Christians, when you speak of "free will" and god, aren't you talking about NO free will?

Question

Here is what a christian recently said as reply to a question;

"/CAPS_ON


he GAVE you the GREATEST GIFT of FREE WILL to CHOOSE HIM

/CAPS_OFF

.. and if you don't well..

big owie 4 u!"

Soooo, if you HAVE free will (given to you by god apparently) but choose the wrong thing (not obeying him) then you go to hell. Is anyone else staggered by the outright ignorance of the above statement?
For those of you who don't yet understand, the quote above is basically saying that you have free will, as long as you choose to obey god. Kind of like the way Henry Ford used to say that people could buy a Model A in any color they wanted, so long as that color was black.
No choice = no free will.
Get it now?

Meg,
So, god loves me, but if I make the wrong choice, he sends me, for all eternity, to a place of torment, torture and misery. Nice guy.
Tell me, does he kick puppies to death for fun too?

Jane,
Then you don't get it at all do you?
I'm talking about YOUR version of free will, not mine.
Either answer the question or STFU. Deal?

dze,
So, to have my free will card, I need to give up my ability to choose for myself.
What a screwed up cult you belong to. You have my pity, you really do.

Answer 1

Yes, you have free will. But if you choose wrong, it is everylasting hell for you. This doesn't sound like free will to me, but a pathetic fear tactic that unfortunately works with many people.

Answer 2

Yes, I'm staggered by the ignorance, and you will find people that will cling to free will in spite of any logic. To choose God is to have power over God. That's ridiculous. To choose against God when you could have chosen to accept Him, makes Heaven and Hell a game, and gives us a schizophrenic God that loves us infinitely seconds before death in spite of unbelief, and just after death it's wrath time. Say what??? It forces an age of reason to accommodate decision time, and now we're looking at a God who has to bend to our will even further and "automatically" save babies since we can't resolve free will if there is any incapacity. What about opting out of salvation, and opting back in at a later point? Are we not saved when we aren't thinking about it? Does decision time go back to the last time we were awake? Do we need to get baptized over and over again if we fall away and then come back? Hey, what if I take Monday, Wednesday and Friday off as atheist, and become Christian the other days of the week? What about when we're asleep, can we dream about a decision for Christ and then when we wake up, back to atheist? Or the other way around?

Tell you what, I most definitely agree with you, free will is absolutely preposterous. It takes a loving God to pull us away from our headlong path to destruction, and my Bible shows this as being done through predestination, regeneration, effectual calling, grace grace grace all the way through. At no point can we claim our own ability in salvation. The whole shot belongs to God alone.

Answer 3

I can see where your getting at, but I do not agree. God has given us free will to choice between Him or not, to sin or not, to follow the crowds or not. And like every choice their is consequences both good and bad.

For example you can choose to cheat on your Math Provincial, but if your caught you get an automatic zero. The cheating was the choice, the zero was the consequence.

Same sort of thing applies with God, you choose God your consequence is going to heaven, you don't choose God your consequence is hell. God is not going to force you to believe in Him. And if you think about it, if you don't love God and can't stand the thought of constantly worshipping him for all eternity, wouldn't being in heaven where you spend all eternity worshipping God basically be a hell in paradise anyway?

Answer 4

If you had a choice between choosing a black or a white Model A, would that be a choice? The choices are few I know. But that is the case here. Good or Evil? Only two ways but nonetheless - two. Now the choice is only available for a period of time. That's the time you are allotted here on earth. It boils down to whether you believe in God, your maker, or you don't. You know the choices and the consequences. The rest is up to you.

Whether we think it fair or not, doesn't matter. God is God. When you create your earth and your man, then you can dictate the rules.

Answer 5

God is good and he gave us free will to choose wether or not to follow him. If you don't follow him you and do whatever you want. But just like anything you do there are consequences or rewards for your actions. If you do choose to follow him you still have free will to do what you want. I am a Christian and I lie and cuss and use the Lord's name in vien I'm not saying thats right but I have the free will to do it and because I am saved { not baptized baptisim has nothing o do with salvation}
I will not go to Hell. I made a decision last year to follow Gad not because I was scared of Hell and not because it was convinient.But because I realized he is a great God and he made me and you and this world. And I knew that it was going to be hard but you have to make sacrifices for what you believe in. God gives us free will either way but you have to take into consideration right or wrong black or white. GOOD or Evil. and I'm not saying all non-christians are evil and I'm not saying Christians aren't sinners but there comes a time in your life when you have to choose.

Answer 6

God is love.
Heaven is accepting God & being in the presance of God.
Hell is rejecting God & moving away from His presance.

Free Will is human's ongoing CHOICE to choose to accept God or reject God. The "Free Will" doesn't mean chaos & anarchy, but rather accepting rules to receive the "Free Will."

A modern example is God gives you a vehical. He asks you to take care of it and change your oil, and other maintanance repairs. You can choose to change the oil & maintain it OR you can choose to keep driving it without the oil change and maintanance ... so eventually, your choice will bring you to a head with your decision. Should you follow God, you'll have the gift of the car He gave you longer and enjoy it more.

Should you reject God's instructions ... well, who's fault is it that you don't have a vehical for transportation anymore??? This doesn't mean God's abandoned you. He might hook you up with a mechanic ... or lead you to resources so you can learn to replace the engine ... or whatever He deems helpful to lead you to Him in the best way; which may involve taking the bus or footing it vs the sweet fast ride of a vehical.

Answer 7

What exactly are you not understanding? God could have made the human race to serve Him. He has the ability, certianly the power, but He chose to create us with the ability to think, to question, and to choose. You may choose to serve God and to follow Christ, or you may choose to live separate from God and follow whatever beliefs you have chosen. That is free will. Everything we do in this life has consequences and affects those around us. The choice you make about God has consequences as well. Those are to either spend an eternity with Him or without HIm. But it is and always will be your choice as long as you are alive on this earth. By the way you speak, you have made that choice and I will respect your choice.

God bless you.

www.thruthebible.org

Answer 8

God does love you- but because God is holy, there has to be a payment for our sin- either we will pay the price through death and going to hell, which is eternal separation from God- or we can accept Christ as payment for our sin. He gave us a choice, yes, but He desires no one to go to hell- that is why He is SO long in sending Christ back so that we can have an opportunity to chose life.

Answer 9

So, if U don't believe in God what do U care about Options??? I guess what I'm saying is that if U don't believe God & all we know about him, then why are U even here??? For U there is no God & the story of creation & Satan & the whole ball of wax, right??? So are U here proselytizing for people who want to believe in Nothing, is that it??? If what U are proposing is true (and it's NOT) then we are already believing in nothing just as U are so why not just leave Us alone cause we're already doing what U suggest, NOTHING!!! Boy, I hope I said that right as I don't want to sound like an Idiot as well!!!

Answer 10

Imagine there's a doctor who has a patient that steadfastly refuses to obey all his doctor's advice about exercise and eating healthily despite several warnings from the doctor about the consequences of such a course of actions until one day, sure enough, the patient develops serious health problems.
Did the doctor prohibit the patient from using his free will by warning him of the consequences of his actions? Or is the decision to make wrong choices still an exercise of one's free will, despite being warned of the consequences?

Answer 11

God gives us the choice to live with Him or without Him. Just because people choose to live without Him is not His fault! Let's take my kids, for example. We have rules in our house. They have the choice to either obey the rules or break them. Either way, there are consequences to their actions. They get to choose which consequences they want. That's free will.

What do you think free will means? Do you think it means we do whatever we want with no regard to anybody or anything and have no consequence to our actions? Think about it logically and you will see the statement makes more sense than you realize! Be blessed!