Genuine Love and the Principle of Alternative Possibilities
September 23, 2019
Wesleyans seem to assume that if love is genuine it must be given by someone who is free to not love. This is one of their main philosophical arguments against the Calvinist commitment to irresistible grace and the perseverance of the saints. But it seems false. I think there are two reasons for this. First, the principle of alternative possibilities isn't necessary for an action to count as free (whatever we mean by that!). Sometimes our intellect just doesn't see more than one courses of action to pursue - one is just so outstandingly good and the rest are all overwhelmingly bad - and the will only has one option to choose from, as it were.
Second, there are cases of love that are obviously genuine, but which the person who loves never chose. Does a five year old love his parents? In the typical case, yes. Did he choose to? Apparently not. It occured naturally. As soon as he could recognize that he loves them, he has been doing it all along. At any point the thought 'should I love my parents?' comes into his mind, the answer is obvious and already given: yes! The same goes for the average mother or father and their children.
Now, I concede that as the child grows up, he can cease to love his parents - by choice, even. However, this is rare. Absent some horrible betrayal, he will continue to love his parents; he can't simply decide one day that he will stop loving his parents. And that he continues to do so is not a choice. He would see the rightness of loving his parents, but that isn't a choice. Or at least a 'free' choice. It is not as if he was not prejudiced going into it, as it were. In such a case the choice was over whether he would love his parents or love his parents: there was only one live option. And why? Because continuing to love his parents is just so obviously good that there is only one option.
Now, let's tie this into Calvinism. Suppose that in imparting irresistible grace God makes it perfectly clear that God is the final end of man, etc. so that the person can't help but believe in God and trust him. It may still be fuzzy what every implication of this is: hence why there is still the need for sanctification. But the overarching orientation is set: I will always love God and put my faith in him.
In any event, I think this shows that genuine love can be had even if the one who love doesn't choose to do so against choosing not to (even if they didn't have another live option but to love). If so, Calvinists have an edge over Arminians on this score.
