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Question...Did Saul ( Paul) use his free will to be a Christian??Answer...YesWe don't believe that we can just up and decide to become Christians. We need grace! Without grace, no one would ever want to or could ever choose to come to Christ. Instead, we would always hate Him and choose to reject Him. We are totally depraved and this sinful depravity bends our wills away from God. No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him:...John 6:44But...God draws all men to Him And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me....John 12:32Can mortal man resist that draw??Yes...If we resist the draw God gives simply them up, let’s them have their desire.Saul experienced Prevenient Grace (draw from God) , which is taught throughout the Bible.This is Gods divine grace that precedes our human decision. ...In other words, God will start showing love to that individual at a certain point in his lifetime.If man ignores this draw God will simply “ give him up” ... no one knows how or when this draw or pull from God will stop.I experienced it some 24 times ( June 1972-February 1973) before I used my free will and allowed Christ to come in , I might not have gotten the 25 th tug on my heart.Verses that say God gave them up....1.2 nd Chronicles 30:72.Psalm 81:123.Acts 7:424.Romans 1:24/26Saul didn't just hear the gospel preached to him and then he decided to respond positively to it. Paul encountered the resurrected Christ. How could anyone continue to deny Christianity's truth after having an overwhelming evidence overload experience like this?Could God have drawn irresistibly??No.... notice the word obedienceElect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied….1st Peter 1:2 Notice the 4 parts…1. Elect…God chooses 2. Sanctification of the Spirit ( big s) 3.Unto obedience ( Paul’s part) 4.Sprinkling of the Blood of Jesus ChristPaul, like us had to obey Gods call, otherwise the other 3 parts don’t or would,t apply on Paul’s life.The atheists of today show us that if you really, really, really want to disbelieve, you'll find a way, no matter how implausible or intellectually strained the rationalization is. Truth is Saul could have talked himself out of believing that Jesus appeared to him by telling himself that it was an illusion or a hallucination, dream, or even satan.Saul quite easily and honestly could have explained away what just happened to him and then carried on with his plan on exterminating the church.He had a literal choice to say yes or no to God over what he just experienced.Saul was not forced to be a Christian, yes,there was overwhelming evidence to convert, but Paul could still have said NO.Paul did not receive the Holy Spirit's indwelling on the road to Damascus but, after 3 days of obedience to Christ, Ananias put his hands on Paul and he received both his sight and the indwelling of the Holy Ghost.Paul hadn't decided to follow Christ until 3 days ( Acts 9:9) after the fact. He was probably mentally wrestling with himself over what happened that whole time.Let’s not forget that the Pharisees also saw Christ and witnessed his miracles (they explained it away by saying that He did it via demonic assistance). They even witnessed the raising of a dead man Lazarus (John 11), then didn’t believe.They also were aware of the tomb's emptiness post-resurrection and heard the account of the soldiers guarding the tomb that an angel came and rolled back the stone (see Matthew 28). Yet, they were still able to reject Christ after all of that. Bottom line....I find the idea that Saul seeing a vision of Christ made his conversion irresistible totally wrong and alien to scripture.He had a choice and praise God he made the right choice.Personally.....God gives everyone enough light to find Him.For reasons known only to God some get a lot of light ( Paul was an example) I personally too got a lot of light , but some don’t need that much to find Him.Rest assured if you don’t accept Christ, it was’ant because He didn’t reveal Himself to you, it was and still is your choice.