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by Wendell Wyman Bonner (Author)
I can remember growing up in the southern United States, ensconced in the wonderful Black Baptist tradition, that I kept hearing teachers and saints tell me that we have free will to decide whether to obey God. I firmly believed that and thought that the decision to follow Christ was mine and mine alone. I thought of God as standing there waiting for me to decide to follow and obey Him. The key was always that God was waiting on me to decide if I want Him or not.
Then I became acquainted with scripture speaking about God's sovereignty. In learning more about this concept, I learned how God's sovereignty means that He is always in control of all things. The fact that He is in control of all things kept hitting a snag in my mind. How is He in control if I have "free will"?
As I continued to grow in the faith of Jesus Christ and in the fellowship of the Word of God, I noticed how so many scriptures spoke to God's sovereignty over everything and everyone. I could not reconcile this sovereignty that the Bible spoke of with the fact that I had autonomy in choosing to follow Him or not. In my mind, either God has control over all things and all people, or He doesn't. If He is waiting on me to decide to follow Him, then it seemed to me that He did not control that decision, but I did.
This created a dichotomy of dissenting opinions in my mind. God has control, but only until it comes to me choosing Him. If that be the case, He is not in control of everything. If it is not the case, then where does human "free will" fit in?
The more I sought the scriptures to find some reconciliation between these two opposing opinions in my mind, the more the question began burrowing in my brain. That question was, "Is God really in control of everything?" He cannot be both depending on me and in control at the same time. This inspired and catalyzed a serious investigation into the concepts of God's sovereignty and man's free will. What does God's sovereignty entail? What is the extent of man's free will?
This first volume initiates this investigation into the concepts of God's sovereignty and man's free will. Are they compatible? Are they antithetical? What is the meaning of "free will," and where did that concept come from? Is it biblically based and supported as we believe it to mean? What does God's sovereignty mean based on the Word of God? Welcome to this journey of discovery.
