Christians: Do you have free will in evil-free heaven?

Question

Some have said free will cannot exist without evil and that's why evil exists. If that is so, then since Heaven has no evil you must not have free will in Heaven. If you do have free will in Heaven AND no evil, then obviously evil is not required to have free will. So then why did god create evil?

Firebird101: Then why did god create evil? Could he not have created earth in such a way that people would not want to commit evil just like he did with heaven?

My point is that if you can have free will without evil, then evil is not needed for any "plan" god might have.

Answer 1

Well put! A god would not have the need for a Hell. The notion of a God and the existance of hell grossly contradict one another!

Answer 2

Yes.

All souls that offend have been blotted out.

God’s enemies will use scripture as Satan did to tempt Christ.
They will misquote, twist or askew the truth for their agenda.
For example, Isaiah 45:7 to say God created evil.

Isaiah 45:7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

A deeper study will always manifest truth.

(create) “bara” in the Hebrew.
The Hebrew Poel Participle of the verb “bara” which, with “evil”, requires the rendering “bring about”.

(evil) “ra, raah” in the Hebrew, is never rendered “sin”.
God brings calamity about as the inevitable consequence of sin.
It is rendered “calamity”.

God brings about calamity because of sin.

Whenever there are so-called contradictions of God’s Word, a deeper study is always required.
This requires time and effort of the individual to delve into the truth of God’s Word.
Also, use your brain and think about it.
God cannot create true love.
True love will only manifest in a being of freewill.
In like manner God cannot create evil or righteousness, but will only manifest in beings of freewill.

>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<

Answer 3

The best reconciliations of your question I have seen is in The Consolation of Philosophy by Botius, The City of God by St. Augustine and The Bondage of the Will by Martin Luther. And also in The Divine Comedy by Dante. In a nutshell you might say that our free will is what makes obedience difficult. If, then, we were "relieved" of our free will obedience to God would become automatic.

Answer 4

Your reasoning is okay, but the conclusion is not correct.

What I'm going to say is hard for even most Southern Baptists, but the believer is dead to the law. Technically, we aren't accountable for sin anymore than Adam was up until the point he ate the apple. Where there is no law, sin is not imputed.

In heaven, we will continue to have free will, but there will be no law. Additionally, our temptation to sin resides within our flesh. (Rom. 7:18) I believe when we have our glorified, immortal bodies, the lust of our flesh will no longer be there.

EDIT: I believe that the moral capacity to choose good or evil, to choose God or to rebel against him is necessary. Evil is not REQUIRED to exist, but the OPTION to choose evil is. It was inevitable that someone, even the angels apparently, would choose to rebel.

Yes, evil is a required option. No there will be no evil in heaven, not because the will is gone, but because the desire is gone.

Consider this: Is sex evil? No, but sex outside of marriage is. Are drugs evil? No, but misuse of them is. Is food evil? No, but hoarding it while others starve is. All of our sins are perversions of natural desires present within this body. When we have a glorified body, our stomachs will not drive us to gluttony, our eyes will not drive us to greed, our sex organs (if we still have them?) will not drive us to fornication. We'll still be us, just with the *unnatural* temptations removed.

Answer 5

In Heaven we will have free will. But we won't WANT to do evil in heaven. Since it is a holy place there will be no desire to do wrong.

Answer 6

Neither good nor evil exist in reality, at least not outside of the mind that believes in them. They are only judgments passed by the individual from their own unique perspective. What one person sees as bad or evil may seem to be the only logical thing to do from some other perspective. The ideas of both good and evil are point of view specific. This is why people like bush and bin laden are either loved or hated. Bush is seen as good by people who share his fear based thought system. Those who have a compassionate concern for all of mankind often see him as evil.

Bin laden is much the same. He is a villain in much of the western world, but he is somewhat of a celebrated pop star on the Middle East. There are T-shirt shops that sell items with his picture as though he was Jesus. It all depends on your point of view or perspective.

To sum it all up good is the name we give to people who do things that we think we like.

Evil is the name we give to people who do the things that we don’t like.

This is of course based solely on our particular point of view.

Love and blessings

Don

Answer 7

I believe that when someone goes to heaven,the person was there for a reason-that he's good and that he or she must be worth it that even if there's free will, they will not use it to make mischief in heaven.

Answer 8

Well, as far as they are concerned, they can "do no wrong" in heaven since they will no longer be on earth. So, there is no "free will", since the ability to do anything "bad" is removed.--



I understand where you are coming from though...

Answer 9

I think firebird put it well. But even if we don't, I don't think I'd mind not having free will-doesn't decision making (and living in general) get tiring sometimes?

Answer 10

Great psycological warfare. Turn or burn