Many Christians continue to fall into the trap of defining evil as a “product” of the free will God granted or created into humanity — out of nothing, of course.
This immediately begs the following question — if God knew man might use free will for evil, then why did He equip man with “free will?” Simple — because He did not wish to make man a slave of good, an automaton incapable of choosing anything but good. He wanted man to choose good over evil freely and willingly because -- morality.
You see if God had not created free will — a doctrine that essentially boils down to being able to choose between good and evil — then there would be no morality. Nor spirituality. Nor anything beyond the physical/material.
The problem with the doctrine of free will is simple – it is not about freedom at all. Free will is just an algorithm. If God grants man free will, then whatever freedom resides within it emanates from God, not man.
Secondly, God determines the scope and range of choice to which free will may be applied. On the one side is the good choice to abide by God’s law and commands. On the other side, rejecting this law and embracing evil. Thus, the free will choice essentially boils down to obeying God’s law and commands . . . or else.
Free will enslaves man to the necessity of choice. I don’t know about you, but that doesn’t sound very moral or spiritual.
Accountability is another problem with free will. The free will doctrine makes man accountable for his choices between good and evil within the context of God’s laws and commands. It places the onus of such choices on man while simultaneously exempting God from all accountability.
The doctrine of free will provides man the “freedom” to be the offender while simultaneously relieving God of all responsibility for evil choices. Thus, man must own his choice for evil, but God is under no obligation to own His choice for giving man the power to choose. Man’s free will choice to be a transgressor of divine law also justifies God’s role as a punisher of divine law transgressions.
The free will doctrine is God adopting a “my way or the highway” framework of freedom. Use the free will I provided to do what I command, and all will be well. Use the free will I provided to reject My commands, and all will be lost.
Seen this way, the free will choice to obey God’s law and command becomes a matter of necessity. Man needs to choose the good option God has provided or face the consequences. The need to choose the Good – this necessity inherent within the free will choice – does not emanate from within man but is externally imposed by God.
As such, it does little more than ask a man to adhere to or fulfill a given law or command, leaving no space for creativity or a creative act.
The free will doctrine reduces man to a mere instrument in the fulfillment of God’s law. It lacks all spiritual dynamism and ultimately relegates freedom to the level of submission.
True spiritual freedom does not reside within the framework of the free will doctrine. True spiritual freedom is not about choosing between good and evil but knowing what constitutes authentic creative alignment and harmony with God and Creation.
True spiritual freedom can only exist if freedom is uncreated — if the freedom and agency of Beings in Creation are not of God. God is good because He has mastered freedom. God no longer needs to choose between good and evil. God knows what He must do and does it. Men and other Beings are capable of evil because they have not or refuse to master their freedom.
True spiritual freedom liberates from the necessity of having to choose. Spiritual freedom is not about agonizing over externally imposed good and evil choices; it is about internally/spiritually knowing what good is and doing/thinking that. The need to choose never enters the picture.
Freedom is not and cannot be reduced to the free will doctrine of merely choosing between external, given choices. If it is, it becomes an enslaving force — a burden that diminishes man to a level of “submitting to Good,” albeit with some limited say.
Man is free when he doesn’t have to choose -- when he aligns with God and Creation. How does he know that what he is thinking and doing is good? When he applies his freedom to loving God, and it brings forth creativity.
Note: This post is basically just a rehashing of ideas I have written about many times on this blog.