Is Free Will an Illusion?

Excerpt from Chapter 10 of Beyond Shallow Faith, copyright 2018, 2019

So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”

—John 8:31-32

A mouse lives in a tiny corner of the earth and knows nothing of the greater world beyond her small territory. Her nature drives her to find food, reproduce, and raise baby mice. She cannot change what God made her or where he put her.

We are like the mouse in many ways. We do not choose the time, the place, or the circumstances of our birth. Our nature drives us to eat and sleep—we cannot choose to do otherwise for any extended period of time without serious consequences. The almost irresistible attraction of the opposite sex compels most of us to mate and reproduce. And as much as we pretend otherwise, none of us can avoid death.[i] Yet something inside us cries out that we are different from the mouse. We believe we can rise above our circumstances and resist our nature. We can choose how we act. We are free. Or are we?

Some argue that our freedom is simply an illusion. Our choices are all determined by some combination of genetics, circumstances, experiences, and environment, leaving no room for free will. For example, many of us “choose” a religion because our culture or our parents ingrained it in us as children.[ii]

Among Christians, some argue that freedom to choose our eternal destiny is similarly illusory—i.e., that God decided whether you and I would go to Heaven or Hell[iii] before we were even born. Such giants of the faith as St. Augustine,[iv] John Calvin, and John Knox[v] have advocated this position. Many others, reading the same Bible, have concluded that our eternal fate depends upon our choices. But what does the Bible say? . . .

Beyond Shallow Faith is available on Amazon.com.


[i]. As Jesus pointed out: “which of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life’s span?” (Luke 12:25)

[ii]. The story of my conversion to Christianity does not follow this pattern. I was an agnostic who committed my life to Christ as a young adult.

[iii]. I do not subscribe to the traditional view of Hell as fire, brimstone, and eternal torture, nor do I believe that Scripture supports such a view. For a discussion of what Scripture truly says about Hell, see Chapter Five of my book, Beyond Blind Faith, entitled “What Hell Is Really Like.”

[iv]. St. Augustine lived from 354 to 430 A.D.

[v]. John Calvin (1509 – 1564) and John Knox (ca. 1505 – 1572) were two of the leaders of the Protestant Reformation, along with Martin Luther and others.