🚨 The Hidden Dualism in "Free Will" Theology 🚨

[SoteriologyA1]

At the core of every argument against God’s absolute sovereignty is a hidden dualism—the assumption that when something happens, it must be caused by either God or Will, but never both. This is the fundamental presupposition behind every non-Calvinist framework:

God is a cause "out of nothing"—He determines things, but only to a certain limit.
Will is a cause "out of nothing"—it determines things independently of God, even determining creature's character, preferences, and choices.

This sets up a dualistic system where God controls some things, and Will controls others. Will isn’t just human decision-making within God’s decree—it’s a separate, ultimate force that dictates what a person is and does. Will is, in effect, a second god.

So when we say God determines all things, they assume this means we are removing Will from the equation. And because their framework only allows for one ultimate force at a time, they conclude:

“If God determines everything, then Will no longer exists.”
“If Will is not the ultimate puppeteer, then God must be the puppeteer instead.”

That’s why they cry “robot!” and “puppet!”—because in their system, some thing has to be in the ultimate position of control. And ironically, they are perfectly fine with Will filling that role. They just object when it’s God.

But here’s the problem: If Will determines itself, unbound by nature, reasoning, or circumstances, then it is pure causeless self-determination—exactly what they accuse Calvinists of when we say God alone determines all things.

At the end of the day, their problem isn’t Calvinism. It’s their own dualistic framework. They assume a world where God and Will are co-determiners of history—two ultimate causes competing for control. But if that were true, then God wouldn’t be God—He’d just be another force within creation.

That’s why their system collapses when confronted with the truth that God alone is ultimate (Ephesians 1:11).

Everything—including human choices—flows from His decree, not from an independent force called Will. There is no second god. There is no co-determiner. There is only the one true God working all things for His glory.

 

[Arial]

This sets up a dualistic system where God controls some things, and Will controls others. Will isn’t just human decision-making within God’s decree—it’s a separate, ultimate force that dictates what a person is and does. Will is, in effect, a second god.

So when we say God determines all things, they assume this means we are removing Will from the equation. And because their framework only allows for one ultimate force at a time, they conclude:

“If God determines everything, then Will no longer exists.”
“If Will is not the ultimate puppeteer, then God must be the puppeteer instead.”

That used to amaze me when I first came across it. If Calvinism teaches that God determines all things, and if in the doctrine of Total depravity, it states that no one can come to God, that is, in their manner of expression, choose to believe; that if man's will is not free; then it is teaching that man has no will. The human will is treated as its own entity, completely uninvolved with the rest of their humanness or anything surrounding it. As though the will is making decisions for them. And even when they back off from the "no will" position in their language, since enough has been said about it in conversations on the subject, that is still how they are treating it.

That’s why they cry “robot!” and “puppet!”—because in their system, some thing has to be in the ultimate position of control. And ironically, they are perfectly fine with Will filling that role. They just object when it’s God.

Yes. And I realize it is a product of the majority of Christians alive now and for the last hundred years or so, having been taught nothing else, and that it is difficult to leave our traditions; at its very core is rebellion against God. The very same rebellion that the tempter brought to Adam and Eve and that they obeyed instead of God. They at least were somewhat innocent as to the far reaching consequences as they actually had no knowledge of evil. In addition to that it was serving God's intended far reaching purposes. Those who have been brought into Christ through faith, have no excuse. But that too must be serving his purpose.

They say far worse things about the doctrines of grace and God than the puppet thing of course. And here I would like to add that when they come to this dualism, they abandon the faith that is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. To be clear, I am not saying they abandon saving faith if that is what they have. If that is what they have it is because it was gifted to them by God and cannot be lost or abandoned. To make their arguments against Calvinism they begin looking at what is seen, and use it to attack God----though they genuinely believe they are defending him. They will bring up the worst scenario from the headlines they can think of and ask, "Do you think God made Hitler kill millions of Jews?" "Did God make the pedophile rape and bury alive that little girl?" They remove all consistent doctrine of God from their reasoning and religion.