1. In the OT, God says "Woe to those who trust in their own strength." (Isaiah 31:1, et.al.)
2. Christ prayed in the garden: "...not my will, but Yours."
3. Christ taught us to pray: "...Thy will be done,..."
4. God chastized Job by reminding Job how much God does.
5. Both David and Christ said to the effect: 'man is but a worm'.
6. If God is our strength, then what strength can I have beyond that of God's? Clearly, none.
7. The Spirit tells us for what to pray. (See 1 John 5:14-15.)
8. Only God opens our eyes.

   So we neither know how to pray or know how to find Christ. We need God for everything at all times in our lives. This makes perfect sense since God is to be the center of our lives.

9. No where in the Bible is the words "free will" mentioned. I don't know when, where, or who invented this phrase, but I think that it separates us from being sheep.
10. John (the baptiser) had nothing to do with the world and he is described as the highest one in heaven of those who are woman born. Christ had truly nothing to do with this world (job, money, etc.) is the Son of God, God's image and glory, born of the Spirit of God, is the King of kings.
11. Acts 17:25 And He is not served by human hands, as if He needed anything, because He himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.

So it seems with all this evidence that "free will" is an attempt to get us to separate our sole trust, hope, and patience in God.

Isaiah 29:16
You turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the clay! Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, "He did not make me"? Can the pot say of the potter, "He knows nothing"?

Isaiah 41:25
"I have stirred up one from the north, and he comes- one from the rising sun who calls on my name. He treads on rulers as if they were mortar, as if he were a potter treading the clay.

Isaiah 45:9
"Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker, to him who is but a potsherd among the potsherds on the ground. Does the clay say to the potter, 'What are you making?' Does your work say, 'He has no hands'?

Isaiah 64:8
Yet, O LORD , you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.

Jeremiah 18:4
But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.

Jeremiah 18:6
"O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?" declares the LORD . "Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.

Lamentations 4:2
How the precious sons of Zion, once worth their weight in gold, are now considered as pots of clay, the work of a potter's hands!

Romans 9:21
Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?

Sabbath, July 30^th @ 2:33 PM EST USA

Romans 8:20

20. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope
21. that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

The world is in bondage to decay; man is in bondage to sin. The analogy is perfect and the point is that no man is free. We either follow Satan because all of man’s desires are to sin, or we obey God because it is God’s will (alone) that we obey Him.

Sabbath, 02/11/06, 12:34 PM EST USA
Matthew 10:29
"Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father."

" ... apart from the will of your Father."

I understand this pharse to mean that only God's will is done on earth as it is in Heaven. If not, then how is it you have strength, or you freely chose God? You don't and you didn't. It is all God's will - just as the falling of 2 sparrows (2 apostles? 2 witnesses? ... in Revelation?? :) is under the reign of our One True Living LORD God Almighty.

Sabbath, 07/08/06, 11:45 AM EST USA
Acts 5:38-39
38 Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail.
39 But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God."

There are two possibilities for man's efforts:
1) man is doing God's will, or
2) man is not doing God's will.
As such there is no free will whatsoever. If every desire of our hearts is to do evil ...

... then how is it that man can do good apart from God willing him to do good? Man cannot. When we do good it is God acting in our lives to obey Him. Clearly the above passage states that if God is not acting in our lives, then our sole purpose is to do evil. And the saying "There, but for the grace of God, go I." rings true. Related to this is the fact that there should be no boasting. Of course not - if God's will acts in our lives, then we cannot boast about anything - about nothing can we boast. Not one thing.

Sabbath, 07/08/06, 6:11 PM EST USA
If there is free will to chose God, then how is it we can chose to not be OF the world? Does the pot decide its shape? No, of course not. So then if God's word says that God is the Potter, and we are (nothing more than) the clay, or clay jars which are filled according to His will, then how is it you can chose your shape, design, and nature? The answer is obvious - you cannot. Only God is Sovereign; only God's will is done on earth as it is in heaven; only God decides our very lives - for noble or not noble purposes.

Romans 9:21
Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?

2 Timothy 2:20
In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble.

Sabbath, 06/02/07, 10:00 AM EST USA
It occurred to me that since there is no free will - that is that everything is God's will - then we literally live on God's blessings. For He is the Potter and we are the clay. Every day every second "24/7 365 days a year" we are thought about by God. If He forgets us, then we lose our lives and die. (There are two deaths: the 1^st one is the death of the body, and the 2^nd one is us losing our soul which means God has rejected us. Those who are elect do not face the 2^nd death.)

Why is this the case (you may ask)? This is the way it is because God is Sovereign. He reigns over all of the universe: from the planets to our very salvation. He is the Alpha and the Omega - the Beginning and the End. And only His will is done on "earth" as it is in Heaven. (NOTE: "earth" actually means "ground" which is a generic word meaning physical nature - aka the entire physical universe.)

Unfortunately I do not have a specific verse to back this up. However, it is a reasonable conclusion based on the "no free will" verses I have displayed on this page.

Sabbath, 06/02/07, 7:17 PM EST USA
It just occurred to me - we can do nothing without God. That's scary. We live quite literally by God's will and no other. I was an atheist for most of my life and I taught myself to be self reliant. I was almost proud of myself for not needing anybody yet willing to ask for help if the situation deserved it. I would give my word to someone and it was a certainty that I kept it. I peeled back the onion layers and learned who I am - on the inside. I was that way for most of my life - always asking "why" something happened and I always came to a clear and decisive answer.

But now, as a Bible believing Christian ... that has all changed. I am no longer self reliant, my word means nothing (so I don't give it any more), who I think I am is meaningless. I am frustrated by everything I thought I have learned. No matter what I try I do half-baked. I lost all of my motivation and even don't care about anything I use to care about. I would say I changed - I'm just more of a sheep than t he "mensch" I was called by a Jewish girl or an "esse'" I was called by a Hispanic guy. I think I am alive only waiting for death. I hate my life and can't stand living. (I guess "godot" is death.)

Wednesday, 12/19/07, 08:17 AM EST USA
ADDENDUM: I do hate my life, but having read that I realize that it sounds horrible. I am not sure how to say it so that you can understand what I meant ... my life is always frustrating. From friends and family to work and play - all of it. So in that sense I "hate" my life. Since God has opened my eyes my one hope is that I am one of the elect.