Is Faith a Choice?

[Edward]

In another thread, someone made the statement that faith is not a choice. That tickled the back of my mind because it did not ring true to me. I've been thinking about it and I have to disagree with the thought that faith is not a choice.

It is a choice. It has to be. To have faith, means to put your faith in Jesus, as in I choose to believe that the Lord will be true to his promises. Faith is sort of a synonym for trust. Like having trust in your Wife/Husband. If they have never betrayed your trust, you continue to trust them, or have faith in them. When trust is betrayed, faith is lost in that person.

God has never betrayed my trust in him so my faith is encouraged and grows. Some will choose to (have faith) believe scientists, because they can sort of understand the scientists theories, yet, not being a scientist themselves, a choice is made to believe them because at times, it may seem as if they have proof of this or that. It's the same with spiritual issues but no proof is given nor will be. Because we are to choose to believe or have faith in God and his promises.

Psalm 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart; and lean not to your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths.

 

[farouk]

John 6 also makes it clear that the work of God in the heart is involved - is essential.

Human responsibility and divine sovereignty are not contradictory; both are true, and Biblical.

 

[Jethro Bodine]

Faith is sort of a synonym for trust.

If we Christians would be careful to remember this, a lot of confusion would be cleared up about some things.

Believing in Christ implies that you have placed your trust in his blood for the forgiveness of sin. Believing is not even just believing that Jesus is the Christ. The demons know that, and better than you or I!

There are people who acknowledge Christ, and in that sense 'believe' in him, but who really haven't placed their total trust in his blood to deliver them on the Day of Wrath.

It's the same with spiritual issues but no proof is given nor will be.

Your God given faith, the power to believe in the blood of Christ, IS the proof that it's all true.

It took me years to really come to this understanding. The basis for my trust in Jesus is the undeniable voice of God in my heart convicting me of the truth about sin, righteousness, and the Judgment to come--the same voice that goes out to all people. IOW, the faith God has given me is how I know it's all true. That is the proof he gives to show people it's all true. This faith is NOT manufacturered by men. It is a gift of God.

The choice we have is whether or not we're going to respond in trust to what God has made clear and undeniable to us by his Holy Spirit. And I believe God does a lot of gracious work helping us make the good choice to respond to the faith he has given us to know it's all real. And I think it is that grace that gets confused with us not really having a choice whether to respond negatively or positively to the invitation to life. Even the ability to respond to the faith God gives us is in itself graciously granted by God.

 

[Jethro Bodine]

Human responsibility and divine sovereignty are not contradictory; both are true, and Biblical.

Yes.

But for some reason it doesn't fit into our natural propensity to think things can only be black or white, and not somewhere in between.

To me, human responsibility and God's sovereignty are like a rat in a scientists maze. The rat has full freedom to move around in the maze of his own free will, but only within the confines determined by the sovereignty of the scientist. This is to date the best explanation for me.

 

[Edward]

I agree completely.
<There are people who acknowledge Christ, and in that sense 'believe' in him, but who really haven't placed their total trust in his blood to deliver them on the Day of Wrath.>
and there's where the choice to have faith in Christ comes in. Choose to trust him and his promises, turn everything over to him, and be still and know that he is God, and be patient. Your faith is rewarded with Blessings and God will reveal truths to you inwardly and one will KNOW that God is real and working in your life, but not in any way that could be documented or proven to others, so faith can continue and grow.

God is very obvious to me all around now. I see Gods hand in everything. I find it difficult not to believe (not that I'm trying to not believe, lol). What was that Chuck Missler used to say? Something about faith is the hope for things unseen and the evidence of things unproven or something like that.

 

[Grazer]

Faith is a choice otherwise God has forced us into it and what would that say about God?

Sent from my HTC Desire S using Tapatalk 2

 

[for_his_glory]

Yes, faith is a choice we make as it is not even our faith as it is the faith of Christ that we believe and accept him as our Lord and Savior. Joshua Chapter 24 is a great example why we need to make the choice to serve the Lord and for me and my house we will serve the Lord.

 

[elijah23]

In another thread, someone made the statement that faith is not a choice. That tickled the back of my mind because it did not ring true to me. I've been thinking about it and I have to disagree with the thought that faith is not a choice.

It is a choice. It has to be. To have faith, means to put your faith in Jesus, as in I choose to believe that the Lord will be true to his promises. Faith is sort of a synonym for trust. Like having trust in your Wife/Husband. If they have never betrayed your trust, you continue to trust them, or have faith in them. When trust is betrayed, faith is lost in that person.

