Jonathan Edwards' Freedom of the Will offers one of the most thorough presentation and defense of the Calvinist doctrines of the will and the sovereign grace of God. Regardless of what comes to mind when you hear the term "Calvinism," this book is really worth reading. The reader is left with a holistic theological and philosophical overview of the topic of the freedom of the will. The book is excellent for reference. It would be difficult to come up with an objection to Calvinist doctrine which he has not thoroughly addressed (regardless of whether you agree or disagree with his response).
One of the most helpful discussions in the book is the distinction between moral inability and natural inability. To illustrate this he uses the example of a drunkard who is given a drink. At this point, the drunkard is naturally able to choose to not drink, yet he is morally unable to resist. Edwards recognizes that many would object saying that an inability is an inability, whether moral or immoral. But he points out that common sense would indicate that there is a legitimacy to moral ability and inability; people who are by nature morally loving, who love to do good - we say these are excellent people, and those who love wickedness we understand to be legitimately wicked. If we do not hold as legitimate both moral inability and the responsibility for this immorality, we will make those who love truth and justice the most immoral people, since it is easy for them to be moral, and we will make saints out of those who love wickedness and deceit, since it is impossible for them to resist.
Interestingly, these things have been confirmed in psychological studies of addiction. If people who have addictions are not held responsible for their actions they are not usually successful in overcoming their addictions; they must be held responsible - even though they are faced with impossible addiction - in order to make progress in overcoming the addiction.
See article: http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=90688&page=2
There is much much more in The Freedom of the Will worth reading. His biblical overviews of God's sovereignty are rich. It is definitely worth the time and energy to work through this book.
"people who are by nature morally loving, who love to do good - we say these are excellent people, and those who love wickedness we understand to be legitimately wicked. If we do not hold as legitimate both moral inability and the responsibility for this immorality, we will make those who love truth and justice the most immoral people, since it is easy for them to be moral, and we will make saints out of those who love wickedness and deceit, since it is impossible for them to resist."
ReplyDeleteWonderfully put. You have successfully convinced me.
I'm pretty sure there's a good Calvin and Hobbes about this. I need to find that... you know? where he is justifying how he should get more presents from Santa for the one good thing he does since he doesn't like to do good things?
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