I recently got a new book which was written by John Cassian who lived around 330 a.d. to 430 a.d. In it he covers many different theological subjects, one in particular is about the will of man. He goes to define the freedom of mans will then its strengths and weaknesses.

First off he explains that 1. God calls all people to Him. Then goes on to state that "only by extreme blasphemy can one say that God only calls some but not all. For Christ even says "Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I shall give you rest" for what then are we to say only some and not all are born with original or actual sin? Then the saying is not a true one which the Apostle says "For none are righteous no not one".

After this He goes on to state that man can desire after good without the moving of God in saying "Take David who desires to build God a temple, though God tells him "Though it is good to want to build me a temple, I do not want you to build me a temple." Are we to say then that the desire was of God? No for God said He did not desire for David to want to build Him a temple, but then is it evil and of men? No for God says it is good. So we can only say that it is good and of men." So he concludes that men can desire after good apart from Gods will.

Then He goes to explain the strengths of mans will using Job. In Job, he explains, he fights off Satan without the help from God for it says that "God removed His hand from him" showing that mans will can be strong, but then reminds us that God knows what we can handle and will not allow us to be tempted more than we can handle. Then goes down several more examples explaining the weakness and strengths of mans wills.

All that is what convinced me to buy Conferences, though I am not sure where all of that is at. So far I have read a bit about his history from what we know and some of the beginning Conferences.

I would also like to add that I have had some thoughts while reading. One of which deals with mans freewill, or separate will. If man did not have a will separate from Gods, to be able to desire and decide apart from God, but rather had to follow all of Gods will, then how could one sin against God? Since by sinning we would essentially not be sinning against God since it would be part of His will.

Forgive me for any punctuation or grammatical errors. I also hope this was easy for you to read and understand, and encourages you in some manner to read The Conferences. And if you wish to discuss more in-depth I am always open for discussion. I do not claim to be a mind in the subject, but I hope to one day acquire more knowledge so that I might be able to preach against false teachings within the Christian faith. God Bless you all : )