行使你的選擇權Exercising Your Power of Choice
[每日靈修] 12/5/2018, 駱鴻銘編譯
人有自由意志嗎？這是神學中最常見的問題之一。有時，它不是以問題的形式提出的，而是以反對「有一個至高主權的上帝」的整套觀念提出的。
問題的核心是自由意志的定義。當我們斷言人有自由意志時，我們是什麼意思？簡單地說，自由意志的意思是人有能力選擇他想要的東西。這種能力需要有思想、意志和慾望。如果這些功能存在，並在人身上發揮作用，那個人就有自由意志。
自由意志的意思不是人可以選擇做任何他喜歡做的事情，而且必然會成功。我們可以選擇在沒有機械裝置的情況下飛行。我們可以獨自從空中墜落，但我們無法在其中飛翔。我們缺乏必要的自然裝備（在這種情況下是翅膀）飛行。然而，這並不意味著我們不是自由的。這確實意味著我們的「自由」受到我們天然身體能力的限制。我的意志可能會受到大多數人意志或更高權力的否決。這種相互衝突的權力並沒有消除我的自由，卻肯定會對它施加一些限制。
對我的自由產生限制的最重要的因素之一就是我自己。如果我們仔細研究意志的運作方式，我們就會遇到一個諷刺的問題，這個問題在關於自由意志的討論中經常被忽視。關鍵在於：如果我的選擇是真自由的，我不僅可以選擇想要的東西，也必須選擇想要的東西。選擇是根據慾望而作的。沒有慾望就沒有自由的選擇——當然也不會有合乎道德的選擇。
活在神的面光中（在神面前禱告）：
上帝給了你自由意志去作選擇。你乃是根據自己的慾望作出選擇。您現在的慾望是否會成為將來的明智選擇呢？
進一步研讀：
申卅19 我今日呼天喚地向你作見證；我將生死禍福陳明在你面前，所以你要揀選生命，使你和你的後裔都得存活；
書廿四15 若是你們以事奉耶和華為不好，今日就可以選擇所要事奉的：是你們列祖在大河那邊所事奉的神呢？是你們所住這地的亞摩利人的神呢？至於我和我家，我們必定事奉耶和華。」
詩廿五12 誰敬畏耶和華，耶和華必指示他當選擇的道路。
Exercising Your Power of
Choice
Does
man have a free will? This question is one of the most frequently asked
questions of theology. At times, it is not voiced as a question but as an
objection to the whole idea of a sovereign God.
At
the heart of the problem is the definition of free will. What are we saying
when we assert that man has a free will? Stated briefly, free will simply means
that man has the ability to choose what he wants. Such ability requires the
presence of a mind, a will, and a desire. If these faculties are present and
functioning in a man, that man has a free will.
Free
will does not mean that man can choose to do anything he pleases and
necessarily succeed. We may choose to fly without the aid of mechanical
devices. We can fall through the air by ourselves, but we cannot fly through
it. We lack the necessary natural equipment (in this case, wings) to fly. This
does not mean, however, that we are not free. It does mean that our “freedom”
is limited by our natural physical limitations. My will may be outvoted by the
will of a majority or by some higher power. Such conflicting power does not
eliminate my freedom but may surely impose limits on it.
One
of the most important limits on my freedom is myself. If we examine the workings
of the will closely we run into a point of irony that is often overlooked in
discussions about free will. The point is this: Not only may I choose what I
want, I must choose what I want if my choice is really to be free. Choice is
made according to desire. Without desire there could be no free
choice—certainly no moral choice.
Coram
Deo
God
gave you a free will to choose. You choose according to your desires. Will your
present desires lead to wise choices for the future?
Passages
for Further Study
Deuteronomy
30:19
Joshua
24:15
Psalm
25:12