Coupling must be voluntary (free will)
Even Calvinism distinguishes between "effectual calling" and "forced conversion." The regenerate person WANTS to respond—the will is transformed, not overridden. [[065_BC8_Voluntary-Coupling|BC8]] is about the structure of coupling, not the prior question of whether the will is prepared by grace. The coupling event itself involves the person's will, even if that will is already grace-enabled. Forced coupling without any willing would not be salvation but possession.
The neuroscience shows that some processes precede conscious awareness—not that awareness plays no causal role. Libet's experiments also showed subjects could veto prepared actions. More fundamentally, if free will is illusory, so is the concept of "choice to believe" or "choice to reject"—which makes the entire moral universe (including the objection) meaningless. The denial of free will is self-undermining.
Quantum superposition provides the space for free will, not free will itself. [[062_BC5_Superposition-Preserved-Until-Collapse|BC5]] establishes that possibilities remain open until collapse. [[065_BC8_Voluntary-Coupling|BC8]] says the coupling collapse involves a voluntary component. The will participates in which outcome actualizes. This isn't reducible to randomness—it's agent-causation within the space of quantum possibility.
[[065_BC8_Voluntary-Coupling|BC8]] applies to the paradigm case of adult conversion. Edge cases (infants, disability) may involve different mechanisms—prevenient grace, eschatological completion, or hidden consent we can't observe. The principle remains: WHEREVER coupling occurs between a fully-formed agent and God, it involves voluntariness. God doesn't violate personality.
Receiving a gift is not earning it. Faith is the hand that receives grace, not the cause of grace. [[065_BC8_Voluntary-Coupling|BC8]] says coupling must be voluntary; it doesn't say voluntary coupling earns anything. Grace is still external ([[059_BC2_Grace-External-To-System|BC2]]), still unearned. But the recipient must open to receive. A gift forced upon someone who rejects it is not a gift but an imposition.
Conway and Kochen (2006): If experimenters have free will (choices not determined by prior state), then so do particles.
Implication: Freedom propagates. If any level has genuine choice, it's consistent throughout. [[065_BC8_Voluntary-Coupling|BC8]] claims humans have genuine choice in the coupling event.
Standard causation: C causes E if C is sufficient for E given background conditions.
Agent causation: Agent A causes E if A's choice is necessary for E and not determined by prior causes.
[[065_BC8_Voluntary-Coupling|BC8]] claim: Coupling involves agent causation. V(Ψ) is chosen, not computed from prior state.