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Post by Greatestiam on Feb 23, 2012 15:18:36 GMT
Do commandments and threats negate free will? Christians think that God gave man free will. There is no question in my mind that we have free will. I think it natural. I believe that free will is something that we take and not something that can be given. Freedom is a natural part of human existence and can only be given to us if it is being forcibly restrained. When my children chose to exercise their freedom or free will from the restrictions in our home and moved to their own, any right to control their actions was shifted from my hands to theirs. In effect I did not give them that freedom. They took it. Just as you did when you left your parental care and control. I lost the right to impose my standards on them as well as the right to reward or punish them for what they do in their homes. God also gives mankind all kinds of commands. We are also told that if these commands are not followed, we will be severely punished. This includes loving and adoring him. To Christians then, God gave us freedom or free will yet kept the right to reward and punish. If we compare that to the reality of life with most families, it seems that God did not give anyone free will. Instead he gives command and basically says to follow them or be punished. Do commands and threats negate your idea of what free will is? Regards DL www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUtSM2oVy_Ewww.youtube.com/watch?v=pg5UNxOmTIY
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peg
Newbie
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Post by peg on Aug 19, 2012 1:35:52 GMT
Hi,
I can see where you are going with this, but perhaps you need to consider that when we bring up our children, we teach them all sorts of general rules of life. We teach our kids not to swear, not to hurt others, not to steal ect. While they are in our care, we expect them to live by the houserules... but even when they leave home, we still expect them to live by the general rules that we brought them up with.
So if you adult child leaves home and suddenly decides to become a theif, then that is obviously not going to make you happy because you have brought them up to be honest. So its going to invoke some sort of displeasure on your part.
Its similar with God. He gives us free will to live our lives and make our own decisions, but he expects our decisions to be governed by moral principles and standards.
Can you imagine if people who drove on the road did not drive in harmony with the principles of safe road use? Would you be happy knowing that anyone can drive however they choose and ignore all the road signs and red lights and stop signs? Im sure you wouldnt. They are there to protect everyone from harm. Gods laws are no different. They are there for our protection and if we live in harmony with them, we will be benefited. But if we misuse our freewill, we will be causing harm to ourselves and others and God I(like any good parent) cannot sit back and allow that to happen.
So really, free will is not a green light to do whatever we want. It comes with limits and responsibility and we must act responsibly within the limits of freewill.
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