DO WE HAVE FREEWILL OR JUST AN ILLUSION OF FREEWILL?

There are times when I have kneejerk reactions, like when I was pushed and got angry. My reaction was so spontaneous that it would seem that I didn’t have freewill, but then I can evaluate it in a reasoned and non-kneejerk way. I can even assess my reaction and perhaps apologize for it, depending upon how I evaluate the circumstances.

This kind of evaluation leads us to conclude that even though we often react in a kneejerk manner, there are areas our lives that are not exclusively controlled by such reactions, areas where we have greater freedom of choice. Besides, when we compare our sleep or comatose state with our experience of typing at a computer, it seems that while typing at the computer, we have a faculty we didn’t have in our other states – freewill.

In fact, it is logically difficult to even deny that we have freewill. To say that my statements are not a product of freewill choices, but merely biochemical reactions, is to deny that there is any truth-content to what I am saying. And if it is exclusively the product of physical reactions, why should we expect it to also be the product of logical reflection?

Besides, logical reflection seems to require a faculty beyond the merely formula-determined events of the physical world. If thinking is merely biochemistry, it is locked-in. It does not allow us the freedom to explore options and possibilities with our minds, even to follow the evidence where it might lead.

Why then do we adamantly deny the existence of freewill? It is equivalent to denying the existence of something as intuitive as our own personhood and existence. It’s like believing that I am no more than someone else’s thought or consciousness.

Why do many deny what seems so obvious – freewill? Freewill points to another reality, a non-physical or spiritual reality, a reality beyond mere evolutionary explanations. It points to God and the reality of His Word:

·       But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:23-24; ESV)