Myth of Free Will, The

Driving home: The thinking of our own contemporary generation, within the Church and without the Church, on the subject of the human will, is, for the most part, mythology.

Martin uses his childhood belief in Santa Claus to illustrate how deeply ingrained and fiercely defended a widely accepted myth can be, even when it's imaginary.

Most of us, growing up, believed in the myth of Santa Claus. Having been told that he existed, and that he made his periodic visit to our particular environment on Christmas Eve, we really believed that he existed. If you ever tried to tell me, at age 6, that those creaks I heard in my house on Christmas Eve were not Santa's footsteps, I would have been willing to fight you with all of the energies of my 5- or 6-year-old friend. You see, the myth of Santa Claus had been so thoroughly imbibed in my thinking that I treated it as though it were fact.

3:40 - 4:19 Read in full sermon

Driving home: The thinking of our own contemporary generation, within the Church and without the Church, on the subject of the human will, is, for the most part, mythology.

The historical belief in a flat Earth is used as an example of a widely accepted scientific myth, where questioning it led to being labeled a 'heretic,' paralleling how questioning free will is perceived.

You see, for a while, in the realm of science, there was the myth of the flat Earth. And if anyone, prior to the demonstration that the Earth was not flat and the Earth was not the center of our own solar system, had even hinted that maybe the Earth was round and that the sun was the center, why, he was looked upon as some kind of a, not only a scientific freak, but a heretic, because the Church, in great measure, had defended the mythology of midlife, medieval science. The same way, when anyone questioned, to my childish mind, the myth of Santa Claus, as I mentioned, I was ready to fight and ...

5:00 - 6:22 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He addresses the first area of mythology: circumstantial freedom, the idea that human will arranges life's events. Using biblical examples like Joseph, Proverbs 16, Jeremiah 10…

Playing with dominoes and arranging them is used to illustrate the myth of circumstantial freedom, where people believe they can arrange life's events according to their will.

I can remember as a child when we'd play with dominoes. To this day I still don't quite remember how you actually used dominoes because we used them for everything but what they were intended to be used for. We'd stand them up, you know, in different snake-like arrangements and tip them and we'd love to see them go and all fall down. Well, usually we'd pour the dominoes out on the floor and then we could arrange them into anything we wanted to.

9:42 - 10:06 Read in full sermon

The point: Recognize that the concept of morality is based on God's right to govern us as our Creator, and without this foundation, moral vocabulary is meaningless.

The choice between cherry pie a la mode or apple pie a la mode is used to illustrate the prevailing idea that the human will stands neutral between good and evil, free to choose without influence.

if I am elected president I will oh you will will you suppose God makes you a stuttering idiot in three months time then what will you do if I am elected I will oh you will will you suppose God allows famine natural calamity earthquakes to come and rend the very physical structure of the geographic part of the world called the United States to shake at its very foundations oh listen to the vaunted boastings God says such boastings sin because that's the myth of free will the myth of the myth of circumstantial freedom that because we make the choice we can carry it forth and arrange the circums...

20:18 - 21:45 Read in full sermon

The point: Recognize that the concept of morality is based on God's right to govern us as our Creator, and without this foundation, moral vocabulary is meaningless.

Asking children if they want chocolate or vanilla ice cream is used to explain that even simple choices are influenced by taste buds and prior knowledge, not made in isolation by a neutral will.

or like when I take the children to the Dairy Queen I say my standard pitch is you want chocolate or vanilla now you're free to make your choice there you are you're standing neutral between the chocolate ice cream machine and the vanilla ice cream machine and whichever way you nod your head that knob will be pulled now there is this myth this prevailing idea that the human will is free in the sense that it stands neutral between good and evil and makes its choice completely uninfluenced by any kind of disposition of the heart and the mind and the affections now let me set down very clearly wh...

23:13 - 24:42 Read in full sermon

Driving home: The carnal mind is enmity against God for it is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can be the idea that man faces the law of God and the law of sin neutrally and his will as it were cast the deciding vote uninf…

The analogy of a bird being unable to make its nest at the bottom of the Susquehanna River, despite no law forbidding it, illustrates that a creature's nature dictates its choices, not mere freedom from external coercion.

to the beauty of holiness and the affections are opposed to the way of holiness what is the will going to choose holiness no what will it choose naturally left to itself what will it choose one thing sin just as much as if the mind is convinced that chocolate is poison and the taste buds don't like the taste of chocolate the will won't choose chocolate unless it is trying to deliberately punish itself commit suicide if it is looking for happiness it will choose vanilla and so you and I by nature with a mind that is darkened to God and to the beauty of holiness and affections that are set again...

33:36 - 35:04 Read in full sermon

The point: Ensure that gratitude for salvation is directed entirely to God for His sovereign work, not partially to one's own proper use of free will.

Martin recounts hearing a well-known radio preacher attribute salvation to the proper use of free will, which he calls a "travesty upon the teaching of Scripture," highlighting the practical implications of the myth.

It makes the difference, my friend, when you get on your knees to thank God for saving you. Whether in reality, you're thanking yourself that He made salvation possible, but you made it actual by the proper use of your free will. And in essence, this is what this gospel preacher said last night. He said, really, in reality, the basic difference is some of you will make proper use of your free will and others of you won't.

57:53 - 58:20 Read in full sermon