Why does God believe in free will?

Answer 1

If the Bible is the word of God, then I'm not sure that he does believe in free will.

Some assert that man has free will. Some assert that all is determined. Some say that free will can co-exist with determinism. The debate has raged, unabated, for 1700 years.

Clearly, an intervening or interceding God presents problems for free will. However, a cosmic God – a Creator who does not intervene in human affairs – can be compatible with free will. This is because the human and cosmic realms are separate. Consciousness (mind) introduces capricious and unpredictable acts and relationships outside the causal chain-reaction of the physical world.

At least, that's my humble opinion. However, I just happen to have done some research on this very subject . . .

Despite the fact that most Christian denominations teach free will, the Bible itself is rife with determinism and predestination. Although there are many verses consistent with free will, they are far outweighed by deterministic verses. Here are just a few examples (for brevity, just the verses are listed) that clearly state that God determines who is going to heaven or hell and that there’s nothing you can do about it:

Acts 13:48
Romans 8:29-30
2 Timothy 1:9
Ephesians 1:4-5
2 Thessalonians 2:11-13
Jude 4
Romans 9:11-22

Even the Lord’s Prayer contains 2 instances of determinism:

1.) Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done. On earth as it is in heaven.
2.) And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.

In an effort to discover why the Bible is so inconsistent on this issue, I tried many Google searches, using many keywords. I couldn’t find dates for the concept of free will but I did find references to those who developed the concept. It appears that the concept of free will stems from the concept of freedom and that it grew very slowly, taking centuries to mature into a formal doctrine.

From the 4th century to the 2nd century B.C., the seeds of free will were being planted. Plato had a concept of rational governance which flirted with but skirted the concept of free will. Aristotle added an element of voluntary action but still skirted free will. The first, primitive, form of free will appears to arise with Epicurus, around 300 B.C. Determinism did not mesh with his observations. He diverged from the strictly deterministic Atomists of his day by claiming that atoms do not move in a pre-determined way. Making the motion of atoms random allowed him to break the perpetual causal chain of events kick-started by the Prime Mover. This opened the door for his assertion that man has free will.

It’s hard to understand how the ramifications of free will would take centuries to reveal themselves to our ancient philosophers. With the introduction of Christianity and its morality, particularly after it became the state religion (Roman Catholic Church) of the Roman Empire in 326 A.D., the development of free will was given a boost. Free will matured into doctrine, thanks largely to St. Augustine. He began advocating free will, around 400 A.D, to promote good works and responsibility for our own actions.

That’s 700 to 800 years of free will as a fuzzy, immature concept! It’s hard to imagine when we now take free will for granted.

The Old Testament was sealed about 200 B.C. (others claim it was sealed between 500 and 100 B.C.) and the New Testament was written between 45 A.D. and 140 A.D. This means that the concept (much less doctrine!) of free will didn’t even exist in the region while the Old Testament was written and was, at best, a primitive and fuzzy concept when the New Testament was written. Free will still hadn’t been fleshed out when the Roman Catholic Church was created in 326 A.D.

So it appears that the Bible is so inconsistent with the application of free will because a formal concept of free will wasn’t available to the Bible authors. The authors lived in a deterministic world, so that’s the way they wrote.

Answer 2

He does not believe in Free Will, He just gave it to people.

If there is no Free Will, then upon what basis do Judgment, God's Plan to save, and the concept of Love rest upon?

A computer can be programmed, but it the instrument with no free will cannot be judged, related to me in a human way, or show love.

Answer 3

The Bible says that God is love, meaning His first and foremost personality trait is love. Love does not want to control people against their will, but only wants those who come willingly. If we did not have free will, we would be like robots and unnable to have a real relationship with Him.

Answer 4

Think about it. If we didn't have free will, would we ever have developed a sense of "self"? I don't think so. Without free will we would identify ourselves to be an inseparable part of whatever is controlling us.

So it's in the structure of the universe. To "experience" ourselves we need free will.

Answer 5

God, in the religious sense, wouldn't believe in anything as HE is the subject of belief!

Answer 6

Is that a problem.?How many of us want to be forced into something we dont want to do or dont like or even hate.God lets us decide if we want to live our lives by his standards or not, but he also warns us of the consequences if we dont listen to his advice, adam and eve were given free-will, and look how it turned out for the rest of us.?..They did not listen to god even though they had free will...to understand his logic.They just wanted to be independent, and they did not want to be guided on how to live a happy perfect...trouble free existence, they thought they could govern themselves and do a better job than god.

Answer 7

Because the concept of 'God' was created by man, and when they run out of the all loving all powerful argument they can put bad things down to the 'will of man.'
Good cop out!

Answer 8

God believes in free will because it is the epitome of True Love.

Answer 9

These are all man made stories to fool people.God does not
exists.God is a delusion.I believe that if God was there he can not be that cruel to his own children he created.

Answer 10

Because he wants his followers to believe in him by obeying him. And if they don't, then they won't obey, and that's their choice. It should be. IT's more powerful that way. It's like giving ur kid a choice to do something or making them do it. If they chose the right way, u know they want to do it, and they're doing it because they feel it's right. But if u make 'em do it, ur forcing them, and they do it to appease u, or out of fear. That's not the kind of fear and appeasing our Lord wants from His kids...so he gave us free will...damn the consequences.