Can somebody please tell me where the "Free Will" that God (The Christian God) gave us went when he said -

Question

Don't eat off of that tree over there or you will die...went?
Isn't that kinda like someone telling you that you can choose to move if ya want, but this gun I am holding is going to blow your head off if you do? Where is the free will in that?

That is not free will......that has conditions....free has no consequences or condition....look up the word "FREE" and get back to me!!!!

To the person who said the definition was inaccurate....check your own information....#21. not subject to special regulations, restrictions, duties, etc.: The ship was given free passage.

And another definition of free is as follows....Not controlled by obligation or the will of another!!!!!!! I googled that one! LOL

You all are cracking me up....Free is Free!!!! If you gave me a free car....and I chose with my so called free will to drive it off a cliff.....It would no longer be my free will because it has COST ME MY LIFE!!!!!! Having consequences removes any possibility of "FREE WILL"

On the surface of what you are assuming is free will is complete BS...It is an illusion...to act upon your information and to choose one way or the other is only and completly based on what you think you know....consequences good or bad remove FREE from the equation....Here is another definition of FREE..."Not affected or restricted by a given condition or circumstance"

Answer 1

Isn't that kinda like putting a loaded gun on the kitchen table and telling your kids not to play with it?

Answer 2

In Christian theology, "free will" is defined as the ability to make a moral choice, and then receive the consequences that come from that choice.

God did not take away their ability to choose to eat from the tree - they did it. He just warned them that if they ate from the tree there would be consequences for the decision.

If there were no consequences - no results or changes - because of a choice, then there really is no choice. For "free will" to mean anything, the choice has to have some kind of value to it. It has to somehow change the world, or the persons live, or something.

In this case, God was just letting them know, if you eat the fruit the results of that decision will be death. That in no way removed their ability to make a decision on whether or not to eat.

Answer 3

Adam and Eve were not obligated to obey God. That is the free will. Free will is not the same as being able to do anything you want with no consequences. Free will means that there are consequenses to each choice you make and when you choose you accept the consequences. Death was a consequence of the choice. Adam and Eve were given the consequences before they made the choice.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/free
no where in this definition does it say that "free" means no consequences. In fact- please give me an example of a choice that you are free to make that does not have consequences. Even the smallest decision comes with a consequence. You misunderstand the meaning of the expression "free will".

Answer 4

Free will is not defined as a consequence-free environment.

Dictionary.com says that it is "free and independent choice; voluntary decision: You took on the responsibility of your own free will. "

There are consequences to each decision that you make, your problem is you don't like your choices. You remind me of someone who would refuse to climb on the life boat because you are waiting around for better options ... drown or live just aren't enough.

Answer 5

Free will has nothing to do with the options one has because everything has consequences, good or bad. The freedom is in what you decide for yourself. If God didn't offer free will, he would not have given us the choice to do good or bad, he would have prevented us from making the bad choices or made every choice a good one.

Answer 6

I can tell a child "Do not go into the street!" and the child runs into the street. That is free will.

God said "Do not eat off of that tree!" and Eve eats off the tree anyway. That is free will.

We each make our decisions and we each suffer the consequences.

Answer 7

Yes, I can. It was there all the time. In a Garden that was perpetual, filled with every kind of tree that was good for fruit that you could ever imagine, there was one, and only one, Tree of KOGE. There was also the Tree of Life in the Garden, and they were not forbidden to eat of it. They could "eat freely" (Note the word freely) of EVERY tree in the Garden except one tree. Utilizing their free will, with all the vast selection set out before them, they chose to eat of the one tree that was forbidden. Their free will was as every man's free will is: the choice to serve God, or not to serve God. They CHOSE not to.

Answer 8

Your not talking about free will.
Your talking about the freedom to do what you want with no consequences.

For example.. If I am staning on a ledge of a tall building, and them man next to me says
"if you jump off you will die"

I can still jump off the bulding.. him telling me the outcome of my action did not take away my free will to do so.


If GOD says.. "if you eat this fruit.. this will happen"

Adam still have free will to eat the fruit.. he just now knows what will happen if he does.

Your logic thread is not correct in this instance.

Answer 9

Free will is an illusion. Between nature, nurture & God's sovereing will, there's little room left for freedom of the will. Where does it say the Christian God gave us free will?

Answer 10

My friend has a small daughter and he told her not to touch the stove or she'll be burned. The daughter exercised her free will and touched the stove and she was burned. Isn't this a fairly common scenario?