Pastor John, here's a big question we get frequently from listeners and it comes in various

forms, but essentially the question is this, is there such a thing as free will?

Let me pose the question really specifically so that it's not maybe quite that broad,

but I think we'll go right to the heart of the matter.

Do we have free will in choosing Christ as our Lord and Savior and Treasurer?

I think that's what the center of the debate is about and then people can generalize beyond

that about like do you have free will to eat a banana, but I'm just talking about do

we have free will to choose Christ as our Savior, our Lord, our Treasurer?

And of course that depends on the definition of free will.

So let's start with one and I think this is a definition that those in the debate would

agree with.

I know that in my debates with Greg Boyd, for example, he would use this for what he's

defending people having and I think people don't have in this regard.

So here you have a free will, isn't this the definition?

You have a free will when you have ultimate self-determination.

With this definition, you have free will in choosing Christ if the ultimate cause of

the choice is your own self-determination.

So the point is the word ultimate.

There may be a lot of factors that share in determining your choice of Christ, but only

one of those factors is ultimate or final.

Free will on this definition demands that you be that factor, not anything else and including

God.

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