"(Jonathan) Edwards began to probe more deeply into the dimension of human choices and the fundamental principle of his analysis was this: choices do not occur in a vacuum. Choices are not uncaused effects. They do not just pop up like Athena from the head of Zeus. All choices have a cause, and the antecedent cause for every choice we make is what Edwards called inclincation or disposition. He set forth the principle that not only do we choose according to our desires, but we must choose according to our desires, and we always choose according to our strongest desire at the moment of choice...
Once we understand that, we will realize that never in our lives have we chosen to do something that we did not want to do... Every choice we have ever made, even though it might have seemed repugnant, was chosen because not choosing it was even more repugnant...
If our choices are caused by the greatest inclination we have at any given moment, our choices are determined. Our choices are determined not by the stars or the fates but by what we desire. We call this self-determination, which is just another word for freeedom. The essence of freedom is to be able to determine our own choices and the essence of our fallen condition is that we determine our sinful choices.” - RC Sproul, "Romans"
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