Article by: Kenneth J. Ester
Free Will
It is arguably the most important thing God instilled upon us when he made man and woman. Free will gives us the choice of how we live our lives. Who and what we believe is up to us because of it. Who we love and in some sad cases, hate, is in our own hands.
Just imagine this world if God had not given us free will. We would be robots. Prisoners of the world he placed us in, unable to make our own decisions. Unable to be responsible for our own actions. We could not blame anyone for any crime they commit because it would not be their fault. They had to do it because they don't have free will. We would be toy dolls that God plays with, only moving when he decides to move us and only going where he decides. That's not what God wanted of us. We were not to be his toys. So he gave us free will.
We have the choice to love and hate, play or work, lie or speak the truth. We choose what kind of work we want to do, what sports or games or movies we like. We can choose who our friends are. Everything about our lives is based upon free will.
Unfortunately the bad comes with the good. We can choose to be prejudice, hateful, violent and deceitful. We can choose to hurt, maim and kill. Jefferey Dahmer, Charles Manson, the Unabomber, they all acted upon free will.
It is one of the most common arguments made by atheists and agnostics. Why would a God allow such horrible things to happen? The answer is because he has to. If he did not allow such things to happen, he would not be allowing us to have free will. Then you would not be able to enjoy the things you like because we do not have free will.
There is a thing called consequences. Everything we do has a consequence. If I refuse to fill my gas tank, the consequence will be for my car to run out of gas. If I drink and drive, the consequence could be that I make it home safely, or I could kill someone on my way home, or I could get pulled over and go to jail and lose my license. Even the most minute things have consequences. Dragging a pen across paper may cause the pen to draw a line if there is ink in the pen. Some consequences are never noticed. If I chose to go to a fast food restaurant on my way home, the person who comes in after me will be delayed a little longer. They may go home afterwards and nothing happens or they may get in an accident. If I don't go, their timing will be different and they may miss that moment they would get into an accident or that quicker time to get back out on the road may be what puts them in that wrong place at the wrong time. Everything we do has consequences of some sort.
So God gave to us, free will, and thus allows us to make our own decisions. We can choose whether to love or hate. We choose whether to trust or distrust. We choose whether to believe in God or not. Unfortunately there are times where someone uses free will to do something horrible. A man may decide to walk into a school and kill innocent children. It is a despicable crime and one that should never happen, but because there is free will, the possibility of something like that happening is real. It is one of the worst consequences of free will.
What many don't understand is there are also consequences to those children dying. God has placed a protection on children. Every child under the age of understanding, is protected and will go to heaven. Every child that dies goes to heaven because they are not old enough to fully understand what it means that Jesus has died for us so that we may be forgiven for our sins and go to heaven. Many of those children would have grown up to not believe in God. Many of those children would have grown to adulthood and died sinners and ended up in hell for all eternity. Because they died as children, they will spend all of eternity in paradise.
There are other consequences to those children dying. There are family members and friends, and people watching the news who will see things differently because of this horrible event. Often a death to one is the reason another turns to God. If a child dies and goes to heaven, and their death leads to an adult turning to Jesus and going to Heaven as well, that is two souls being saved where if the child grows and ends up in hell, neither of them might have made it to Heaven. Then what about the people that adult might turn to God? Every person who is Saved will be a result of that child dying. I know its not easy to see any good coming out of the death of a child, but that is because humans tend to look at things through human eyes and minds. God knows that an eternity in Heaven is far more important than a few years in this world.
Free will is a very powerful thing and can have many consequences. Some good and some bad. But it is one of the very most important things God has given to us. It is the basis of who we are. It is the reason God placed a part of himself on Earth as his Son Jesus and he died on the cross for us. Without free will, there would have been no need for Jesus to come to us, to die on the cross or to rise from the dead. Without it, there would be no crime and terrible events, but there would also be no love, or happiness, or fun. We would be toy dolls for God to play with and nothing more.
When God gave us life, he didn't choose to only give us life, but to give us "a life", by giving us free will. If God had not given to us free will, we would be alive, but we would not have lives of our own to live.
Unfortunately, there is another down side to having free will. We have the choice to believe or not believe in God and how far we will go to deny God exists. Many who do not believe in God would argue that this is a good thing, but it is only a good thing if he did not exist. If God does exist, the only thing this accomplishes is to deny our own eternal lives in paradise and instead spend it in hell.
God had to weight the consequences of both of his choices. He could give us free will, and therefore allow us to laugh, love and desire, but it would also allow us to hate, hurt and destroy. Or he could make us puppets with no desire, no joy or no hope, but we would never suffer either. There is another thing Free Will allows us to do that may be the most important yet. Praise. God wants us to praise his name. To worship him. How much would praise and worship mean if it didn't come with real feelings and affection? God weighed the options and chose to give us Free Will.
When I look at my wife and know how much I love her, I am glad for that free will. When I see my Granddaughter laugh when I tell her a joke, I am glad for that free will. I am glad to be able to love my family, enjoy good movies and Praise God's name. I am sorry for those who suffer. I have suffered in life. I feel for those who lose loved ones. I cry for those who are hurting. I am also glad I can care about those who are suffering because God gave me free will.
I know it sucks to see the horrible things happen in this world. It sucks that the bad has to come with the good. Its easy to want God to give us only the good and not the bad. The thing we need to recognize is God has done just that. It is a place called Heaven. And because God gave us free will, and sent his Son to die for us, He has given us a way to enter Heaven. Unfortunately we must use free will to decide whether we will follow Jesus and go to Heaven, or turn away from him and be denied entrance. But it wont be God sending us to hell if we choose not to follow Jesus. It will be us, using free will, making the choice.
