Did God give man "free will" AFTER the incident in the Garden of Eden? If what they did was sinful, why ??

Question

would HE afford everyone the right of "free will," knowing -- since He is all powerful and knowledgeable -- that man and woman, in their infinite sense of selfishness and sin, and in exercising this right of "free will", would disobey Him at their leisure?

Answer 1

"Did God give man 'free will' AFTER the incident in the Garden of Eden?"
No, Adam and Eve were created with free will.

"If what they did was sinful, why ?"
It wasn't so much the eating of the "Fruit" that was sinful (after all, God had given them plenty of other fruit to eat), but that they had disobeyed God. They were risking eternal death by rejecting the only source of eternal life, which is God.

"would HE afford everyone the right of 'free will,' knowing -- since He is all powerful and knowledgeable -- that man and woman, in their infinite sense of selfishness and sin, and in exercising this right of 'free will', would disobey Him at their leisure?"
Yes, because the other side of the coin of free will opposite of "choosing eternal death" is "choosing eternal life". There can be no love or repentance without free will. Without free will, we would no longer be human beings, but just robots.

Answer 2

I think that one of the most awesome attributes of God is his omniscience. The all-knowing thing is really cool because if God gave Adam and Eve the ability to choose in the Garden (which he had to because they choose!), He knew that Christ would be sent into the World to restore balance to the Earth and "crush the head of the serpent."

In His foreknowledge, He also knew that some would accept Him and some would not ... (Rom 8: Whom He foreknew, those He also predestined ... )

and yet, in Romans 9 when the Paul hypothetically questions God's motives in making some vessels for ill use and some for final Glorification, Paul answers himself with a "smack down."

"How can you possibly, as the clay, say to the Potter, 'Why did you make me like this (Rom 9)?'"

I think that it comes down to God foreknowing our decision in free will and choosing us to be part of the Elect. The Elect status as described in Romans 8 then is based not only on God's knowledge and election but also on our free will.

A unique combination ... I think that Armenianism and Calvanism both, although diametrically opposed, have part of it right. God cannot NOT know but He doesn't tell us what He knows (except for through the Scripture.)

Answer 3

In Genesis 2:9, The name of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil implies that evil had already occurred, if not in the garden, then at the time of Satan's fall.

God created Adam and Eve and wanted them to obey, but gave them freedom to choose. I would think free will was given at the time they were created and not afterwards.

Without choice, Adam would have been a prisoner and his obedience would have been hollow. The trees provide an exercise of choice, with rewards for obedience and sad consequences for choosing to disobey.

In your question, you are still trying to think like God and you can't.

Answer 4

disobeying the commandment regarding the tree in the middle of the garden had to have been free will.
Otherwise, they did not choose to disobey, and therefore, did not sin.
The choice they made was this: to decide for themselves what is good and bad, and to reject God's sovereignty to decide for them what is good and what is bad.
God, in his fairness, has allowed all time since then, for humans to prove once and for all, whether or not they had the ability to rule themselves.
Most often, this point remains unknown, and people wrongly conclude that it is God's fault for all the suffering he allows, because the first humans chose to live without his guidance, and his intercession.
Yes that is right, if the first pair had not rebelled, God would always have intervened on our behalf, so that there would be no such things as devastating natural disaster, nor any illness that would do any harm to mankind.

Answer 5

In the beginning he made the choices and everything was good. My opinion is that this decision was to make everyone see that you will live a better life if you do what God says and not what you want. Because he know better what is good for us and that is not always what we want. But if you were not presented with choices you would not have questions and would not think of anything in any other way except what you live or see. In the end I think it is a test of loyalty who will follow my guidance and who will do as they will. The loyal ones will live better in the end and the others will be weeded out. That is just a personal opinon or one way of looking at it.

Answer 6

No, He didn't. The incident was the RESULT of free will, even though God knew what would happen ahead of time.

When you tell your 3 year old not to get into the cookies, is it really a stretch to figure out what's going to happen when you leave the room?

Answer 7

We've always had free will. If we didn't then we probably never would have screwed up in the first place and gotten kicked out of the Garden of Eden.

Answer 8

Even Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden had free will. They choose to eat of the tree that they were told not to. They made chose. He gave us free will, because He wants us to chose to follow Him, not be forced. Forced isn't faith. Trust is faith.

Answer 9

Humans and Jinns (Ghosts) are the only creations of God whom He has given 'free will' to test how they will use their free will. God has imbeded in every human being in hisher mind about what is good and what is bad. Whether he follows a religion or not, he always knows if his actions are wrong or right even if he never gets directions of any religion. For example he was born and lived in a jungle of Amazon or in an African tribe all his life. He will be judged based on whether he lived with the rules told to him by the elders of his tribe.

God has arranged guidance to most human beings living as a society by sending them Messengers and divine books. If he uses his free will and commits crimes, he knows he is doing wrong and will be punished for his actions on the Day of Judgment unless he straightens himself before his death.

Adam and Eve disobeyed God. Yes it was a sin. But when they realized, they did repent and begged God for forgivenss and God did forgive them. As Christians believe that every child carries sin of his parents because of disobedience of Adam and Eve, is wrong belief. Islam says all children are born innocent and pure from sins. No one is responsible for the sin of Adam and Eve or his/her own parents. We all are responsible for only wrong things we do ourselves. God forgives every one if He/she repent and begs God for forgiveness and stop making a habit of committing sins on a regular basis and tries to live his/her life accordings to the teachings of God.

Answer 10

All people get freewil at birth. Yes, God knew disobedience and rebelliousness was inevitable. All parents know it about their kids much the same way. All kids rebel against their parents some way or other at some time or other in their lives. See what I mean?