Pastor Mark Schwarzbauer, Ph.D.Family Worship Center Pastor Mark Schwarzbauer, Ph.D. Family Worship Center

6 So the L ORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? 7 “If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.”

Sigmund Freud – man is helpless in the face of biological urges.

B. F. Skinner - there is no free will. Human behavior is determined by conditioning. We respond to what reduces pain and increases pleasure.

Sam Harris - free will is an illusion, nothing other than electrical interference in your brain.

6 So the L ORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? 7 “If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.”

Change is in the choices we make

6 So the L ORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? 7 “If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.” If you do well the right results will come- you will be accepted.

6 So the L ORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? 7 “If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.” Your choice to not do well – watch out, you have a real enemy.

6 So the L ORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? 7 “If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.” Make the choice to rule over it. Don’t live by your feelings.

Change your Destiny by Choosing to Follow God

21 “Not all who sound religious are really godly people. They may refer to me as ‘Lord,’ but still won’t get to heaven. For the decisive question is whether they obey my Father in heaven. 22 At the Judgment many will tell me, ‘Lord, Lord, we told others about you and used your name to cast out demons and to do many other great miracles.’ 23 But I will reply, ‘You have never been mine. Go away, for your deeds are evil.’ TLB

Answering Freud’s hopelessness in the face of biological urges… Galatians 5:24 “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” No longer living under the control of biological urges. It doesn’t mean you don’t battle them; it means you are freed to rise above them.

Answering Freud’s hopelessness in the face of biological urges… Galatians 2:20… I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

Answering Skinner’s Behavioral Determinism 1.Instead of living under the control of consequences, Hebrews 11 reveals the power of living by faith with the power to choose. 2.Hebrews 11: Moses “23-29… By faith… “choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin.”

Answering Skinner’s Behavioral Determinism 3. Faith isn’t about being forced into a box; rather, it is freedom to choose to live beyond ourselves.

Answering Harris’s electrical interference claim 1.Our free will is not electrical misfiring. There really isn’t anything to answer because Harris’s statement has absolutely no scientific basis – it is a mere philosophic conjecture.

Answering Harris’s electrical interference claim 2.Romans 12:2 “ And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” 3. You have a new mindset in Christ which gives you proof of God’s reality, work and freedom.