1. According to the personality theorists of this past century, most of the time there is a fine
line drawn between the concepts of humanity. One theorist may be high on the scale of
determinism whereas his fellow theorist might be high on the scale of free choice. The thing
about these people and their beliefs is that they are not truth. In Psalm 25:5 David cries out to
God that He would “lead me in Your truth, and teach me”, and so that is my cry as well today;
that God would lead me in all of His truth and teach me what His word says about the concepts
of humanity. The truth is found in God alone, and He will reveal it to us when we seek after
Him. I believe the truth of most of these concepts comes down to the difference of a life before
Christ, and the life of a believer. As I write this paper, I am prayerfully considering each concept,
knowing that when I seek after God’s heart with all of my own, He will show me who He is.
The first concept to discuss is that of determinism vs. free choice. Determinism means
that our steps are already planned and there is nothing to do that can change them. Free choice is
the option to choose for ourselves the paths our lives will take. The Bible is and/or in this
dimension. Moses was chosen by God, from the beginning of his life, to be saved from the
slaughter for something greater. God’s plan for Moses was far beyond being just another slave,
and bigger than a prince in Pharaoh’s court. While speaking with God at the burning bush,
Moses asks the question, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh…?” and God replies, “I will
certainly be with you, and this will be the sign that I have sent you…” (Exodus 3:11-12). This
says that Moses steps were ordered by the great I AM, that He most certainly determined this for
Moses’ life. Yet, while leading the people from Egypt to their promised land, Moses takes God’s
directions into his own hands but striking the rock instead of speaking to it. Numbers 20:7-12
tells the story of when God commanded Moses to speak to the rock, and instead Moses hit the
rock with his rod, instead of listening to the instructions of the Lord. His free choice cost him

2. dearly: the privilege of leading the children of Israel into their promised land. Zacharias learned
the hard way the cost of his free choice. God had determined that he would have a son, and
called him John, but Zacharias argued in disbelief and it resulted in his own muteness for the
length of his wife’s pregnancy (Luke 1). David had the opportunity to kill Saul and was free to
do so, but chose to follow the leading of the Lord in his heart and refrained from killing Saul,
who was the Lord’s anointed (1 Samuel 24:6). Free choice used for evil comes with a heavy
price, but we are free to choose whatever we want. Proverbs 19:21 says, “There are many plans
in a man’s heart, nevertheless the Lord’s counsel—that will stand.” We are free to choose our
own way, but we are also free to choose the steps the Lord has laid out for us, our choice
determines our outcome.
The next dimension is the concept of pessimism vs. optimism. I am going to be bold and
say that the Bible is most definitely not pessimistic, but optimistic. The very definition of
pessimism is this: a tendency to see the worst aspect of things or believe that the worst will
happen; a lack of hope or confidence in the future. Optimism on the other hand is hopefulness
and confidence about the future or the successful outcome of something. Noah believed in God,
and lived his life accordingly. God saw Noah, and rescued him from the flood that He was
sending to destroy the earth. Genesis 8:20-22 says, “Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and
took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And
the Lord smelled a soothing aroma. Then the Lord said in His heart, “I will never again curse the
ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I
again destroy every living thing as I have done. “While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest,
Cold and heat, Winter and summer, And day and night, Shall not cease.” Noah was thankful for
his future, and the Lord was faithful about His promise. There is a promise of future in these

3. verses. For although apart from God, man is evil, God will not destroy the earth again. Let us
also take a look at Hannah. Here is a woman who wanted a child; longed for, prayed for,
petitioned for and was provoked by others because she had no child. She was living in a
pessimistic world, one where she could not see beyond her sorrow (1 Samuel 1:7). And she cried
out to the Lord for a child, and in 1 Samuel 1:19, it says, “And the Lord remembered her” and
she conceived her son. This is not a pessimistic world, but one of hope and a future (Jeremiah
29:11). Jacob is another person who had every reason in the world to let go of hope. Trickery and
swindling with little hope for redemption, years of hard labor for the woman he desired, and
finally going back to the brother he had left. He was afraid, but determined, to meet the brother
whom he had deceived—and yet, upon meeting, he was greeted by Esau “falling upon him, and
embracing him, and kissing him” (Genesis 33:4). Hope renewed and lives restored because of the
unfailing love of the Creator God. These three people went from lives that were steeped in
sorrow to lives that were fulfilled in the hope and love of the Great I Am.
With His hope comes living for a future that goes beyond the grasp of our past. The Bible
is both teleological and causal, for it is a story of redemption from the past, and a hope for the
future. For the believer, this means that we are no longer held captive by the weight and chains
of our past behaviors and decisions. In Acts chapter 9, on the road to Damascus, Saul was
blinded by a light from heaven and in verse 6, he asked the question, “Lord what do you want me
to do?” From that moment on, Saul started living for his future, no longer living as a prisoner to
his former self, but living in obedience to the call of the Lord on his life. As one living contrary
to the living Savior, he was led by his past, a life of causality, whereas after his encounter with
the Christ, it was a life for the future. Luke 19 tells the story of Zacchaeus, the tax collector who
stole and looked out for himself, who acted selfishly for his own gain. He met Jesus that day,

