• Heaven or Hell, Is it a Choice?

Many people hope to spend eternity in a place called Heaven. Christians know that means spending eterinity with God. He is goodness and light. Being with Him is bliss. We enjoy it in small measure now by worshiping Him and seeking to do His will.

The opposite place is called Hell. It is the absence of God, the absence of all goodness and light. We suffer it in small measure now. Wherever hate dominates, and evil is done, we taste Hell.

Can we choose between Heaven and Hell? Is it already decided? Did God create some people to go to Heaven and others to go to Hell?

John Calvin (AD 1509—1564) says yes:

By predestination we mean the eternal decree of God, by which he determined with himself whatever he wished to happen with regard to every man. All are not created on equal terms, but some are preordained to eternal life, others to eternal damnation; and, accordingly, as each has been created for one or other of these ends, we say that he has been predestinated to life or to death.

John Calvin, page 130 of [CalvinInstitutes]Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin, 1536

That makes God evil. According to Calvin, even an infant that dies may go to Hell, because that was preordained by God. Calvin says the will of God is supreme, so even this evil is actually a good:

The will of God is the supreme rule of righteousness, so that everything which he wills must be held to be righteous by the mere fact of his willing it. Therefore, when it is asked why the Lord did so, we must answer, Because he pleased. But if you proceed farther to ask why he pleased, you ask for something greater and more sublime than the will of God, and nothing such can be found.

John Calvin, page 130 of [CalvinInstitutes]Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin, 1536

If we cannot choose between Heaven and Hell, do we have any free will? Some Calvinists claim we have free will in lesser things, but not our ultimate place in eternity. But what are "lesser things?" C. S. Lewis put it thus:

Remember, we Christians think man lives forever. Therefore, what really matters is those little marks or twists on the central, inside part of the soul which are going to turn it, in the long run, into a heavenly or a hellish creature.

C. S. Lewis, page 119 of [MereChristianity]Mere Christianity by Clive Staple Lewis, 1952 publisher: Harper Collins

Our "little choices" shape us for good or ill. They are all important, and collectively lead to our major decisions. I think Calvin's claim that we are each predestined to Heaven or Hell, and we cannot do anything about it, inevitably leads to no free will (see God’s Resistible Grace^<1> by Tim Staples.)

Calvin's theology agrees with the dominant Muslim theology on this point:

His Word is His will, rather than an expression of His reason (Logos). Therefore, creation is not imprinted with reason. It cannot reflect what is not there. As a result, there is no rational order invested in the universe upon which one can rely, only the second-to-second manifestation of God's will.

Robert R. Reilly, page 51 of [MuslimMind]The Closing of the Muslim Mind by Robert R. Reilly, 2010 publisher: Intercollegiate Studies Institute

In short, God is pure will. There is no love or reason.

Calvin also seems to agree with a secular philosophy, Materialism, on this point, but not on the reason why. Materialists believe the material universe is all that exists. If that is true, then we are all robots without free will (see Do We Have Free Will?^<2>)

So, Calvin, Muslim theology, and Materialists all agree: We have no free will. That philosophy destroys itself. If we do not have free will, we also cannot think. Whatever we say, do, or think is simply forced by the material we are made from (see Can Machines Think?^<3>) If, by your own philosophy, there is no free will, then "your own philosopy" is not something you chose. It is only another feature of you that you cannot control.

John, the Apostle, teaches the opposite, particularly in the prologue of his gospel. Most English translations use the term "Word." I replaced it with the original Greek term, "Logos." It can mean word, but also logic and reason. "epos" is the Greek term for "word." John chose his terms carefully:

In the beginning was the Logos, and the Logos was with God, and the Logos was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being  in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. 

John 1:1—5 [NRSV]New Revised Standard Version Bible by National Council of Churches USA, 1989, Word replaced with Logos

"Logos was God" declares God is rational and logical. And God created us in His image:

So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

Genesis 1:27 [NRSV]New Revised Standard Version Bible by National Council of Churches USA, 1989

God does not have a head, two arms, and two legs. He is not hanging around somewhere in the universe. He created the physical universe. He is not part of it. So, how are we "in his image?" He granted us Logos: logic and reason. He made it possible for us to think, and to know Him, and to understand the physical universe He made for us.

God made it possible for us to love Him, but also to hate Him. We choose for ourselves. He will not force us, because that violates His gift of free will.

What do you think? I'm happy to get feedback as comments on my website or on X @ChrisErvinReid.