Surfing and Free Will

The concept of free will and determinism is one of the thorniest theological problems that exist. For example, how much choice do I have with the waves that I catch? Am I truly choosing the wave or has it already been determined that I will catch the wave—or not? Put another way, do I choose the wave or does the wave choose me? I am greatly simplifying the issue but you get the point.

During the last good swell, a much younger surfer dropped in on me—he took my wave. I wiped out. I almost got hurt. I started wondering, “Did he have a choice in the matter or was it determined that he would do this thing to me?” Do our choices reflect our psychology or biology, some combination thereof, or are they determined by God?

I ask these questions, not wholly from a theoretical perspective, but from the perspective of someone who’s wave choice once cost him extreme physical suffering and, over the course of that dreadful year, severe depression. Since that day, September 18, 2010—Hurricane Yvan—I continue to wonder if we are free to make the choices we make or if God has, to some degree,  determined a choice, which would suggest that we are not really free to make a choice.

I tend to believe that we do have freewill, insofar as we possess limited power over our limited choices. Because I believe that we have some amount of freewill, I believe that how we live matters. How we glide through life matters.  Our choices matter—while surfing, relating to people at work or at home, to how we drive, and how we spend our money.

Human freedom is a mystery. Our freedom makes us who we are and who we are not. We stand or fall with the choices we make. When we intentionally cut someone off in traffic or on a wave, our choice to do this thing reflects who we are and, even more daunting, who we are becoming. Sometimes we make good choices and sometimes we make poor choices. Sometimes we give a really good wave to another surfer even though we had priority. Sometimes we give a perfect parking spot to another driver who also wants the space.

Whether we like it or not, our choices determine what our lives will look like, both in the immediate present and in the unknown future. As we live on land and as we glide on waves, we would do well to keep in mind that God wishes for us to have charitable hearts. Hearts of grace-filled generosity. Hearts that strive to make the right choices, both for ourselves and the other surfers in the water.