Above and below are short clips from the Loki TV show on Disney+ that toys with the concept of free will. I added it partly for fun and partly because it relates to what I'll discuss in this chapter.

[There should be a GIF or video here. Update the app now to see it.]

The majority of people who go to baptist or similar churches are taught that God has a plan. God's will be done. Everything is in God's hands. He has a plan for YOU. For everyone.

This begs a very important question: do we have free will?

I would argue that if the Christian God is real, then we do not have free will. And I believe this for a number of reasons.

Because in the churches that raised me, we were told God's plans would always prevail, no matter what our own desires are. Everything is predestined and laid out for us. It has been that when since the beginning. Yet these churches claim that we also have free will.

However these 2 things cannot coexist. Either we make our own decisions or God has them laid out for us already. If we have free will then we can go against his plan and even change his plan.

"Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails." Proverbs 19:21

"In their hearts, humans plant their course but the Lord establishes their steps." Proverbs 16:9

"In him we are also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will." Ephesians 1:11

"Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him." Psalms 115:3

"The Lord Almighty has sworn 'Surely as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed so it will happen'." Isaiah 14:21

These are all verses that I would say, state that we have no free will because God has it planned already. Next I will list some verses that Christians say confirm we DO have free will.

"No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful, he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so you can endure it." 1 Corinthians 10:13

Ok great so when we are in trouble God will help us avoid temptation! But wait, God is all knowing and already has our lives planned out. Meaning he knows that we will be tempted and what we will choose: to sin or not to sin. And he created us (hypothetically in this situation) knowing which we will choose. And if he created a person, knowing that person would be a sinner, then he chooses to punish them for it... I wouldn't call that free will. I would call that God making a person knowing how their lives would turn out and sending them to hell anyways.

Moving on.

"You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge in the flesh; rather serve one another humbly in love." Galatians 5:13

Okay I totally see how this one could be saying we have free will. Although I still don't believe the Christian God offers total free will. (I'll get to that)

Before I continue, I want to say that I know some churches teach that God doesn't have every decision we make planned out for us already. To clarify, MY church taught that everything in our lives was predestined. I understand that this doesn't go for all churches. But from my understanding all churches do teach that God is all knowing, even if he doesn't have our lives fully planned out before we are born.

Throughout the Bible God constantly says that he has a plan and a purpose. Constantly saying this.

I could not find the use of the words 'free will' in the Bible. A few similar phrases maybe, but not explicit free will.

What is the difference between this so called 'biblical free will' and coercion?

If someone wants you to do something and threatens violence if you don't do it, we would call that coercion. I'll give a an example.

Someone is robbing you and says they'll kill you if you don't hand over your money. So you hand them your money so your life is spared. That's coercion and straight up violence. We would never call that free will. If this robbed person were to go to the police and say their money was stolen and someone held a gun to them, the police wouldn't say "well you chose to give that person your money." They wouldn't say "well you didn't have to give up your money." The person in this hypothetical situation was coerced/forced into giving up their belongings!

Now if someone walks up to me and casually asks me for money (not threatening violence) I would say no. That is free will. I am not being coerced or put under the threat of violence to do something.

If we don't worship God and claim Jesus as our savior, we will burn for eternity in hell. We will die if we don't love and worship him. Coercion and violence.

I had so much anxiety about going to hell and I loved God partly because I was afraid of going to hell.

It isn't free will if the other option it literally HELL. This is a threat. Saying 'love me or burn' isn't very nice. I don't care how 'loving' he is supposed to be. This is a threat.

I repeat IT ISNT FREE WILL IF THE OTHER OPTION IS ETERNAL DAMNATION.

The excuse I hear a lot of Christians give is 'well you choose if you go to hell or not.'

How many people do you think are worshipping god out of fear, just as I did. I promise you it's more than you think.

Free will is such a complicated topic and you could even choose to define it differently than me. Here is the definition I am using, from Oxford Languages.

"the power of acting without the constraint of necessity or fate; the ability to act at one's own discretion."

We don't have total free will. There are laws and rules we have to follow and if we break them, we have consequences. However Christianity cannot claim to have free will for all of the reasons I have discussed in this chapter.