free will

edited December 1969 in Faith Issues
aghaby every one,
in mi bible study class in mi church, wenever we have open disussion, mi frend always brings up this topic:

y does God give us free will?
y does he give us free will even if he nos wat we r gonna do?even if we dont use it wisely. 

and mi answer was alwasy becuz he wnats to test us and.. so on....

but is there more to it.  is there a big explanation.  i juss wanted to no

/
mahareel
plzz p4m sister in Christ

Comments

  • Well first thing we have to take into account is that God made us in His Image, correct? and does He not have a free will? Yes so we are in God's Image and to be in His Image He had to give us free will(not really had to but stay with me on where i'm going). Secondly, He loves us, and wants us to Love Him. the key word here is wants He will not force us to love Him, because he gave us a free will. there is a difference here just because He knows what we will do does not mean he should not give us a free will. would it seem fair if he did not give us a free will but judged us and said if i gave you a free will you will do such and such so you are not worthy of Heaven. He can't do that because He is a Just Judge. and yes he wants to test us as well, He always wants us to chose Him and not force us to Him. hopefully i helped in some way
  • I thikn JYDEACON hit hte nail on the head with his answer.
    just to add a simple note i heard in a sermon once
    taht God loved us so much taht he gave us free will compared to the angels who were created to worship him, thus placing us at a possible higer rank then His Holy Angels ONLY IF WE CHOOSE TO FOLLOW HIM
  • Dear Mahraeel,

    Why would God want robots? If we had not choice but to love Him we would, effectively, be robots.

    He is our Heavenly Father, we are His children, and He loves us; we have the choice to love Him back; but that word choice is the crucial one.

    Moreover, if, through our love for Him, we follow His way, we grow in Him, and He is us, and we have a fuller life. Equally, we can turn aside and think we know it all. That makes Him sad - but like any loving Father, He gives us the choice.

    In Christ,

    Anglian
  • Can God choose to make us in His image, and yet refrain us from sharing the ability of choices? It is like producing a movie that will never be screened. Futile and absurd. Can we value something when that is all you are exposed to? If we did not see death, would we treasure life? If bitter envy had not been felt, would we not appreciate the love of our friends?

    I know many people who ask if He already knows, then why let doesn't He just get it over with and judge us already.

    God knows what will happen because to Him it already happened, owing to the fact that He is timeless. Without it happening, it will not happen and it hasn't happened in His knowledge. We are who we are because of the choices we make. If God is going to judge us on the choices we will make, then where is the justice in that? If we are the summation of our choices and experience, then may I ask who should He be judging- the one before Him, or the one who would be before Him? Can we live a consequence of an action that never took place?
  • [coptic]+ Iryny nem `hmot>[/coptic]

    To echo what John said, God wants children, not pets.  He wants children to share in His kingdom and to be heirs.  He wants children to share in the knowledge of Him and His love.  Pets cannot do that.  They possess no free will (I'm sure there are others who may object), but respond to stimuli as a result of instinct.  God wants us to freely share in His kingdom, to freely know Him and to freely love Him.  How can we freely do any of that without choice?  How can we make that choice if we have no will to choose?  Just some food for thought.
  • WOW! Great points guys!

    I also just wanted to add something..
    Would you rather a parent who taught you what to do, or who made you do it. Would you rather a parent that allows you to make your own decisions, or tie you down to a chair and lock you in your room.

    I think the answer is obvious. Though sometimes, we feel so out-of-control that we no longer want to be able to control anything... we want someone else to make us do what's right. For example, some of us [ME!] like teachers who MAKE us do our work and punish us if we dont.. rather than the easy going ones who say, if you want to do it, do it. if you don't, you'll fail.

    Though it may seem otherwise, Our Lord has given us a healthy balance to live by. Yes, we can make our own choices, but when we ask, He interferres, and He takes over. He makes the impossible, possible, and the undoable [<- i dont think that's a word] done.

    :)
    something else to think about:
    If we don't have free will, what would life be? a whole lot of robots running around? and if there is no life, we would cease to exist. Life is free will.

    PS: PETS DO HAVE FREE WILL. Like us, they make choices.. I don't know about you, but my dogz got personality!! They do what they feel like, lol.
  • heyy u guys thank u soooo much u rely answered mi question.  none of mi teachs explained that ways.  that was awesome.  May God bless u!!

    of course iuf anyone stil wants to post go on ahead!

    /
    mahareel
    plzz p4m sister in Christ
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