Blog

by Charlie Wolcott

The “free thinkers” are those who claim to be able to think for themselves freely from the influences of religion, namely the God of the Bible. But are they really free? Are we as Christians free to think on our own? The answer is none of us are truly free as the idea would like us to believe. We actually are only free to choose between two choices: God’s way or against God’s way. Keep in mind I am not talking about “free to choose what shirt to wear today.” I am addressing a way of thinking, a mindset.

It all began in the Garden of Eden. God gave Adam and Eve several commands. “Be fruitful and multiply, have dominion over the earth,” and “do not eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.” But then the serpent came and suggested a new law: “You shall be as God, knowing good from evil.” This law was not God’s law, but Satan’s law. They had a choice: to listen to God’s law or listen to Satan’s law. They were free to choose between them, but the choice what who to submit to. They chose Satan’s law.

One of the things I teach on when I speak or write about Biblical worldviews is the question of authority: Who do I listen to? Who do I allow to have influence in my life? Are we truly free thinkers? The real answer is none of us are truly as free as the free thinkers think they are. We all listen to someone.

The Christian’s thoughts are guided and directed in accordance with the Word of God. When Jesus lived on this earth, he would not say anything he did not hear his Father saying, nor did anything he did not see his Father doing. He lived his life completely and totally yielded and submitted to the will of his Father. That is how we are to live: completely and totally yielded and submitted to the will of Christ Jesus, as per Romans 12:2.

The skeptic usually responds to this way of thinking with something along the lines of: “Can’t you think for yourself? How do you know if what God is telling you to do is good or not?” These are legitimate questions, but most who ask in this way tend to fail to look in a mirror. The person who lives apart from God refuses to submit to God’s orders and commands. He is free from God. But is he free? The answer is no, and here’s why.

When someone rejects God’s laws, he embraces a different law. All he actually does is change who he listens to. In the Creation/Evolution debate, the evolutionists do everything they can to deride and diminish the role the Bible has on the origins account. However, when I talk with them, I notice that no matter how smart they are, none of them really know anything of their own. From the layman even to the PhD, they all say the same thing almost word for word like they memorized the same speech. But what is really interesting is that very, very few of them, regardless of education level, know anything outside those claims. I rarely, if ever, see any of them analyze their models for logic or internal integrity. Every now and then you will see some who admit difficulties and when creationists cite those admissions, we get blasted for “quote-mining.” Yet at the same time, if they cite the same source, they say their scientists are just being honest.

But are creationists guilty of the same thing, just repeating what they have been told and not knowing much of a thing beyond that? In many cases, I cannot deny it. No creationist is perfect and we do need to hold to high standards, but it certainly is amazing how creationists always have to be absolutely perfect on everything even then they get mocked and ridiculed, while the evolutionist can lie, constantly change their own models and definitions to fit the argument, and completely butcher anything a creationist says and get away with it. Is that freedom? Free to lie? Free to grossly misrepresent the facts? Free to mock and ridicule just for the purpose of it? Are they free? Here is what I have noticed: they are enslaved to that. How do I know? They are not capable of telling the truth. They are not capable of getting the facts correct. They are not capable to speak with any form of dignity. They can try and maybe keep it going for a while, but the person who rejects truth is not capable of speaking truth, let alone live it. Jesus gave a long speech about that in John 8.

What God says will free you, the world says enslaves you. What the world says will free you, God says will enslave you. Who is right? Here is one of the big differences between God’s system of knowledge and the world’s system of knowledge: God is not afraid of a challenge. If you question what God says, he is not afraid to listen to you and help you work out the issues. God NEVER tells us to accept what he says by blind faith. He leaves his standards open to be validated. He set up the universe to be able to be checked out and it will point to him. He set up the Bible so that its claims could be publicly validated. God is a faithful rewarder for those who diligently seek him. I have never seen anyone who sought the actual truth, no matter what it may cost, find the Bible or its Author lacking. I never will.

The world, however, tells you that you are free, free to think as they think. In our modern age of tolerance and open-mindedness, are these people tolerant and open-minded? There’s an easy way to tell: challenge their position. You cannot challenge their position and expect them to try to reason with you. This world has abandoned logic and reasoning and everything is based on emotions and your feelings, in accordance to the sinful flesh. When “truth” is determined by feelings instead of fact, free thinking is long gone. Flat out thinking, period, is long gone. I watch these evolutionists and liberals and I see no sense of freedom whatsoever. They truly do not know anything factual. They cannot validate their claims. Basic levels of scrutiny wash them out quickly, and to be honest, they deserve pity and need rescue. The power of deception is at an all-time high. It is far easier to fool someone than it is to show them they have been fooled. Today’s world does a great job at showing that statement to be true. What opened the door for this total lack of logic, reasoning, and true knowledge? Evolution. Well, you could say Adam and Eve, but in today’s world, evolution is what opened the floodgates of rebellion against God to new extremes and every society touched by it had/is deteriorated/ing into virtual madness.

I’ll wrap up with this picture. There is an ocean to swim. The person who wishes to swim wherever he wants can swim in any direction but will never be able to get far and will always be swept away by the winds and the waves wherever they go. A swimmer is “free,” but subject to whichever direction the water is going. The Christian confines himself to a ship and because of the protection of the ship, he is able to sail the ocean wide. But a Christian who does not know how to sail and can run into trouble. If Christ himself is at the helm, he can take that ship to places no man could ever dream of going on his own. I know this by experience. If you surrender to the direction of the only Perfect Master, Jesus Christ, you will know true freedom and nothing will be able to hinder you as you do his bidding.

This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration.  All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved.  Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.