...would he allow someone to choose to return to Earth as a ghost instead of spending eternity in Heaven? Or does he rescind free will once you ascend to Heaven to worship him as his slave?
2007-01-16 06:28:53 · 25 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Actually, we wouldn't be slaves. In fact, the Scripture refers to our roles in Heaven as royalty! We're promised that we "....will REIGN as kings and princes with Him." I take that to mean that there will be something in a new heaven/Earth that will need governing and that we're chosen to be their example, administering law/grace wherever necessary based on the eternal wisdom of God.
2007-01-16 09:07:19 · answer #1 · answered by bigvol662004 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
To respond to the truth about God in the bible, you would not care to roam the earth as a ghost, after death, so your question doesn't really need an answer. You are giving more opinions, than asking a question. If you loved God, then you would want what he wants. He wants a relationship with YOU, and to live the life you were created for. That will only be the beginning of real life, and roaming the earth as a ghost would seem VERY goofy indeed at that point. I disagree with the assumptions you make in your "question" also, like the slave part, etc.
2007-01-16 14:35:51 · answer #2 · answered by oceansnsunsets 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Free will is not deciding what you want to do, but rather which path (which has already been made) you'll take. In heaven if there is no "path" to become a ghost, then it's not an option. Just as we are limited by our bodies, we are also limited in what we can do. If I wanted to clap my hands 3 times and have a unicorn appear, it won't happen no matter what I will. Free will is more like choosing based on what options you are given.
If a man full of anger sees a cat on the street and chooses not to kick it, despite his feelings, that's exercising free will. He can't choose to make the cat, but the cat and his path met, and he chooses to not kick it. As for being ghosts on earth, even if that were an option, it doesn't matter because the earth as it is will eventually be destroyed and a new earth will be created.
So you can only choose based on what's been given, not what you want. You choose to love and obey God by repenting to him daily and trusting in Christ, or you can make yourself an enemy of God by continuing in sin and eventually allowing the sin to take control of you. Of course sin leads to death, so you've chosen your path.
-dw
2007-01-16 14:45:50 · answer #3 · answered by dooltaz 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A person in Heaven wouldn't be there against his own will, though? If a person were to get to Heaven, he would be jubilant. To a Christian, worshipping and serving God for eternity is not a chore, but an honor. It is among the highest purposes a true Christian is made for, and, therefore, a Christian would be happy to worship God.
In short, no one who gets to Heaven would want to refuse worshipping God.
2007-01-16 14:53:57 · answer #4 · answered by l;wksjf;aslkd 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The only slaves are the ones who are bound by their own human will and their limited human minds. The slaves are the ones who can't find the measure of faith given them to believe in or hope for things eternal. The slaves are the ones who do not respect, believe in or worship their creator. Consider this analogy: if I want to improve my mind & my body here on earth I might take up a martial art. To achieve my goals I would need to submit my will to that of the "master" and follow his rules and instructions to succeed. When I do that I achieve my goals and become a better person. It's the same with God only a spiritual level rather than just a physical one.
So your scenario is actually very contrary. Submitting to God is very freeing. Refusing to submit you are bound.
2007-01-16 14:38:13 · answer #5 · answered by Pamela 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
You do not understand what is meant by "free will". It simply means that God allows people to make their own moral decision, and then they live with the consequences of those decisions - good or bad. "Free will" would not allow you to do impossible things like fly, bend steel bars, be in two places at once. etc. Along with that, since at death a person contact with this world ends, "free will" would not allow them to do the impossbile and return to earth.
But in answer to your real question: if you read the last two chapters of the book of Revelation, you will find that God is going to move his throne from heaven to earth. When that happens, all those who are in heaven will again have access to the earth and be able to live on the planet much like we do today - only with the pain, suffering, diseases, death, sin, crime, etc. So yes, we will have the choice to leave in both earth and heaven.
2007-01-16 14:38:53 · answer #6 · answered by dewcoons 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Free will exists after we're dead. I have a feeling that when asked if you want in heaven or not, you're going to choose not. However, the choices aren't return to earth as casper. I never felt that ghosts choose to be here. What we see as ghosts are powerful memories or energies, and had they the choice, they would not be trapped here.
I, for one, am choosing heaven, thank you.
2007-01-16 14:35:20 · answer #7 · answered by sister steph 6 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Free will is given to man on Earth. When man dies, man either goes to heaven or hell. At the end of the world, people would have gone either to heaven of to hell. End of the world indicated that there will be no more world. This means that there will be nothing to go back to as ghost. So, we have free wil in order to make choices which will get us to heaven or hell. If you don't want to go to heaven, which is the place of eternal happiness, you could choose to go to hell. But in heaven people who got there would no longer think something like that which you are asking now. They would just be happy. Wouldn't you like to be happy?
2007-01-16 14:36:32 · answer #8 · answered by Ana 3 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Would you like to be a slave of the devil? Would you like to be forced to do evil things? Would you like to be tormented by evil spirits? God gave us "Free Will". God does not enslave us. The devil uses torture to enslave people to do his will. What makes you think that God will rescind free will once you ascend into heaven?
2007-01-16 14:42:39 · answer #9 · answered by Soul saviour 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Who said that that choice is ever given to us after we die?
We have freewill on things that we actually have been given a choice to make. i.e. whether or not we believe in God, Jesus, our everyday choices on whether we want to walk or drive, to what clothes we want to wear.
No one has ever said whether we will even have a choice to come back as a ghost or not.
There is one reference in the bible that supports us not being able to do so. That is in the account of the rich man and Lazarus. Lazarus used to sit at the rich mans gate and beg for things. One day they both died and the rich man went to hades (waiting place for hell and Lazarus went to Abrahams bussom.) The rich man wanted to go and warn his friends that if they continued on the same path as he took, they would end up like him. But he was told that he could not. This story supports the fact that we cannot come back as ghosts and also gives us an idea that that choice has never been given to us as an option.
God is a loving God and the best free will that he has given to all of us is whether we choose to believe in him or not. He did not make us all robots..
Hope this helps.
Matt
2007-01-16 14:41:34 · answer #10 · answered by ? 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