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“If man is capable of exercising his will to make decisions, what is the purpose of God? Is it just for Him to sit back and help out everytime something goes wrong?”

1) I’m more concerned about the purpose of man than of God. CS Lewis wrote an essay called “God in the Dock” about modern man’s belief that he could judge God. We won’t, but He will.

2) Free will - or the ability to choose evil, or accept God’s grace when offered - means there is good & there is evil, and God wants us to choose good, just as I want my son & daughters to do so.And, in fact, scripture teaches clearly that God wants us to choose good, which starts with belief in Jesus and accepting Him as Lord. Only then are we born again, and given a new heart that desires good.

God would have all of us come to saving repentance, but our rejection of Him means we all will not.

But in the Kingdom of Heaven, or Kingdom of God, folks accept the rule of God. “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” We’ve been born again, to walk in the Spirit and be conformed to the image of His Son.

I have never argued that man is free to do as he pleases. That is NOT a free will argument, at least, not among Baptists.

While we live on earth, though we belong to Christ and want to do His Will, we are not yet perfected. We can belong to His Kingdom while here on earth before we die, and still sin, but since we are His we confess it (at least to Him) and ask for His forgiveness, and try harder.

I’m not sure if we disagree or not here I suspect we may sometime....but your post was very well written. ;-D

God would have all of us come to saving repentance, but our rejection of Him means we all will not.

And this is where we would disagree. Why exactly did God "chose" the nation of Israel? Why did He command the Israelites to march into Canaan and order the people to destroy them rather than preach to them? And why does God harden the hearts of the Jews:

Rom 11:7 What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, Rom 11:8 as it is written, "God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day."

Here is a case where God has hardened the heart of the Jews so that they will not come to repentance. So I would respectfully suggest that your premise is wrong. God can't possibly want all men to come to repentance because He has given some a spirit of stupor.

Free will - or the ability to choose evil, or accept God’s grace when offered - means there is good & there is evil, and God wants us to choose good, just as I want my son & daughters to do so.

I don't mean to be rude, but do you (or any of us) have the ability to choose between good and evil? Adam was a perfect man and yet he fell. Do you think that he fully understood the ramifications?

You won't find the concept of free will in scripture (there is one reference in somewhere of a "free will" offering I believe). Non-Christians do not seek after God. We know this from Romans 3:

Rom 3:10-18 as it is written: "None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one." "Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive." "The venom of asps is under their lips." "Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness." "Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known." "There is no fear of God before their eyes."

That sums up our state before we come to know God.

After we know God, we are set free but free to do what? We are free to be lead by either God or our desires. We don't choose our paths but we are lead to our paths:

Psa 31:3 For you are my rock and my fortress; and for your name's sake you lead me and guide me;

Gal 5:18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

Bad Leading

2Co 11:3 But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

I have never argued that man is free to do as he pleases. That is NOT a free will argument, at least, not among Baptists.

Free will by definition means that man is capable of making decisions apart from God. That certainly does mean that he could make a decision that would please God or displease God's favor. It also means that man is free to do as he pleases.

You will find many of those who believe in "free will" have argued that God has given at least part of His sovereignty to man to make decisions. Stick around on this site and you'll see these arguments popping up. If one were to trace where this doctrine came from, they will find it came from the beginnings of the Renassiance when the focus became man-centered rather than God centered. This, of course, is a silly argument because if God were to give away some of His sovereignty, than He would no longer be God. Plus God doesn't trust men.

for he himself knew what was in man.

I'm sure your aware that there are many Baptists of all sorts of beliefs. I have attended a Baptist church for many, many years. I'm half Baptist-half Presbyterian. But I'm all Reformed. wmfights, blue-duncan and Forest Keeper are other great Reformed Baptists on this site. Charles Spurgeon was a great Reformed Baptist as well as Matthew Henry (although it doesn't come out in his commentary very well). Arthur Pink another. John Piper and John MacArthur are also great Reformed Baptists. And you'll find that Moyer, head of the Southern Baptist is Reformed. In fact, I can name more famous Reformed Baptists off the top of my head then I can any other.

My point is that there are Reformed Baptists and then there are non-Reformist. There are only two types of beliefs in the world. You either are a synergist (God and man working together for man's salvation) or you're a monergist (God working for man's salvation). For our friends, I would strongly recommend the writings of Free Will-A Slave by Charles Spurgeon (Reformed Baptist)

2) Free will - or the ability to choose evil, or accept God’s grace when offered

If it is our free will in the end some still choose evil and some choose salvation. What is it that causes those choices? I believe it comes from God.

John 6:44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him;...

Prov.21:1 The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, Like the rivers of water, He turns it wherever He wishes.

While we may perceive we are making choices (free will) the deck has been stacked to the point where the decision really is not in doubt. We are never the equal of God. The highest we rise to is being children of God. As a father I'm sure you allow your children a lot of freedom to make choices, but especially when they are young, I have no doubt life and death decisions were made by you. Until those children mature to adulthood they are yours. I think it is the same with God, but we never reach adulthood we are always the children.

Eze.18:4 Behold, all souls are Mine; The soul of the father As well as the soul of the son is Mine;...

FWIW, I've really enjoyed your give and take on this, except for some of the longer posts that I just haven't had the time to read.

You know I think the real question is can an unregenerate man choose to do "good"

Romans 3:10As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one;11there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.;12 All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one."

I would argue that the sin of Adam so damaged him that he died spiritually and he could no longer choose to do anything that was pleasing to God. Unless God restores his spiritual life men, as Adams sons, are totally incapable of making any God pleasing choice. Everything he does is sin to God.

We can do good and make good choices by mans standards, but not Gods. We need His enabling grace to come to Him.He grants us the ability to repent , He gives us a new heart and changes our will so it is truly free to choose Him, it is no longer in bondage to sin. Thats why salvation is all of God