Responses (2)
God dignifies us with free will, the power to make decisions of our own rather than having God or fate predetermine what we do. Consider what the Bible teaches.
God created humans in his image. (Genesis 1:26) And like our Creator, we have free will.
The Bible encourages us to “choose life . . . by listening to [God’s] voice,” that is, by choosing to obey his commands. (Deuteronomy 30:19, 20)
To a great extent, we can even determine our future by the decisions we make today.
Our success or failure is not determined by fate.
If we want to succeed at an endeavor, we must work hard. “All that your hand finds to do,” says the Bible, “do with your very power.”(Ecclesiastes 9:10) It also says: “The plans of the diligent one surely make for advantage.”—Proverbs 21:5.
Free will is a precious gift from God, for it lets us love him with our “whole heart”—because we want to not because we have to — Matthew 22:37.
The ability to express that will which was given to us comes with consequences, mainly because we misused it from the beginning. Genesis 3:15
Finding out what the Bible really teaches can direct us toward making choices that will impact our lives in a positive way. I did and it makes a difference. jw.org
Free choice is not free at all because we have not learnt to use the power of our intellect. We have not realized that the mind is different from the intellect. While both are subtle aspects of our existence, the mind creates thoughts. Intellect is supposed to discriminate between thoughts. Because we have not developed the domain of our intellect, we have not developed the choice of freewill. We human beings have a choice, we can sit or stand, we can eat or drink, we can talk or be silent. We have freewill, we have a choice but because we think we are prisoners, because we think we don't have a choice, we don't have freewill, we continue to be imprisoned in our own ignorance.