Free Will Defense - 2 Questions for Christians?

Question

Free will defense of the existence of God in light of the problem of evil goes something like this:

Q: If God is both good and all-powerful, how could evil exist?
A: God values giving humans free will more than the non-existence of evil and its accompanying miseries. For humans to have free will, they must be given the "freedom" to choose to do evil.


Questions I have with this:

1. The Christian Bible seems to suggest that it is quite possible for a human to have free will, even in the absense of the ability to choose evil. People in heaven, for instance, seem to be portrayed as lacking the ability to choose evil, and I've never heard of anyone complaining about a lack of free will in heaven.

2. Where is this free-will defense actually found in the Bible?

Any takers?

Answer 1

Heaven is free will. It's not that once you are in heaven you are free to move around, because heaven is not a physical world but a spiritual one.

In heaven there is no "where" or "when" it is all times. If there was time, there would be space, and if there was time and space and spirits (you, me, Jesus, etc) then there would be a world, and if that were true, we would probably have some way of watching this or at least knowing about its events.

But because we believe that gods do not live on mountains and intervene in people's lives, it is just us experiencing the world.

If there were a heaven, it would be free will because it would be seperate from the material world altogether, yet still somehow containing the essence of who we are. Otherwise we would never be able to get to heaven.

Answer 2

1. God create free will. Since God is basically the embodiment of Good, then evil had to exist on the side, just, not with Him. So when free will was created, we now had a choice: God, or not God.

and once you're in Heaven, your soul is changed, as it is no longer bound by nature laws of sin and death. So you still have the ability to choose, just evil is no longer a variable. So you can choose in cases like "whadda you wanna do?" and answer "fly!" or "play soccer!" or something like that.

2. basically everywhere where God commands that we not sin. God doesn't ask us to do anything we can't do. and here are a few scriptures:

Genesis 3:22 -- man could now know the difference between good and evil

one of the famous quotes "choose ye this day whom you shall serve",

Deut 5: 27 -- the Israelites made a choice

Deut 10: 12

Luke 13:22-30

Answer 3

The part in your question of, "even in the absence of the ability to choose evil" does not make sense to me. As a free thinking individual, we have free will to choose good or evil, hence the saying "Free Will". Throughout the Bible, there are numerous references of God's people hanging out with the wrong crowd and how it influenced them in a negative way. Prayer and reading the Bible is how to know God. When your faith reaches that point, as mine has, you will know God and be humbled to tears by his love. If in your Earthly life you serve God, why would you not in your heavenly life?
My soul yearns, even faints,
for the courts of the LORD;
my heart and my flesh cry out
for the living God.
Psalms 84:2

Answer 4

since man chose to be like God knowing good from evil(That's what Satan suduced Eve with in the garden) God has been leading and teaching man how to descern good from evil because evil means no eternal glorious life but good means life everlasting in God's glory. If he gave man no choice in the garden then we would not have free will. God let evil continue and still does until he comes for His children when His kingdom starts and they will share in His glory forever. Then he will destroy evil and only good will prevail. The children who have persevered thru evil times will live and remain with God forever. And he will put back life into the children who have died temporarily,to everlasting life with Him. Hence, we have a choice to live for God(thru Jesus) or not and take everlasting death. A righteous kingdom that is ruled by His Son Jesus will be a wonderful place like a paradise(like it would have been had we not chose death in the garden) with no evil person or thing to worry about. Not like it is today. We will then have much free will to go about the earth without worry that someone or thing will attack us and hurt us or kill us. Everyone will have learned God's way of being loving and civil to each other. They would have learned to treat each other with love for each other as God wants it. And not just becuse He wants it that way but because He knows that it will benefit us to be able to live like this. A loving Father who wants the best for his Children and who has taught us how to get it for ourselves. It will be better to be free in an earth and heavens like that than now. At least that's my opinion. Think about it. And if you have questions look to God's word the Bible. That's why he wants us to read his word daily. We learn more each day and the Holy Spirit can live with\in us and teach us and we become stronger in love and the grace of God all the time. If we were to die it would be only temporary and Jesus will call all His children from the grave when His kingdom comes. All people have the choice to Follow Christ Jesus and live forever, that's why we have the Holy scriptures. God is teaching us: Choose life and not death because He loves us and loved us first and has given us a way out of what we did in the garden. God bless all who read this.

Answer 5

nicely i did no longer study any contradictions between your question yet i visit be happy to furnish my maximum suitable answer. (a million) understanding and determining are 2 particularly some issues. in case you pick to be a doubter and not a believer it is your decision. it particularly is God's will which you be a believer... (2) i think it replaced into Noah's sons and daughter in-rules that initiate the repopulation of the earth. yet once you might have self belief a huge bang no longer in basic terms populated the earth yet created all issues, why can no longer you think a 500 365 days previous guy ought to do it..? (3) i do no longer discover it complicated to have self belief that there have been some who stay lived that long at that element on an earth void of each and all the pollution that we've right this moment... (4) particular those cities have been destroyed because of the fact they have been completely corrupt and so replaced into the great earth's inhabitants interior the case of the super flood. what's your element..? (5) Righteous and ideal are 2 particularly some issues. interest wasn't ideal... (6) God did no longer kill interest's little ones, nevertheless He did enable devil to achieve this. yet comprehend this existence is in simple terms temporary. eternal existence is what we prepare for in this existence. So it is wonderful to die for a in simple terms reason...

Answer 6

From the get go. Free will is that thing God put in us to keep us from being robots. Eve had free will when the snake sneaked up on her. If you look the book will say they had to do something before we ran over and ate out that other tree. Heaven is a completely different matter and none of our cares here will matter there.

Answer 7

Your questions do not make any sense.

No free will in heaven????? What about Lucifer and 1/3 of the angels????? Did they not "choose" to rebel against God.

Answer 8

Think of it like this –

If a baby were never permitted to stumble and fall down, she would never learn to walk. If God made us with only the ability to serve him and do good, we would be nothing more than automatons. We couldn’t advance and grow. We would be pointless. God loves us enough to want us to grow, even if that means falling down a lot.

Answer 9

Free will and choice is mentioned many times through out the bible. Jesus was sent to be our saviour. He is the way. You choose him or you choose death. We all should strive to get back to heaven. The only way is Jesus. We have to make the choice. You choose to lead your life for Jesus. God does not force any one to obey his laws. It is our free choice.

Answer 10

Free will means that we are able to choose if we want to serve God or not.