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Just imagine this world if God had not given us free will. We would be robots. Prisoners of the world he placed us in, unable to make our own decisions. Unable to be responsible for our own actions. We could not blame anyone for any crime they commit because it would not be their fault. They had to do it because they don't have free will. We would be toy dolls that God plays with, only moving when he decides to move us and only going where he decides. That's not what God wanted of us. We were not to be his toys. So he gave us free will.
We have the choice to love and hate, play or work, lie or speak the truth. We choose what kind of work we want to do, what sports or games or movies we like. We can choose who our friends are. Everything about our lives is based upon free will.
Unfortunately the bad comes with the good. We can choose to be prejudice, hateful, violent and deceitful. We can choose to hurt, maim and kill. Jefferey Dahmer, Charles Manson, the Unabomber, they all acted upon free will.
It is one of the most common arguments made by atheists and agnostics. Why would a God allow such horrible things to happen? The answer is because he has to. If he did not allow such things to happen, he would not be allowing us to have free will. Then you would not be able to enjoy the things you like because we do not have free will.
There is a thing called consequences. Everything we do has a consequence. If I refuse to fill my gas tank, the consequence will be for my car to run out of gas. If I drink and drive, the consequence could be that I make it home safely, or I could kill someone on my way home, or I could get pulled over and go to jail and lose my license. Even the most minute things have consequences. Dragging a pen across paper may cause the pen to draw a line if there is ink in the pen. Some consequences are never noticed. If I chose to go to a fast food restaurant on my way home, the person who comes in after me will be delayed a little longer. They may go home afterwards and nothing happens or they may get in an accident. If I don't go, their timing will be different and they may miss that moment they would get into an accident or that quicker time to get back out on the road may be what puts them in that wrong place at the wrong time. Everything we do has consequences of some sort.
So God gave to us, free will, and thus allows us to make our own decisions. We can choose whether to love or hate. We choose whether to trust or distrust. We choose whether to believe in God or not. Unfortunately there are times where someone uses free will to do something horrible. A man may decide to walk into a school and kill innocent children. It is a despicable crime and one that should never happen, but because there is free will, the possibility of something like that happening is real. It is one of the worst consequences of free will.
What many don't understand is there are also consequences to those children dying. God has placed a protection on children. Every child under the age of understanding, is protected and will go to heaven. Every child that dies goes to heaven because they are not old enough to fully understand what it means that Jesus has died for us so that we may be forgiven for our sins and go to heaven. Many of those children would have grown up to not believe in God. Many of those children would have grown to adulthood and died sinners and ended up in hell for all eternity. Because they died as children, they will spend all of eternity in paradise.
There are other consequences to those children dying. There are family members and friends, and people watching the news who will see things differently because of this horrible event. Often a death to one is the reason another turns to God. If a child dies and goes to heaven, and their death leads to an adult turning to Jesus and going to Heaven as well, that is two souls being saved where if the child grows and ends up in hell, neither of them might have made it to Heaven. Then what about the people that adult might turn to God? Every person who is Saved will be a result of that child dying. I know its not easy to see any good coming out of the death of a child, but that is because humans tend to look at things through human eyes and minds. God knows that an eternity in Heaven is far more important than a few years in this world.
Free will is a very powerful thing and can have many consequences. Some good and some bad. But it is one of the very most important things God has given to us. It is the basis of who we are. It is the reason God placed a part of himself on Earth as his Son Jesus and he died on the cross for us. Without free will, there would have been no need for Jesus to come to us, to die on the cross or to rise from the dead. Without it, there would be no crime and terrible events, but there would also be no love, or happiness, or fun. We would be toy dolls for God to play with and nothing more.
When God gave us life, he didn't choose to only give us life, but to give us "a life", by giving us free will. If God had not given to us free will, we would be alive, but we would not have lives of our own to live.
Unfortunately, there is another down side to having free will. We have the choice to believe or not believe in God and how far we will go to deny God exists. Many who do not believe in God would argue that this is a good thing, but it is only a good thing if he did not exist. If God does exist, the only thing this accomplishes is to deny our own eternal lives in paradise and instead spend it in hell.
God had to weight the consequences of both of his choices. He could give us free will, and therefore allow us to laugh, love and desire, but it would also allow us to hate, hurt and destroy. Or he could make us puppets with no desire, no joy or no hope, but we would never suffer either. There is another thing Free Will allows us to do that may be the most important yet. Praise. God wants us to praise his name. To worship him. How much would praise and worship mean if it didn't come with real feelings and affection? God weighed the options and chose to give us Free Will.
When I look at my wife and know how much I love her, I am glad for that free will. When I see my Granddaughter laugh when I tell her a joke, I am glad for that free will. I am glad to be able to love my family, enjoy good movies and Praise God's name. I am sorry for those who suffer. I have suffered in life. I feel for those who lose loved ones. I cry for those who are hurting. I am also glad I can care about those who are suffering because God gave me free will.
I know it sucks to see the horrible things happen in this world. It sucks that the bad has to come with the good. Its easy to want God to give us only the good and not the bad. The thing we need to recognize is God has done just that. It is a place called Heaven. And because God gave us free will, and sent his Son to die for us, He has given us a way to enter Heaven. Unfortunately we must use free will to decide whether we will follow Jesus and go to Heaven, or turn away from him and be denied entrance. But it wont be God sending us to hell if we choose not to follow Jesus. It will be us, using free will, making the choice.
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