Is "free will" really free?

Being the Calvinist that I am, I don't believe in what is commonly understood to be "free will" but this thread isn't about the Calvinist view vs. the Arminian (or, more accurately, Pelagian) view. What I want to explore is this: Let's just say for the sake of argument that there is this thing called "free will." What does that mean?

I've had some of this discussion with a couple of the elders in my home church and they haven't been able to come up with an answer.

First of all, there is not one passage in the Bible that says humans have "free will." Instead, it is an INTERPRETATION of various passages that have been thrown together - passages saying such things as "choose you this day who you will serve" or "whosoever believeth." So, if anyone tries to say the Bible says man has free will, that person is bearing false witness against the word of God. But, let's just set that aside.

What does it mean for humans to have "free will"? To answer this, let's look at the first word in that phrase - the word "free." Americans associate the word "free" with the word "freedom" and, thus, have a cultural concept of liberty and of having certain rights. It follows logically that if someone has certain rights that he cannot be punished for exercising those rights, since punishment implies the person does not have the rights that he has exercised. If we say, for example, that a person has the right not to incriminate himself (part of the fifth amendment of the American Constitution) then the government has no authority to punish him for exercising that right. So, in the American sense, to be free implies having certain rights and a certain degree of individual sovereignty. But is this what is meant by "free will"?

When we say someone has "free will," are we saying - as in the American sense - that an individual has the RIGHT to exercise his will as he sees fit: that he has the RIGHT to choose or not choose? The way the term is commonly used, it sounds as if this is exactly what people mean - that we have the right to choose or not choose. Now, applying this to the Pelagian doctrine of free will, are we saying that God gives human beings the RIGHT to choose not to obey Him, to choose not to respond to the gospel call, etc.? Further, if we are saying humans have the RIGHT to choose or not choose, then on what basis does God have the right to punish humans for exercising a right that He supposedly gave them? If "free will" means the right to choose or not choose, if "free will" means humans have a certain degree of absolute sovereignty, then there is no basis for God to punish sin (transgression against the law of God) since "free will" in the American sense of being "free" implies having the right to exercise one's will as one chooses.

However, since God clearly does punish sin, and is perfectly righteous and just in doing so, this contradicts the notion of "free will" as it was discussed in the previous paragraph. So, how do we reconcile the seeming contradiction? We must say either that man does not have "free will" or that "free will" means something other than the right to choose or not choose. Could "free will" in this context mean merely having the capacity or ability to choose without necessarily having the right to choose? If we say, for example, that someone has the capacity or ability to rob a bank, that doesn't mean he has the right to rob a bank and, if caught, he will surely be punished for it. If what we're really talking about here is having the inherent capacity to choose or not choose the things of God, then is what we're talking about really free will or is it simply the state of having a will? Does having the capacity to choose mean that we also have the right to choose and, thus, that we have absolute sovereignty over our own lives? If so, then God has no right to punish humans for exercising that right. If not, then we really can't say the human will is "free."

Before you respond to this post, make sure you've read it carefully. THIS IS NOT A THREAD ABOUT THE MERITS OF THE CALVINIST POSITION OR THE PELAGIAN POSITION ON FREE WILL! Also, do not confuse the capacity (or capability) to choose with the right to choose.