enters for the first time into a state of freedom. Previously he has been in a state of slavery. It is slavery when evil desires and falsities predominate, freedom when affections for good and truth do so. As long as he is in a state of slavery, a person never perceives what his situation is. Only when he enters a state of freedom does he start to do so. When he is in a state of slavery, that is, when evil desires and falsities predominate, the person who has become subject to them imagines that he is in a state of freedom. That however is sheer falsity, for he is at that time being carried away by the delight that accompanies desires and resulting pleasures, that is, by the delight accompanying the loves that are his own. And because he is being carried away by such delight it seems to him as though he were a free man.” ([Secrets of Heaven, 892)
On self-compulsion: “It is different for us if we absorb the spiritual teachings of the church and restrain our free choice accordingly. We are then led by the Lord away from cravings and evil pleasures and our native eagerness for them, and we strive for what is good and turn away from what is evil. The Lord then moves us closer to both the east and the south in the spiritual world, and we are brought into heavenly freedom, which is true freedom.” (478)
Recorded on Sunday 4 June 2023
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