Don't try any of that 'they just suggest things' nonsense. If god wanted you to have free will he would have done exactly that, gave you complete freedom to make choices. He wouldn't have created a devil to tempt you or expected you to follow his (god's) laws. That would be flat out cheating.
2006-07-12 03:26:22 · 26 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
The devil also had free will -
2006-07-12 03:29:34 · answer #1 · answered by kskwwjd 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
God does not make you do things. Neither does Satan. We do have complete freedom to make choices. God did not create a devil to tempt us. He created angels who themselves have free will. The one now known as Satan exercised his free will to do wrong things and became Satan - he made himself Satan and Devil which names mean Resister and Slanderer, respectively.
Some people do not feel that free will can be exercised in a context where laws govern behavior. In other words, people seem to equate "free will" with "commission with impunity." Free will is not defined by the results of our conduct. Free will is defined as the ability to choose the conduct.
We may choose to wear a seatbelt or we may choose not to wear a seatbelt. The consequences of both choices are explained to us by the government. But the government has the authority to put the law in place and it has the authority and the wherewithal to carry out punishment for disobeying the law.
Free will to make a choice and subsequent consequences of the choice made are NOT coterminous. And punishment for breaking a law - whoever puts the law in place - does not negate the freely-made choice to disobey the law.
Some people feel that true free will is the ability to make a choice the result of which leads to the same thing. Put another way, some define free will as: two existing paths: one which might be called "right" and one which might be called "wrong." But, say they, no matter which path you choose, the outcome is the same. Now we might call the outcome eternal life in paradise or, total annihilation or the outcome might even be torment and anguish. But no matter the choice made, the outcome is the same and this, it is felt, is true free will.
Is it cheating to make a law against child molestation, publicly state the punishment for such and then actually punish the child molester? Should the child molester be allowed to make the free will choice of sexually molesting your daughter or son free of any subsequent punishment? Do we say, "no, don't punish him because that would only interfere with true free will"?
Not only is that a wholly inaccurate and purely subjective definition, but if one looked just a bit closer, one would find that this argument crumbles under the weight of its own stupidity.
2006-07-12 10:50:06 · answer #2 · answered by Hannah J Paul 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Good and evil create balance in the world. God didn't create the devil to tempt us. If you read the bible you will find that Lucifer was once a follower of God and he turned on him, like a lot of the people in the world today do. God does expect you to follow his rules, but he also knows we are human and he does leave room for errors in judgement. That's where forgiveness comes in and what a beautiful gift it is. You are free to make whatever choices you like, but if they are the wrong choices and you commit a sin or an offense against God, it is then your choice to ask for his forgiveness. I hope this helps in some way. My husband asks me this question a lot. I wish I knew the correct answer, but I guess none of us really do.
2006-07-12 10:38:59 · answer #3 · answered by Shelby67grl 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Now that is an interesting question. I've never heard anyone say God "made" the devil, but surely in His infinite wisdom, He must have known Lucifer would fall, right??? I think the answer most Christian's would give you is that the free will means you can choose whether or not to follow His laws, so that it is up to us whether or not the world is evil or good, and whether or not we go to heaven. Think of it this way: If you are in a relationship, and you see a hot person, you can CHOOSE whether or not to go over and hit on them. That hot person didn't MAKE you do it by being good looking. We have to be accountable for our own actions, non?
PS I don't really follow most of the Bible, but I do believe in free will. I don't think God or anyone else "makes" me do things.
2006-07-12 10:33:26 · answer #4 · answered by cooperslassie 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
He didn't create the devil. The devil was angel, a fall angel, go read the bible and you would see.
God gave us free will, we get the make our own choices. So when ever anyone temps us whether the devil or our friends. We get to make the choice, we choose, not them.
Example. Bob and Joe, been good friends since the 3rd grad. They're 16 now. Bob smokes pot and ask Joe if he wants to. Joe, can either say yes or no. He has total free will of that choice.
2006-07-12 10:32:54 · answer #5 · answered by Linds 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You have free will! What is this about devil? Did Jesus ever mention a devil? The only devil that exists is a symbolic one that is manifested as your guilty conscious. When you fail to walk in the path of the teachings of Jesus, you naturally feel this guilt, because all that Jesus taught was right and pure and was the way to truth. But fear not, for there is actually no such thing as the "hell" that men made up. Hell is just another tool used by the rich and powerful to control the rest of humanity. One day civilization will advance en masse and all people will walk in the light of the teachings of Jesus.
2006-07-12 10:33:56 · answer #6 · answered by pleaserdude 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You can't have free will, if you believe that God and Satan make you do things.
I don't believe in Satan.
Goddess would never allow it.
We have free will so that we can experience all there is to offer on this planet- the good and the bad. Sometimes if a person does a bad thing, they learn from it and it becomes a necessary evil. The victim finds it's perpetrator, it's all karma baby.
2006-07-12 10:34:59 · answer #7 · answered by Lauralanthalasa 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
God didn't create a devil to tempt or entice us. The devil was originally Lucifer, who was a georgeous angel encrusted with beautiful jewels all throughout his body, in which God granted him FREE WILL, and of course, under his own will, Lucifer was taken by all the beauty and power given to him and decided he was better than God and wanted to take over heaven. God tossed him out of heaven, and thus, we have Satan. Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit under their own will. They were enticed, but they weren't forced to eat the fruit. We do have free will.
2006-07-12 10:33:58 · answer #8 · answered by jthreattix 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Free will is just that - you have the ability to choice good over evil. God or Devil does not make the choices for us - we do!@
2006-07-12 10:30:06 · answer #9 · answered by nswblue 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Free will is not the 'free will' to do anything you want whenever you want. It is the free will to choose one of the two paths that God has made- the right path or the wrong path. Your freedom is LIMITED to choosing one of these ways. You will be accountable for your choice. In other words, your 'free will' is subjugated to God's will.
2006-07-12 10:38:26 · answer #10 · answered by religion 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
we are given a choice... we're given the choice to follow God or follow the devil.. and we make that choice every single day of our lives...
we may say that we believe in God, but we make decisions every day and some of those decisions will glorify God and others won't
2006-07-12 10:30:20 · answer #11 · answered by ami 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