“And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD” (Joshua 24:15).

In our major universities, the dominant theories of man’s behavior are deterministic. The only question being debated seems to be how much behavior is determined by heredity (genes) and how much by the environment. The pervasiveness and power of determinism are fully rooted in mechanistic, atheistic evolution. For if evolution is accepted, we must proclaim it the “creator” of our minds and thoughts, as well as of our bodies. It is commonly taught that every thought we have—every feeling of love, hate, fear, joy, purpose—can all be reduced to chemical processes of the brain, which is itself a product of blind and purposeless evolution.

There is only one way out of this bleak picture—one the universities usually don’t consider—that of supernatural creative intervention. True freedom, that is the freedom to choose, comes as a gift of God. Everyone possesses this gift, and God desires that we use this gift to choose rightly—to choose life. “I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: Therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live” (Deuteronomy 30:19).

Some, of course, use their gift to choose against God: “For they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD” (Proverbs 1:29).

To sum up, if we had evolved, this feeling of freedom we have would be illusory; but we have not evolved, and this feeling of freedom we have is true freedom, given by God. Let us determine to use it as He wills, and choose Him, and life. DER