Free Will vs. Determinism

I saw an article by the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/22/science/22tier.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2) about the impact a belief in either Free Will or Determinism has upon a person's morals. Free will, of course, means that human beings are genuinely able to make either a right or wrong choice. Determinism, on the other hand, is a system in which any supposed choice is predetermined either by God (among Calvinists) or by world forces beyond our control like destiny (for non-Christian determinists). This article does not deal with Christian issues; thus, it is simply a question of whether or not the great Force (yes, think Star Wars here) causes you to make a decision or not.

To put flesh on these terms, imagine a man who walks up to a police officer on a sidewalk and punches him in the face. Free Will-ists would say that the man certainly could have chosen NOT to punch the cop. Determinists would suggest that the man was coerced by the Force to the extent that he really had no choice in the matter.

So, the study concluded that a majority of people believe "a hypothetical person in a hypothetically deterministic world would not be responsible for his sins." Restated, if all people's decisions are determined to occur a certain way before they supposedly choose, then they should not be held accountable for seemingly bad choices. It would be like if you took a child's hand and forced him to slap his sister, the boy would not be to blame. Any sin, then, should not be held against the sinner because he had no real choice in the matter.

Therefore, the article suggests that those who believe their own choices are predetermined have much lower morals than those who understand that they have free will. I would be interested to see a study concerning the morality of Calvinists vs. Arminians. Do these trends hold true if the Holy God is understood as the one determining things? If Arminians have better morals, is it because they live in constant fear of "losing" their salvation?

Whatever the results of such a study might be, it's clear that Scripture commands God's people to act in certain ways. We are to be holy as God is holy, for we are made in His image and should reflect His glory. Also, James 1 makes it clear that God is not the author of sin. Rather our own desires entice us into making ourselves or other created things objects of worship above God (my def. of sin). Therefore, the hardcore Christian determinist must find some philosophical/theological way to get God off the hook for causing human sin if the determinist wishes to still have a God worthy of worship. On the other hand, those of us who believe in free will have to find some way to include God's sovereignty in the matter. These are heady issues. The best and brightest minds have not come to definite conclusions on these questions over the full 2000 years of Christian history. Thus, it is often the PROCESS of wrestling with such issues that provides great value in our lives more so than the eventual conclusions.

-Matt