All one needs to understand is the philosophy (I will provide sources)... tell me, how valuable is love that is not freely given? I mean I can make my computer print "I Love You." a hundred times, a million, what-ever I want... and how much is that worth compared to a friend saying it?
There is no comparison precisely because there is no obligation or even predisposition for it (as there would be in familial relations) because he is my friend. Freely chosen and freely given.
God, in the form of His son Jesus, has called us friends: John 15:15-17
"I don't call you servants now. A servant does not know what his master is doing. But now I call you friends because I have told you everything I heard from my Father. You did not choose me; I chose you. And I gave you this work: to go and make fruit. I want this fruit to continue {in your life}. Then the Father will give you anything you ask for in my name. This is my command: Love each other." (ERV)
Furthermore, to posit that man has no free will is to posit that God created intentionally flawed people (Adam and Eve) and therefore predestined them to sin. But we know that is against God's character, for if he does not even tempt us (James 1:13-14) then how could he predestine out forefather Adam to sin, and thereby infect us all with sin-nature? That is, if free will does not exist, then God is evil in that he purposely made man to sin; but if free will does exist then it was given fully and perfectly (James 1:17); and if it was given fully then the possibility that we would chose to sin must be included therein.
Deuteronomy 30:19 and Joshua 24:15 both deal with choosing; if free will does not exist then the conditional promises are of a fact utterly meaningless. Would you call God's promises nothing? When you deny free will you do so.
Furthermore, the Psalms declare free will (which Jesus recognized as being scripture needful of fulfillment [Lk 24:44]):
Accept, I beseech thee, the freewill offering of my mouth, O Lord, and teach me thy judgments. -- Psalms 119:108
I read your entire post, but am very interested in the request for you to provide a passage where man’s choices are free from God’s influence. The passage about the “freewill” offerings (notice one word), and the dozen or so other uses of this in the OT are in regard to the sacrafice called, “The freewill offering”. It was called such because there was no written or verbal (from another authority figure) which mandated the giving. A man could give it, if he chose to. The question you must answer, however, is what would cause him to choose? Is the man’s choices unaffected (or perhaps more biblically, “uneffected”) by God?
Your claim that love “...not freely given,” (the old CS Lewis argument) is not biblically supported. You were compelled to use a computer analogy. Please give us a biblical reference to the “philosophical” perspective you claim derives from Scripture. You may have needs to be loved. God does not have that need. What He desires is to display His glory to all of creation. That is its purpose...not to return love to Him. Love existed adequately within the Triune Godhead long before creation.
Additionally, you must deal with
Job 37 – 41
Job 42:2
Jer. 32:17
Prov. 16:9
Is. 45:1
Prov. 16:4
Eccl. 3:1-14
Prov. 21:1
Dan 4:35
Prov. 20:24
Job 14:5
Phil 3:12
Eph. 2:10
Ex 4:11
Ex. 35:35
James 4:13-15
Lam. 3:37-38
Is. 53:10
Acts 4:27-28
I Kings 22:19-23
I Sam 16:14-23,
I Sam 18:10
I Sam 19:9
II Sam 24:1
(1 Chronicles 21:1)
I Cor. 14:33
Ex 14:24
Ex 23:27
Deut 7:23
Deut 28:20
II Thess 2:11
Rom 11:8
II Chron 34:24
Is 37:26,
Amos 3:5,
John 6:44
John 6:65
Isaiah 43:6-7
Rom 14:4
Jude 24, 25
Ephesians 1:11-12
Jeremiah 31:34ff
Phil 1:6
and lot of others making the same claims. God fashioned creation ex nihilo...out of nothing (John 1:1ff). The origin of evil and everything else is obviously from Him. Why does that bother you? He has determined not to use it unfettered, the way you think He must if He created it. Why is that? Because it comports with your categories? Because the philosophers say so, (Bertrand Russell, Epicurus, et al). God has determined to restrain its effects and use after the counsel of His own will...the only “free will” in existence. This is at least one reason to “fear” God. He can do anything He wishes.
And, of course Adam and Eve were created with the propensity to sin. That is what James 1 describes. The extant lust (appetite) was on board at creation. When the opportunity for it to express itself arose (Satan: Has God really said...), it was carried away, conceived and gave birth to sin. Please tell us where the Scriptures say Adam had “free will”? James is dealing with God not “tempting” by dangling a thing in front of you and watching what you will do? It is planned, orchestrated, executed in every man. At least that is what the text says.
I say again, the “calls” for a man to choose (as Joshua said, “Choose this day whom you will serve...” are conditioned upon God directing the man to choose (or not). That is why the prophets would cry, “Why have you caused us to rebel?” and other such tragic truths. If you notice a man “choosing”, you are seeing the operation of God upon His creation. Check Vincent Cheung’s work on the origin of evil.
You may not like it, you may dislike its philosophical implications, you may not even “feel” the effect of God performing His amazing work...that does not change what the text says about man being managed by God. Again, please tell us where the Scriptures teach that man is free from God’s influence.
This was not a general declaration..HE WAS ADDRESSING HIS DISCIPLES He did not call YOU His friend..
This was not a general declaration..HE WAS ADDRESSING HIS DISCIPLES He did not call YOU His friend..