Christians: how do the Egyptian plagues NOT conflict with your concept of "free will"?

Question

the same goes for all the times that your god did something to help his people in the bible....So? Free Will or NOT?

You keep telling us that although we live our lives at pleasure, we'll have to respond to God in the end of times, and that all depends of how we make use of our "free will"....

Did the people of Sodom or Gomorrah have the chance to exercise their free will or not (especially the babies living in those cities)?

Answer 1

That was rev.1 god. (Old Testament) He was mean and irrational.

rev.2 god (New Testament) is kind and logical.

rev.3 god will probably bake cookies and have his own talk show.

Answer 2

The Egyptian plagues, and Sodom and Gomorrah, for that matter, don't conflict with my concept of free will at all, but then again I have a different concept of free will.

Free will has to do with the ability to move away from God, never toward him. It's nothing to be desired. "His people" should be another clue, a people that he brought unto himself because left to their own devices, they would never approach him or have that ability. The same with the rest of the world, totally unable to look to God for salvation, therefore if they are left in their sins, you get pharaohs that don't listen, and entire cities that do not care about God and shake their fist at him instead.

Plenty of free will to go around, you just have to look at it in the right way. It's not rocket science.

Answer 3

The old testament was pre-free will. Most Christians take their lessons of free will from the new testament, which has quite a few instances of it.
See, god started off as a very controlling, jealous, present god, defender of his chosen tribe, and a vengeful mountain deity who sought the destruction of his competitors. There's little room for free will in any of that.
Only when he became a distant god of love did the lessons of civility and free will become possible. However, even that's just a glossy cover of misdirection, since the ultimate "choice," to them, is if you accept Jesus as your savior, and if you choose "poorly," you go to hell. So what sort of exercise of free will is that?
Observe this example: "You have complete free will to either buy this stereo or a toaster. I gain a higher commission if you buy the stereo, but feel free to buy the toaster. However, if you buy the toaster, I will f*#*#@ing shoot you in the head." Ask yourself, how many people would buy the toaster, or argue that the above scenario supports free will?
Thus with Christianity; it's a miasma of misdirection - you just focused on the wrong era to prove it.

Answer 4

Freewill:

pharoah let my people go

pharoah used his freewill to say: No, i won't

Moses says My God is angry with you, and wants to give you a sign as to why you should let me go

a famine
a plague of frogs
hailstones
sores
the river nile turning red

all of these fialed to convince pharoah

everytime even after these plagues moses would pop the question and pharoah would say...no


he used freewill despite everything that happened

this is how god works, sins will be paid for

but he gives you a chance and offers you grace first

Noah preached for 120 years for people to get on the ark and be saved

Moses told the pharoah again and agian to let his peole go, and even the resuklting plagues after each warnnig did not convince pharaoh

They refused Grace

so God gave them judgement

sins are paid for, either by Grace and repentance

or by judgement

God judged the egyptians for their sins, he can do this he is God, and can punish sin

The grace was for instead of a person dying for their sins as the wages of sin is death, a sacrifice must be made.

The blood of a lam was used, the lamb was eaten and the blood was sprinkled on the front of the door.

This was also a sign for the angel of death knowing whose sins had been paid for and whose had not

The egytpains had refused the warnings, and of course did not practice this form os sacrifice

they had refused grace

and were judged

and their first born were the penalty for their sins

in short they had broguht death on their children

Answer 5

Thoughout history, God has tried to show people his grace, but we refuse to listen. The Egyptian plagues were so that God could keep his promise of bringing His people back to the land that was promised to them. God also knows the end from the beginning, so he always knows what's best for everyone.

Answer 6

God warned Pharaoh prior to each plague, what would happen if he would not release the Jews from Egypt.

Pharaoh's pride kept him from freeing them. Even KNOWING the hardships that faced his entire nation, Pharaoh chose to exercise his free will by choosing to refuse to release the Jewish slaves of Egypt.

Answer 7

Free Will comes into play when a person has free will to choose believe or not believe...to sin or not...to love or not

The plagues was the result of Egypt doing God's Will....and God wanted His people freed...

Answer 8

Y'know,

It is not the help or harm that YHWH gives (even the plagues) that makes me question the 'free will' issue ...

It is that acording to the bible, Pharoh was going to let Moses and his people after less than the full plagues, but God "Hardened his heart".

What?

So where was the free will in that?

Answer 9

LOLOL, "FREE WILL" is not mentioned in the Bible! If you found it Please tell us where!

You as an "American" have "free will".

You have a "Choice" when dealing (or not) with God. You can take him, or leave him!?
BUT, WHEN YOU DIE< YOU WILL HAVE TO ANSWER TO HIM, We can't change that for you!
But, I tell you what C.S. Lewis was The BIGGEST ATHEIST EVEN KNOWN, & even He gave his life to Christ!
Listen to his audio book "Mere Christianity" or what his movie Narnia! Which is based around judgement and going to Heaven.

See choosing to follow Christ or not follow Christ Isn't like choosing the color of your Dinning room walls.
IF you choose to reject Christ, Do not be all surprised when he Rejects you at your judgemenT!

Answer 10

You're forgetting: some of these people say that miracles would interfere with free will. So.... you're actually expecting any answer they come up with to make sense?