Why did he obliterate Sodom and Gomorrah? The Bible says they were unrepentant sinners, but wasn't that their choice? Weren't they merely excersizing their free will? If we indeed have free will, then God wouldn't be punishing us for acting 'badly'. If we have to live under the threat of God's punishment, then we don't have free will at all. We simply behave because we fear punishment and retaliation. Could someone explain please?
2006-08-19 10:25:43 · 15 answers · asked by choko_canyon 7 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
...Free will doesn't translate into "the ability to get away with ANYTHING". Free will means that you are given the option to make the "right" choices and the "wrong" choices, it doesn't mean that you're given a free pass to do whatever you want consequence-free.
It's like criminal activity. You are free to hold up a bank, but don't expect that you can do what the law has demanded that you not and then go about thinking you won't get punished.
2006-08-19 10:31:24 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Sinners will go to hades and even if this in not what people want to hear it is the truthit ; it was their free will to practice homosexuality---even young boys were defiled by the older guys, they wanted to have sex with the two angles that cake to lead Lot and his family, sins was everywhere and this made God very sad for He had created man as in the story of the Ark---there was so much sin that God had some degree of disgust due to the sinning taking place. When God did destroy both cities it was due to the sin by their own free will that brought on God's judgment. Even a godly man asked God "if I find ( a certain number of good peope) 150 would you forgive them" and God said yes, the godly man came back and said if I find ( a lower number---50 then the first number) will you forgive them and God said yes; there were no number of good people accept for Lot, his wife, and daughter---they were lead on the right path to their salvation except for the wife.
People can belive or decide not to believe in God it is their free will but be assured there is a heaven and there is a hell; free will will lead you on or lead you astray. God is not telling you to fear Him He has given humankind an answer to follow--Jesus.
2006-08-19 10:48:45 · answer #2 · answered by Lifeline 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
BRILLIANT, INSIGHTFUL, INTELLIGENT, WISE AND ABOUT TIME. Just as I was reading your question my favorite piece of music came on the satellite, The lonely shepahrd by Zamfir. How appropriate.
I don't know who you are but I have faught for years to get people to understand what you wrote so well. GOD never destroyed Sodom or Gomorrah. First of all, GOD creates, GOD does not destroy. Everytime some natural geological occurance happened, the religious leaders wrote it as an act of GOD designed to prove one of their misguided tenets. GOD gave us free will and WILL NOT punish us for any deeds. Let me prove this beyond all doubt except for those who refuse to think but must be led like sheep. You are the parent of a normal child. You tell this child that there is candy on the table. It is the child's choice to eat some or not, but the child should eat even one piece you will put him/her in your oven and bake them forever. Make sense? Of course not. If they want to argue that we are being tested, again think. You test something when you are not sure what it will do. Test your stove by putting your hand on it. NO? Why not? If GOD needs to test you to see what you will do then GOD does not know what you will do and that makes GOD less than what you have been taught, right? We are not here to be tested. Tested by whom? Tested for what? We are not here to learn. Learn what? We lelt the place of all knowledge! We are here to experience or see just what we are made of. To experience ourselves in the light of who and what we can be. My favorite story is Dr. Pull-em-out. Dr Pull-em-out is an obstritian. He has delivered 4,298 1/2 babies. He is world reknown as the most knowledgable baby doctor in creation. There is nothing he doesn't know about birth......except one thing. He has never experienced birth.
You my friend are indeed a breath of fresh air.
Vaya con DIOS
2006-08-19 11:18:52 · answer #3 · answered by chrisbrown_222 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Bismillah rahmanir rahim.
Since reverting to Islam i understand that when God(Allah) created the Heaven and the Hell he also knew who its inhabitants would be.
But if he would of just dispatched people to their final resting places the people in Hell would of been saying that this is unfair and what did we do to deserve this and the people in Heaven would of been saying hay look at this, what a great deal we got.
So he placed us on the earth as a test and he gave us fee will and a CHOICE, so that on the day of ressurrection when we are given our deeds (either good or bad) and are sent to our abode nobody can complain because they had a CHOICE.
and their deeds will represent the choices they made on earth.
2006-08-19 10:40:21 · answer #4 · answered by knowledge is power 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Do you not have free will simply because your father doesn't want you to have a cookie that will ruin your appetite for dinner? And if you do eat that cookie, he sends you to your room, but it was still your choice to eat the cookie even thought you knew the consequences. The Bible gives us great promises that will come if we live as God desires us to live, the way we were ment to. It also says that God is revealed to each and every one of us and that it is his or her own choice whether he follows God or not. God gives you a choice about your life, whether to live it in a holy way, which promises to bring you joy, or to not, which will bring only misery and emptiness.
2006-08-19 10:34:18 · answer #5 · answered by Samantha 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋
God didn't give us free will, we TOOK it! that's the whole point of the genesis story, the knowledge of good and evil, the CHOICE to do right or wrong was aquired by eating the fruit. Before that point we were innocent. of course, if we say that it was the fault of the serpent in the garden, then there's no original sin, we were just following orders boss, and the basis of christianity crumbles..hooray!
2006-08-19 10:38:26 · answer #6 · answered by prometheus_unbound 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋
I just love the way people like you turn the Bible around to suit your own needs/lifestyle.
Having free will does not me that we never get reprimanded or have no consequences for our behaviors.
Christians don't choose Christ out of fear but out of love for all that He has done for us. His death on the cross set us free,
2006-08-19 11:36:53 · answer #7 · answered by JW 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
The only free will given by "God" is: Worship me or die. Not really much of a choice for the faithful, is it?
2006-08-19 11:15:11 · answer #8 · answered by Bill K Atheist Goodfella 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Its the idea that if you have a lot of bad men, you cut one of there heads off, and the others do not practice being bad.
Public execution on a large scale!
Frisco is about due
2006-08-19 10:46:02 · answer #9 · answered by Grandreal 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I will pray for your understanding of God's word. I will pray you
are not trying to be a comedian & are serious about the Lord.
2006-08-19 12:10:04 · answer #10 · answered by anitababy.brainwash 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