Is there a relationship between free will and the tree of good and evil in the garden of Eden?

Question

Seed; there is actually a scripture that supports your comment:

1Timothy 2:14 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.

Abigal; Thank you! At last someone said the truth plainly. If we follow the Creator God we are slaves to Him, if we do not we are slaves to sin and Satan! There is no free will, we are slaves to either one or the other>

CMW, Abigal did say "give" yes, that is technically correct. Please see Hope's answer to one of the other free will questions. BTW: I don't think I have given you any thumbs down on this subject.....yet. If I did I wouldn't be able to see your additiional comments, which I am enjoying, believe it or not. However, some sections of scripture for you to consider: Isaiah 6:9-10
Matthew 13:13-15
God is not allowing these people to come to the truth.
Romans 11:7; 2Corinthians 3:14; 2 Corinthians 4:4
If God has blinded someone then they have no free will to make up their own minds.
Isaiah 29:16; 64:8; Jeremiah 18:4-6; Romans 9:21 Each and every one of us is made for a purpose by God. Judas's (sp?) betrayal of Christ was something foretold, Jonah did not want to do what God wanted, Christ was predestined before the foundation of this age, Showing that God had surrendered the world to Satan's influence, Christ is our ransom for us to stop doing Satan's will.

CMW: Hope, in her answer to the other free will question was absoutely right when she said that nothing involved in our salvation has anything to do with us. God calls us, opens our minds, draws us to Christ, brings us into obedience of His Torah, gives us the hope and faith that justifies us, and give us eternal life as a GIFT. If it is something that we chose by our "free will", then it is not a gift. Just what do we bring to the table? A sinful nature that, for all our lives had been subject to the evil, sinful desires that come from Satan. God cleans us of all of that.
This a real trap that all of us who sincerely believe that God's Torah instructions are binding on all mankind, that we have somehow, thru our own free will, chosen to obey God. We have not, God has chosen us to obey Him. Abigal, again, totally hit the nail on the head, we were slaves to Satan and now we are bondservants (still slaves) to the Almighty. We had no free will before, and none after.

DC; God did not step in and stop it because, as far as I can tell, Adam was the only man created with free will, and even then it was limited (You shall not eat of the tree of good and evil). After that rebellious act of free will, God bound mankind over to the rule of Satan and we have been doing Satan's will (rebelling against God) ever since.

Hope's answer: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AhnmdPgviDDMuuQZ6bV49hfsy6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20071206093026AAFkIMQ

Seed: Sorry I left that word "knowldege" out, should know better.

Ernst, my new-found friend, please read Ephesians 2, especially verses 4-10.

And yes, if we are slaves to Christ we have no will of our own, but He is going to work His will in us.

CMW: If your last edit is true, then why did you keep coming back to the question?

CMW: And by the way, you constantly, by your answers, seek to instruct. BE HONEST.

Answer 1

There was one law, & this was the owners right to say
do not eat of the Tree of good & evil. God is the owner, we broke the law, now we actually have no free will if we think
about it. We are slaves to the devil unless we give our lives
to YHWH(God) & Yeshua & become His bondservant.

Answer 2

Take note that Abigail said "give" - an active verb. To give or not is a choice.

God does not tell us to choose wisely if we have no choice.

Joshua 24:15 But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD. ... Why say he chose, if it's impossible to choose?

[I know, you'll give me thumbs down. It's okay.]

EDIT: I had put a fairly long comment here, but I've removed it. There is no point. I don't come here to instruct or **be instructed.** I leave that to scholarly theologians, not Yahoo Answers. When I answer a question, I expect the asker to agree or disagree with me - either is fine. If I want an argument, I'll post a question. This is meant to be an **exchange** of ideas, not a place to correct others.

Abigail agrees with you, so you pointed that out. I was curious, so read some other answers. I particularly like this one: "Let them go to hell their own way." Aside from the love there, it implies that they HAD A CHOICE. Or this one, "If we choose to accept a Jewish Messiah." Choosing? Oh, my! Not that! :-)

The one thing that I am 100% sure of is that any person who claims they know **THE truth** does not. At this forum, we have hundreds of people, all of whom differ and all of whom are right. What an awful witness all that rightness is.

Go in peace, Ranger.

END

Answer 3

God gave us free will because he wanted friends to serve him and accept his love.....not robots obeying every command

With free will comes the possibility that they will not love the one that loves them most......will not obey the one that is righteous......will not make the choice that is best for joyful living.



The tree of good and evil was not there to tempt them .....it was there to let them see beauty (it was desirable). They chose to go beyond the blessing God intended and pursue what they "thought" would make them happy.

Most today know right from wrong but will take the sinful path because it is easier and has quick (although brief) satisfaction.

Abigali....if we are slaves to Satan unless we accept God.....how can we choose to accept God......who makes the choice for us if we have no free will

Answer 4

Saying that "they chose wrong" is like saying that YOU would not have been so stupid. I believe every one of us would have eaten that fruit. And some try to let Adam off the hook, because Eve gave him the fruit, claiming he did not know where it came from -- i don't believe that either.

And it was the tree of the KNOWLEDGE of good and evil. It was the tree of discernment, judgment if You will. It bestowed the ability to know right from wrong.

Answer 5

GOD IS ALL KNOWING BUT HE DOES NOT KNOW THE CHOICES A PERSON WILL MAKE.
HERE IS THE BEST EXAMPLE OF THIS:
Ge 22:10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.
Ge 22:11 And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.
Ge 22:12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.
SEE GOD SAID ( FOR NOW I KNOW THAT THOU FEAREST GOD ) GOD DID NOT KNOW THAT ABRAHAM WOULD GO ALL THE WAY.

with that said, to be a slave is to not have free will,

Answer 6

Yes. Freewill is the power to choose. The Tree of Knowledge was a representation of a choice to be made.

Answer 7

Yes, Adam and Eve had the free will to eat or not to eat the fruit. They choose wrong.

Answer 8

If the was no free will , why did God not step in and stop it ?