Board index ‹ Free Will

[Turd Burglar]

Is that even in the Bible or is that something ppl have said and attached to Christianity?

[jimwalton]

Yes, we truly have free will and yes, it's in the Bible. Without having to go too far,

• If they are going to work and care for the garden, decisions would have to be made.
• Gn. 2.16, God tells them they are "free" to eat from whichever trees they want, implying choice, but not from the one particular tree, indicating they have a choice to make.
• To name the animals (Gn. 2.19) requires the ability to think and make decisions.

So right off the top we can see that humans have free will and are expected to use it. If humans are made in the image of God, as Gn. 1.26-28 claims, and if God has free will, then humans also have free will. If God is non-determined, then people are non-determined. The Bible is clear that people can choose to obey the commandment of God and love Him, or to revolt against Him. Francis Schaeffer says, "To ask that man should have been made so that he was not able to revolt is to ask that God's creation should have ceased after He created plants and animals. It is to ask that man should be reduced to machine programming. It is to ask that man should not exist."

[Turd Burglar]

Thanks