On Sat, 15 Oct 2005 20:02:09 +0200, "Uncle Davey" <noway@jose.com>
wrote:
>
>A participant on www.usenetposts.com/forum asked a riddle, as follows:
>
>> This is what just came to my mind which I would like to discuss with all
>of you:
>
>> Is human will free? If it is not free, then people cannot be held
>responsible for their
>> sins, as they don't have the capacity to abstain from sinning. But if
>human will is
>> free, then God is not all-knowing and almighty, as people might choose to
>behave
>> this way or that.
>
>> Now, what is the solution to this?
>
>
>And my reply was the following:
>
>First you would need to define "free".
>
>There is evidently no freedom to do whatever we like. Otherwise the likes of
>you and me would do nothing but walk around shopping centres all day long
>kissing pretty ladies on the lips with impunity.
>
>There is freedom to make choices between possible alternatives.
>
>When Adam sinned, I understand that he had a genuine choice between
>sinfulness and sinlessness. However , since that time, man has not had
>'becoming sinless in one's own strength' in the feasible region. Adam
>basically did it for us with his sin in the way our parents did it for us
>with all our genetic illnesses and predispositions. We do not blame our
>direct parents, as they are the victims of their parents, but it goes all
>the way back to the beginning of the genetic audit trail.
>
>And that is Adam and Eve to a fundamental Christian. To an evolutionist that
>trail leads them back to an impossible event where a bunch of amino acids
>and a self replicating strand of DNA complex enough to recreate the simplest
>cell somehow come together within a semipermeable membrane. The chances
>against this ever happening being so vanishly small I don't know how many
>universes would need to exist for how many brazillions of years for it ever
>to happen at all. But of course the godless gloss over that aspect of
>evolution, so desparate are they to get away from the idea of a creator who
>may have had some purpose for them and who may call them to account.
>
>However, fortunately, although Adam screwed everything up for us, a Second
>Adam came to rescue us, and this was God in the flesh. Jesus Christ. He had
>the choice to lead the sinless life or the sinful life, as the first Adam
>had, and this time he made the right choice, and then in sacrificial style
>was put to death on behalf of the people of God, which we become by simply
>believing in His death as the only answer to our problem of sin.
>
>And here we do have a choice. I am convinced that we are not free to be free
>of sin - as nobody but Christ has ever done it, and He was and is God
>Almighty. But I do believe that we have a freedom to believe. Science has
>not disproven the existence of God nor the efficicacy of the glorious Gospel
>of salvation by faith in Jesus. Some so-called scientists merely rant on as
>if they had, but when called on it all they have is rhetoric. We can validly
>choose to believe the message of the Bible. We can validly choose to
>disregard our doubts and trust Jesus to forgive us when we repent. And that
>regardless of the fact that through life we will disappoint God again and
>again. But one day, at our resurrection, which Jesus started for us and was
>the first fruits of, we will be placed into a sinless state where we can
>actually be pleasing to God, true children of God, and enjoy his presence
>and love in all eternity.
>
>Jesus himself, the Alpha and Omega, is The Answer to this and every other
>major riddle the world contains.
>
>That's how I would answer your riddle
>
>Best,
>
>Uncle Davey
>www.usenetposts.com
>
>Anyone wishing to comment either here or there is more than welcome.
>
Davey,
Well said. I see you are back in form again.
I would like to zero in this comment which is not logical:
"But if human will is free, then God is not all-knowing and almighty,
as people might choose to behave this way or that."
What a human is or does has no affect on God's will or God's
knowledge. God is God and man is man. Foreknowledge is simply
knowledge that God possesses about what people will do. He knows what
choices they will make before they make them, along with all the
possible options available to the individual making the choice. It is
the love of God that allows man to make and act upon both right and
wrong decisions.
The primary reason that God gave intelligent life free will is simple.
Free will is required to manifest love. No one can love (the verb)
without free will. God is love (the noun) and in order for God to
fulfill His nature he must love (the verb). In order to love there
must be another object to receive the love. Also, God desires to be
loved and to be loved God requires subjects that are capable of
manifesting love. Free will is required for intelligent life to
return or manifest love to God. God knows that man will not love 100%
of the time; but 50% or 40%, or whatever that particular person is
able to generate is appreciated.
BB
http://www.biblebob.net
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