For the past few days, I've been involved in several conversations about the nature of salvation and the related question about the nature of human free will. Lots of visions of salvation trade on the idea of "free will". In fact, entire theologies are built upon its foundation.
But I really struggle with it. In fact, I'm fairly certain that there's no such thing as free will.
Perhaps unsurprising, my view of free will is entirely Augustinian. And that view is wrapped up quite succinctly in his prayer in the Confessions: "Our hearts are restless until they rest in you, O God".
It's not that we aren't free. It's just that, with our disordered and broken affections, our freedom doesn't move us forward, doesn't bring us anything but more sorrow and frustration.
I've seen this countless times in my own life, and in the lives of parishioners.
See, what folks miss when they claim "free will" is a fairly important theological construct: Sin.
We might be "free" but what is it that we end up desiring, wanting, craving, loving, caring about, in all that freedom? It certainly isn't God, or divine things -- much less Jesus.
The discussion about free will when it comes to salvation is hallow and thin. It just doesn't say very much.
(It's simple, too, to refute the notion of "free will" on the level of biology or psychology. Our actions are not nearly as free-floating as we want to envision. The Enlightenment sure may have taught us as much. But it was a lie. Witness, for example, that if it's true that "all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights", why was it so hard to get King George III to sit down and reason about that? Why did we fight a war if that's the case? See, history is replete with examples where "free will" just makes no sense.)
There's an old metaphor for sin that I think we should be taking more seriously.
Sickness.
Sin-as-sickness is a metaphor that gets a lot of traction these days. Just visit the local jail. Those folks know they've made mistakes. They know they've had nothing but bad choices in front of them. But what they also know is that they're trapped in cycles much beyond their control -- poverty, racism, social oppression -- that make their "free" choices a lot less genuinely free. Their lives are broken, and there's something sick in them.
Sure, they want forgiveness for their crimes, but what they really want is something much, much deeper.
Healing.
What they long for -- what I long for -- is healing.
And that's precisely what salvation is. It's the wholeness that God in Christ recreates -- even when we can't do it ourselves.
Sorry, but I don't believe in free will -- and that's a good thing, too.