Notice in this picture how they have two paths to choose from? This is one example of the gross misapplying of the verse to free will. Man is already on the road to destruction, and does not have to do one thing to go to hell. Man does not come to the proverbial ‘fork in the road’ and choose option A or option B.
Now onto the issue at hand…
I don’t know the times I’ve heard this verse used and abused when used in conjunction with free will. Anytime ppl hear free will, they use this verse as one of their favorites. They’ll say, “it’s a free choice,” and “and as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” But’s lets delve deeper into this verse and see what it entails.
“But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
Ppl get hung up on the choose for yourselves whom you will serve and but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Is that what that verse is really saying? Absolutely not. So, lets lay the context out for all to see and read for themselves and see which side is right.
In verse 2, Joshua tells them how God had called Abraham out from Ur, as he and his family worshiped other gods, in other words, they were pagan idol worshippers. He then told them how God had rescued them from Egypt(another pagan nation Israel was enslaved to) and even drowned Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea. He then mentioned how God had delivered them from Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites and Jebusites. Then we come to verse 14 where Joshua said “Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.” He, Joshua, instructed them to throw away the idols their ancestors worshiped(so they were also pagan idol worshipers, too). Then in verse 15 Joshua stated But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. So, Joshua is basically saying, If you think serving the Lord is not desirable for you, then choose the idols your fathers worshiped beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites. So, he is telling them to choose to serve idol A or idol B. He then said, But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
Now, they did say they would not forsake the Lord, but Joshua said they were unable to serve Him[vs 19] then they said they would and he said “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the Lord.”[vs 22] and they replied “Yes, we are witnesses.”
But in reality, did they serve Him? No. As you can see that many times they fell into idolatry and killed many of God’s prophets, after this encounter with Joshua and his stern warning. “He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins. If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster on you and make an end of you, after he has been good to you.” [vss19b,20] So, what this verse is really saying, is not that they could choose between serving God or Satan, but rather, choose from idol A, the gods their fathers served beyond the Euphrates, or idol B, the gods of the Amorites.
Not much to choose from, eh?
TheCalvinistWatchdog 