Christians: Is it possible to have free will with no evil?

Question

Disclaimer: We have no free will.

Does Heaven have it? Does God have it?

Answer 1

I think we have a little free will - of course when you up at the night sky, you notice we live in a fish bowl. How much latitude can you get in a spiritual fishbowl.

Still, you're question's a good one. If the world had no evil, I still think we would have 'free will' - but it would be much more boring.

Is that why we came to Earth? It's hard, sure, but it sure is exciting...I'm not afraid to admit it - and I'm a Christian!

Answer 2

We have what is called agency to choose for ourselves to follow God's teachings or to disobey those teachings and put ourselves at odds with God.
No, there cannot be agency without wickedness. There must needs be opposition in all things. We cannot appreciate the good without knowing the bad, the health without knowing the sickness, the pleasure without the pain. In other words, there cannot be any choices made unless there is a clear opposition presented to us to choose from. Christ represents the good and Satan represents the evil. The one as opposed to the other.
In the grand counsel in heaven before the world was created, God presented His plan for His children. He proposed that there be a Savior appointed to atone for the mistakes that we would make while in mortality. Christ stepped forward and said, "Thy will be done". Satan said that he would bring all of God's children back home, not one of us would be lost. In order to do that, he had to guarantee that none of us would ever make any mistakes, or in other words have no choice in the matter. There would be no evil and there would be no good, just do as dictated and come back home. God rejected that autonomic plan and Satan rebelled, becoming the devil. He and his followers were cast out of heaven and became the opposition that we encounter every day here on earth.
No agency without choices and no choices without a distinction between good and bad, right and wrong.

Answer 3

Hi 6000,

Understanding that I believe in free agency not free will, yes we still have the ability to make our own choices in the absence of evil.

For example faced with two kinds of fruit, a pear and a pineapple, I can choose to eat one or the other, both, neither etc. The idea of opposition is not integrally linked with choice.

Yes there is choice in heaven and yes God has the ability to make choice. All are subject to natural law and have accountability linked, but we have freedom to choose.

This I know to be true!

Answer 4

The first man that God created had a free will. He didn't have to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. We have a free will because we can believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins or we can reject what He did on the cross for us and go to hell. We have a sin nature we know right from wrong we can choose to either. Romans 5: 12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

Answer 5

Free will does not mean that we are as bad as we can possibly be. It only means, in a theological sense, that we do not have the ability to look to God for salvation. This would mean that the rest of our decisions can be anything that we like, with the same ultimate destination save for God's intervention.

Answer 6

Here is an example to your good question:
Im at the store the cashier is ringing my purchases she does'nt
ring the 24 pack of pepsi, the evil says Im not going to say
anything this store is rich enough, God says pay for it so being
a christian I should pay for it. And if I don't pay for it here comes
the evil one again I feel so....guilty, see that's how it works.
Have a great.....day!
Jen