God has never betrayed my trust in him so my faith is encouraged and grows. Some will choose to (have faith) believe scientists, because they can sort of understand the scientists theories, yet, not being a scientist themselves, a choice is made to believe them because at times, it may seem as if they have proof of this or that. It's the same with spiritual issues but no proof is given nor will be. Because we are to choose to believe or have faith in God and his promises.

Psalm 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart; and lean not to your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths.

We need to make the effort to DEVELOP faith. In other words, we need to trust the Lord.

 

[The Unbeliever]

It is a choice. It has to be. To have faith, means to put your faith in Jesus, as in I choose to believe that the Lord will be true to his promises. Faith is sort of a synonym for trust. Like having trust in your Wife/Husband. If they have never betrayed your trust, you continue to trust them, or have faith in them. When trust is betrayed, faith is lost in that person.

I don't know if I was that person, but I would agree that faith is not a choice. There is no way to trust what you do not believe in. I can believe in my wife because of the multitude of evidences that impress upon me that she is not only there, but that any trust I place in her is valid. I lack this with regard to God and without it there can be no faith, no matter how much I wish it otherwise. My own loss of faith is a perfect example of faith not being a matter of choice.

 

[abide]

In another thread, someone made the statement that faith is not a choice. That tickled the back of my mind because it did not ring true to me. I've been thinking about it and I have to disagree with the thought that faith is not a choice.

It is a choice. It has to be. To have faith, means to put your faith in Jesus, as in I choose to believe that the Lord will be true to his promises. Faith is sort of a synonym for trust. Like having trust in your Wife/Husband. If they have never betrayed your trust, you continue to trust them, or have faith in them. When trust is betrayed, faith is lost in that person.

God has never betrayed my trust in him so my faith is encouraged and grows. Some will choose to (have faith) believe scientists, because they can sort of understand the scientists theories, yet, not being a scientist themselves, a choice is made to believe them because at times, it may seem as if they have proof of this or that. It's the same with spiritual issues but no proof is given nor will be. Because we are to choose to believe or have faith in God and his promises.

Psalm 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart; and lean not to your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths.

Faith has to be a choice. NOONE CAN HAVE FAITH FOR YOU. It is personal. When we are seeking God's guidance in a matter, we must trust him. We can pray for someone but we cannot have faith for someone.. When Peter was on the water he had to believe BUT he had to begin to walk, noone could do it for him. Christ says to each of us COME, but noone can come for us. So faith is like this.

 

[Christ_empowered]

Just based on my experiences and what I've seen in others, God plants the seed and stirs conscience to life...then its up the believer to work with Christ to further develop, strengthen, and intensify faith.

 

[Milk-Drops]

I could say that faith in the sense of believing something truely isn't a choice. Now devotion can be. With faith, you either believe or you don't. If you don't, then you won't have faith. Faith usually comes as a reaction to something. A miracle, an event, a realization, etc. So Faith is the consequence of being convinced. I guess someone could fain ignorance or build a wall of cognitive dissonance when it comes to faith, but in the end, its an either or category. ;)

 

[Heb11:6]

Edward, I have read your question and the answer is "Yes - faith is a choice." I would like to go on at length with Scripture on this but I will forego this and instead ask you to think of all the times Jesus admonishes His disciples (or other people) for not having faith. After you have thought of some of these examples, ask yourself if Jesus would rebuke men for not having faith if having it was not up to them? Is He admonishing them for something they have no part in? Faith is choosing to believe - check out the "faith hall of fame" in Hebrews chapter 11. These people are mentioned and commended as examples becasue of the choices they made (specifically the choice to believe - aka "have faith"). Jesus would not say to men, "Why are you so faithless?" if they were that way because of the "mysterious will of God" that people love to talk about. Also check out Romans 10:17 - it tells you that faith comes by hearing the Word of God. This is also how are faith grows and it is people who choose to hear or not. God Bless!

 

[Christ_empowered]

Heb...I get what you're saying, but didn't Jesus say that He was the shepherd who had come for His flock, who knew the sound of His voice? And that not a single one would be snatched from His hand? Maybe its because I was raised PCUSA, but I always saw that as God's way of saying that some will hear and respond, while others will hear but not respond, because they were not chosen to respond?

