Chosen But Free Book Review

Norman L. Geisler in his book Chosen But Free discusses the age old question of “Is God in Control?” or “Do we have a Choice?” Many people wonder if this question really matters, but it is evident in this book that it does. This book gives an equal approach from both sides of the question. There is really good evidence to support both views. I enjoyed how he started off the book with the idea of God’s sovereignty, almost as if he was laying a base to the whole book. He states that human events, evil angels, Satan, good angels ,earthly kings and even human decisions are under his control. Which leads to the question, why should we be blamed for something that we ultimately have no control over? How can we be responsible for our evil actions if God is the one who allows it all to happen? He explains that some Christians try to make the excuse that the devil made them do it, but the real answer lies within the self.  Evil comes from free will and the choices that we make. This brings up another question in the book. So everything comes to pass because of God, yet God cannot be associated with evil. We make evil choices on the daily; does this mean that God is the cause of it? Taking on the middle ground view in the book, Geisler explains that we are given free will for a reason. God wants us to want him and to follow him in our own free will and that’s where our choices come into play. God knows what we will choose to do, but that choice is completely up to ourselves.  So we can pretty much blame our evil on ourselves, stemming all the way back to Adam and eve. On another note, I like how it breaks down the teachings of extreme Calvinists with TULIP. I think the most erroneous part of that teaching is the Limited Atonement. God came to this world to save the entire world, all sinners, not just a select few that he had chosen. One thing that I was a little disappointed with in this book was the lack of in depth scripture usage. Geisler uses tons of scripture references all throughout the entire book, but I feel like they barely scratch the surface of each topic. I mean, any person can flood a book with scripture references to make it sound like they apply to the topic at hand, but it doesn’t always mean that it proves the point that you are trying to argue. I loved the scripture he used, but I feel like he could have gone a little bit deeper with his usages. All in all this was a decent book that provided an equal standpoint from both sides. Wasn’t exactly my type of read, and honestly it was hard to stay focused on the task at hand, but I got the job done and learned a lot of things that I might not have ever known if not for reading this book. I would recommend this book to people who are interested in the topic, but that’s about it.

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