4. when he climbed up in that tree. Jesus changed him from the man he was to someone different: a
man with a vision, a purpose and a cause. In the Old Testament, we have Gideon: the youngest,
the smallest, the least-likely for greatness, and he told the Angel of the Lord as much in Judges
6:15. Gideon lived in fear, hiding wheat with an unsure heart. This Gideon is the same one who
tore down the altar of Baal, and was obedient to the Lord and defeated the Midianites. The call of
God to His people is not to cower in fear, be chained to their past, or live a life of regret; rather
become a new creation, casting aside the old (2 Corinthians 5:17). 1 Peter 2:9 says that we are
His chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, that we may proclaim the praises of Him
who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. We are no longer old, but new; no longer
driven by who we were but motivated by who He has created us to be.
The Bible is and/both on the spectrum of conscious and unconscious determinants of
behavior. As believers, our motivation is in our conscious thought. Proverbs 4 talks of wisdom,
we are instructed to take firm hold of instruction (vs 13), and not to travel the way of the wicked
(vs 15). These are conscious choices that we, as believers, must make. In Luke 9, Jesus tells his
followers that if they truly desire to be like Him that they must take up their cross daily, deny
themselves and follow Him. A daily commitment means a conscious effort, for if it was not
daily, it would be easily forgotten. For the unbeliever, their actions are largely unconscious,
because they walk in darkness and do not know why they stumble (Proverbs 4:19). The
definition of unconsciousness is as follows, “the state of being uninformed or unaware” and that
is exactly what a person without Christ is: they are uninformed and unaware. 2 Corinthians 4:4
says that Satan has blinded the hearts of perishing men to the Light. How can man make a
conscious decision in the midst of what they cannot see? The unbeliever makes unconscious
decisions for evil every day, simply because they are unaware of the fact that it is truly evil.

5. Being unconscious to sin makes a person a slave to it, even if they are unaware of it. Romans
6:16 says, “Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that
one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to
righteousness?” There is an unconscious choice for death, or a conscious choice for
righteousness. Even if a person without Christ makes a choice for good, there is still no
conscious knowledge as to the reason for that choice; they simply acted. Hebrews 10:32 says to
recall the days “after you were illuminated” when you may have encountered great struggles.
These struggles came because of the awareness of Christ, and the conscious effort and actions on
His behalf.
For the dimension of social vs. biological influences, I would have to say that the Bible
ranks high on the social scale. That being said, we must be careful from where our social
influences come from. Once again, I will use Romans 12:2 that says that we should not be
conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of our minds in Christ Jesus. The
world will try and make us like it, but we have been called to something more. Ruth was a
Moabite woman who worshiped other gods and yet she left everything she knew to follow her
mother-in-law Naomi. In Ruth 1:16, Ruth says to Naomi, “Entreat me not to leave you, Or to
turn back from following after you; For wherever you go, I will go; And wherever you lodge, I
will lodge; Your people shall be my people, And your God, my God.” In Galatians, Paul writes
about being persuaded in our doings. He says this in Galatians 5:8-9, “Who hindered you from
obeying the truth? This persuasion does not come from Him who calls you. A little leaven
leavens the whole lump.” This means that just the smallest bit of listening to something that’s not
of Christ, the smallest sin, the smallest bit of evil, can turn the whole if it is not cut off at the
source. The believers must come together, being fit together (Ephesians 2:21) and press on

6. towards the goal that is Christ Jesus. Too easy is it to get caught up in the world and its novelties
and yearnings, so we must stand fast in the faith (1 Cor. 16:13), knowing that as we stand fast,
we are not alone in doing so. In the New Testament alone, the word “brethren” is used over 150
times, showing that there is strength in having fellowship with one another, so that our social
influences come from each other.
Because believers are to have fellowship with one another and lift each other up, but also
that we are responsible for our own choices and decisions, I believe that the Bible is and/both on
the scale of uniqueness vs. similarities. David was part of a large family of brothers, the
similarity of the same family with the same genes, and yet, how unique was David because of his
faith and his trust in the Almighty (1 Samuel 16). In Psalm 139, King David praises God saying
that we are intricately woven together in our mothers’ wombs, that there is nowhere to escape
from the great love that is God. This speaks to a uniqueness about us, that God would choose to
be so intimately involved in the design and makeup of each and every person. We are each made
in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27), and are part of one body (1 Corinthians 12:12), and
therefore are alike in the biggest of similarities. In John 17 Jesus prays for all believers—the
ones who currently believe and will believe in the future, that they would all be one with Him
and with the Father. God’s desire is that we would be like Him, and not just similar, but one with
Him in Christ Jesus.
For me, the dimension that led to the greatest insight was the one of causality vs.
teleology. No longer am I subject to my past, those regrets, sins, stains, scars or choices, but I am
set free to a hope and future that comes with knowing Christ Jesus as Friend, Father and Faithful
One. There are many times when the weight of my past choices are too heavy for me to bear, and
I wake in a world of regret and shame. Jesus has set me free. I am free. Those scars may remain,

7. but their shame does not keep me from approaching the throne of grace with confidence
(Hebrews 4:16). I will find His grace when I come humbly before Him, seeking Him first in all
things. I will live differently because there will be a lightness in my step and in my heart that
comes from seeking Him first in all things. When I put Jesus first, everything else takes its
proper place. I have a future in Christ, I have a living hope in Christ, and I am a new creation
because of what He has done in me. I will move forward in His calling, unashamed to call Him
mine, because He has unashamedly called me His own.
With respect to understanding people, the dimension that has opened my eyes the most
would be the conscious vs. unconscious determinants of behavior. I tend to think that people
should know what they are doing, and that everyone comes from a place of purposeful actions.
This is especially true of non-believing adults; I mean, they are adults, they should know better,
right? Truthfully though, this is not the case with an adult who does not know Christ. Being able
to look at this dimension in light of what the Bible says tells me that those who do not know truth
cannot possibly be expected to act from a place of truth. Knowing this, I will be able to deal with
them for what they are: an unbeliever, someone who is lost and does not know Truth. This sets
me free and releases them from the unrealistic expectation that they would act as I do, think as I
do, and react as I do. What freedom there is in knowing God: who He is, what He has for His
people, and the truth of His love.