Freedom Series: the divine perspective (Part 2)
Freedom Granted
“Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’” (Genesis 1:26 NIV11)
From the outset, God determined that human beings would fall into a completely different category from that of all the other animals He had created. The major dimensions of this God-ordained human exceptionalism were that we were (1) created in His image and (2) mandated to rule over all other creatures.
One of God’s many attributes is the unfettered freedom to make choices. And the most significant choice He made from our perspective was to create the universe encompassing all of life and non-life. Quoting A. W. Tozer from The Knowledge of the Holy, “[God’s] sovereignty requires that He be absolutely free, which means simply that He must be free to do whatever He wills to do anywhere at any time to carry out His eternal purpose in every single detail without interference. Were He less than free He must be less than sovereign.” In other words, the freedom to act without hindrance is intrinsic to God’s nature.
Free will or the ability to make choices including, most importantly, moral choices is a fundamental dimension of the image of God wired into the consciousness of human beings. This capacity to exercise free will sharply distinguishes humankind from other members of the animal kingdom. To pick just one example, chimpanzees respond instinctively to their environment. The choices they make are based upon the need to ensure their own survival and that of their species. There does not appear to be any moral dimension to the choices made by the lower animals.
And yet, as pointed out by C. S. Lewis, human beings will argue passionately concerning the difference between right and wrong choices based not upon survival but an appeal to some higher law. And this higher law cannot be grounded in material causes despite the arguments of some scientists of the materialist persuasion to that effect. They contend that human beings are genetically predisposed to make choices that have the appearance of free will but are biologically predetermined.
Such opinions notwithstanding, most humans intuitively understand that one ought not steal a banana from the corner grocery store while our chimpanzee friend would have no such qualms! Quoting Lewis from Mere Christianity, “human beings, all over the earth, have this curious idea that they ought to behave in a certain way, and cannot really get rid of it.”
The starting point for God’s perspective on freedom is that we, as those created in His image, are endowed with the ability to make free choices.
Therefore, the starting point for God’s perspective on freedom is that we, as those created in His image, are endowed with the ability to make free choices. In the Christian worldview, all of creation is contingent, meaning that God could have made other design choices. For example, given His incomprehensible wisdom and omniscience, God could have programmed us to always make morally right choices thereby eliminating the existence of human evil. However, robots cannot enjoy the positive features of human existence including love, joy, and responsibility.
In summary, it is God’s will that human beings enjoy personal freedom. Unlike God, however, we are not perfect. We now turn to freedom lost.
Photo by Calvin Craig on Unsplash