 

[Heb11:6]

Christ Empowered, good questions and I hope I can provide what I believe is some clarification. I cannot list all the verses for sake of space and time but you can check them out and meditate on them. In John 6:32-51 Jesus is talking about some of the things you are referring to and if you notice that in v. 44 He says, "No man can come to me except the Father draw Him..." and then in v.45 we gain insight into how this occurrs. In v.45 Jesus is adding explanation to what He just said and He quotes the prophets and says, "...they shall all be taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh to me." In this explanation we see that those who come are those who "heard." This "heard" refers to those who listened, not necessarily those who heard in the natural sense with their ears because the verse tells us that they "all" actually heard. You can see this point I am making further clarified in Mark 4:9 & 21-25 where Jesus speaks about men having ears to hear and that those who "hear" (or recieve) what is being said will then "hear" (or recieve) more truth. Those who choose not to hear become even more darkened (like you read in Romans 1:18-28). Jesus in John 12:32 says that He will draw all men to Himself after He is lifted up (which He has been). Jesus was obviously not lying so we can conclude that He is doing what He said He would do but men are choosing not to heed the drawing. In order to help you understand this call of God read the parable of the "great supper" (Luke 14:15-24) or even the parable of the sower. Consider also Jesus' words in Luke 13:34 where He expresses that it was His desire to gather the children of Jerusalem as a Hen does her chicks but THEY would not. Also in Luke 19:41-42 Jesus is weeping over Jerusalem because they rejected Him and forsook what could have been theirs and because they rejected Him they were blinded (refer back to verses in Romans). It is important to remember when you read these verses that Jesus is not weeping and saddened because He had a different "will" for people than the Father. One very common misunderstanding that people fall into is that Father God (His will, His ways, etc.,) are unknowable. Something that will free a lot of people up with "knowing God's will" is when they get a revelation and understand that Jesus shows us the will of the Father - there is no discrepancy. People sometimes paint Jesus one way and the Father another but this is not so. Jesus said He and the Father are one (John 10:30); He only does the will of the Father (John 5:30) and that if you have seen Him that you have seen the Father (John 14:9 *See also Hebrews 1:3). Here is where the rubber meets the road and is the Good News for us! We can know God's will because of Jesus and not only can we know His will but we can rejoice that God is no respector of persons (Acts 10:34) (in other words He will do for you what He has done for others) and that Jesus has not, and will not change (Hebrews 13:8). Think on what this means and how it applies to the challenges that face us in life.

I know the first part of my reply has a lot of verses to search out but it applies to helping us answer the question, "Is faith a choice?" My concluding remarks about God's will and Jesus are also related but I offer them to help us have faith for our lives; to know more about how precious and efficacious our Salvation is. God bless!
.

 

[Christ_empowered]

I'm torn. For instance, God hardened Pharaoh's heart so he couldn't repent. God had His own plan, of course. Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. That happened while they were still babies, I think. Then, you hear that God will turn sinners over, harden their hearts, sear their consciences, etc., so there's a degree of personal responsibility involved. And, in the NT, we're told that those who are more spiritual should counsel those trapped in sin. Clearly, human effort means *something*, but what?

 

[The Unbeliever]

I'm torn. For instance, God hardened Pharaoh's heart so he couldn't repent. God had His own plan, of course. Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. That happened while they were still babies, I think. Then, you hear that God will turn sinners over, harden their hearts, sear their consciences, etc., so there's a degree of personal responsibility involved. And, in the NT, we're told that those who are more spiritual should counsel those trapped in sin. Clearly, human effort means *something*, but what?

I don't believe those two are necessarily in conflict. Just because the Bible says you should counsel people doesn't make faith any less dependent upon the intervention of God. Your counsel could merely be the means by which God affects his will in that person.

 

[Christ_empowered]

Nuanced thinking. I like that.

 

[Carolyn]

It is interesting that those who say faith is not a choice are not believers. The rest of US remember when we chose to believe. IN REALITY faith is gift from God . We sIMPLY did not resist Gods undeserved gift. The only thing that keeps men from receiving Gods gifts such as faith is pride. This is what causes US to resist saving faith.

 

[The Unbeliever]

It is interesting that those who say faith is not a choice are not believers. The rest of US remember when we chose to believe. IN REALITY faith is gift from God . We sIMPLY did not resist Gods undeserved gift. The only thing that keeps men from receiving Gods gifts such as faith is pride. This is what causes US to resist saving faith.

any Calvinist would say the same thing. It is a theological position of not inconsiderable pedigree.