Many forces influence free will

THE EDITOR: I refer to Pastor Cuffie’s weekly column A Pentecostal Perspective, of November 29 2003 entitled “AIDS by Choice.” Pastor Cuffie writes: “Sexual behaviour, apart from rape, is voluntary and completely within the control of the partners invovled. The act is based on a free-will choice. It’s therefore a matter of AIDS by choice.” While one can agree with the fact that “sexual behaviour is voluntary,” it is difficult to see how AIDS can be said to be a “free-will choice.” Surely the good Pastor is guilty here of what is called “doggie logic” — that is reasoning as follows: a dog is a dog because it barks. In his zeal to sermonise he also ignores his Bible.

In the first place, the Bible teaches that the natural man (unsaved man) does not possess a free will, but rather, his will is in bondage to the power of sin and the devil. Therefore, his choices are influenced accordingly and are not free-willed. This has always been the doctrine of Protestants. In fact the great reformer Martin Luther wrote in his classic book Bondage of the Will that “free-will is a myth.” Jonathan Edwards in his book On Freedom of the Will also speaks of the “inclination of the will.” In the second place, our sociologists and psychologists also say that man is conditioned by his environment. He does not exercise his will in a vacuum, but there are “forces” in his surroundings and circumstances that influence his choices.

Thus when people engage in pre-martial sex, homosexuality or any other form of immorality they are not choosing AIDS but behaving according to their nature. This should come as no surprise to the Pastor! It is only when Jesus Christ sets the man free, that he is “free indeed,” but not before! It is only then that he can make “free-will choices.” In Deuteronomy 30:19, cited by Pastor Cuffie, natural men are exhorted to “choose life.” Implicit in the words “choose life” is the fact that man is dead and in need of life! Yet Pastor Cuffie sees free will in it! But does this verse teach that man makes “free-will choices”? At most, it teaches that people do make choices every day — and no one will contest that fact! The question is not, “Do people make choices?” It is, “What causes people to make the choices they make?” Is it their sinful nature? Their environment? The devil? God?

SYLVAN JAMES
Debe