WillieH, our beliefs concerning Christ are quite different, and so the premise behind our terms is probably taken quite differently. But I'll try to explain;
You talk about Christ doing nothing of himself, and doing only what God decides for him to do - my belief would say that's perfectly fine, Jesus = God. Your beliefs have to answer for that somehow, and that is your journey.
But for mankind's case specifically, we are not Yahweh, and none of us ever will be Yahweh, so when applying "doing nothing of ourselves but only what God decides" becomes a problem if, (and I stress if) God is a divine ventriloquist (by pre-ordaining, or pre-programming every act, and blink, and sip of coffee a man takes, or even sin), and man is without will to act according to his own desires whether good or evil.
I have presented two options;
A. God is a Harmonious, the best way I could describe this is that we are dancing with God - we have wills, freedom of choice, and abilities, we are autonomous agents working through our circumstances, and thoughts, and leanings to make choices towards a, or b, or c, or none of the above.
In this dance, we must also move our own feet, and go with the music (spirit). Even if God leads (dancing term). In fact, the lead of God, is probably alot better described in terms of how one dance partner leads in a waltz, while the other follows of their own accord, but is harmoniously "dragged" through the steps in the dance. Dancing with God can be a beautiful waltz, if we choose to step faithfully with his leading as he drags us. Or it can turn into a wrestling match where we are dragged through the will of God as it unfolds, but fight against it, and end up having our hip disjointed.
or;
B. God is the divine ventriloquist who manipulates men's actions by pre-programmed ordinance. "I ordain that this man will sip his coffee, and he will do so because I shall make him do it."
The thing here, is that I want to stress the difference between "prediction" (He will sip his cup, I shall watch as he himself sips it) and "pre-programmed Fate" (I have decided that he will sip his cup, and so it is inevitable he has no choice, I have made him do it, it shall be done by my movements alone; unfortunately it is difficult to accurately describe a world in which autonomous will to act does not exist, a bit like trying to describe invisible colours). These are two ways in which something can be ordained, in the same way that God is either harmoniously dancing with us, of which we cooperate or wrestle against - using autonomous will to decide whether to dance or wrestle. Or he is ruling our every action according to his whim. If it is whim, then it is divine ventriloquism, if it is autonomy dancing with God, then it is harmony.
It is not a matter of whether or not mankind has a will, or whether God is a ventriloquist, or worse an illusionist who lets us pretend that we have autonomy, or freedom of choice (that would be God bearing false witness, and he has broken The Law). It has to do with who is responsible for their actions of evil.
If God is responsible (the cause) for the evil mankind does, then God has committed evil (sin) by proxy, and has made himself liable (or should be liable) to its punishment - man is innocent and sinless. But we are also then toys in the hands of an evil God. Though actually...he would also cease to be God anyway, because any being who is to be Supreme must be honest at all times. It is impossible to be The Supreme Being and lie, or be evil, or sin at the same time.
If God is not responsible (the cause) for the evil mankind does, then God is innocent, and it is mankind who is responsible. And here we need to be the adults and accept responsibility for our actions of which we will give an account for, and of which God will render according to our deeds.
Rom 2:6 Who will render to every man according to his deeds:
God will render to man according to man's deeds. Not God's deeds in controlling the man.
If man has no autonomy, then God is a ventriloquist - autonomy is the foundation for the ability to choose, or to have "will power". If man has autonomy, then man has "will power" and the ability to choose, even if that choice is not God's will, even if God in his omniscience pre-knows it (he already has a plan, but it wasn't his will; God will always get his way but that doesn't mean that he gets his way immediately, or else alot of the books of the Bible are in error because of "Rebellion").
So it boils down to two points; Are we autonomous, and responsible, able to sin. Or are we not autonomous - and therefore dummies that are not even truly alive (why live if you are a toy? how can one be alive when they are a just a sock for the hand of God to have playtime or pretend to have real friends?).
We also need to look at Sovereignty. Sovereignty doesn't necessitate absolute control down the the very act of blinking, it means that there is nothing that can over-ride the power of the sovereign - IE: No other king can take my castle, I am its sovereign. That doesn't mean that he decides when a maid's bladder feels the need to void, or when the cow in his barn shall go moo, however in God's case if he has the power to command soldiers, and servants - but they are autonomous agents whose plans, actions, and choices can rise or fall, or cause them to live or die beneath the sovereign will of their King.
Autonomy doesn't mean freedom from responsibility either, and neither does it mean total success. A man's choices, and plans in autonomy for good, or for evil are not guaranteed to succeed, and consequences follow for each choice, and man is not sovereign as God is.
It is of my belief and understanding that mankind is autonomous, and God is sovereign; that we all dance, or wrestle with God, but soon all shall be musical by the aligning of autonomous will to God's in the same way that the dancers are autonomous and free to dance or walk away - but the choreography is splendidly ordered by their cooperation with the beat and the Producer - who himself came to dance and show us how it is done.
Christ was the best dancer, and even his wrestling was elegant - we have two left feet, stubborn wills, and wrestle more than we waltz. But soon we'll know how to dance delightfully, and we won't have to be forced to do so, we'll dance by autonomous alignment in harmony...with not a single string attached.
Basically, I'm not a puppet, I'm a real boy. (oddly enough the story of Pinocchio has alot of wisdom regarding God and Man, and wills.)
