Did GOD really give us FREE WILL or did LUCIFER?
414692
Lucifer did not cause Eve to eat the fruit.  She chose to eat the fruit herself.  Satan lied to Eve and misquoted what God had told Adam and Eve about eating the fruit.  She just blamed it on the serpent (Satan).  Then Adam blamed Eve (the woman Thou gavest me Lord).  Not one took credit for the action that they had just done.  Many scholars believe that Adam loved Eve so much he ate of the fruit so that he wouldn't be without her.  \n\nIf you read the passages in context, you will see that Satan misquoted what God had told Adam and Eve about the fruit.
567751
our creator is the one and only God. he gave us free will because he loves us. the devil tricks us into committing sins, we are not forced.
1136370
Assuming for the sake of argument that the Christian mythology is true, of course it's not a fair judging. Just because God is more powerful than we are and made us doesn't automatically give him the right to tell me what to do. Granting us free will is philosophically identical to granting us control over our own being. It's irrelevant that he made us. It's just like the government, just because it's big and has all the guns doesn't give it any actual authority over us other than what it takes by force (in God's case, threats of hell).
648965
We have free will.  God lives outside of time; or more accurately, God is the eternal "I AM" or the eternal 'now'...  Right now at every point in history, God is.  He knows what we will choose, yet the choice is always ours.
914807
Yes. Flooding the world to destroy the evils of humanity would infringe on free will. There is no true free will in Christianity. It is only a term they throw around to convince themselves that their choice is based on something other than fear of an unlikely punishment.\n\nEven if Noah and his family were good people, while every other person in the world was evil, if god gave humans free will, then they had the freedom to choose evil. If you give someone a choice, you need to be prepared for the possibility that they will not choose what you wanted them to. If you give someone a choice, knowing that they will not choose the "right" answer and having a punishment in store for them in just that case, then you have set them up and are denying them free will. It is the spiritual equivalent of entrapment.
57586
God allows things to happen, but he still hurts for us when me make poor choices and he is always there for us.  We have free will.  If we did not have free will, we would be like robots.  God gave us forgiveness through his son Jesus.  I am praying for you right now, that your you will learn from your mistakes (and that we all will) and that you will call up God to hold you through the pain.
259091
Because it is not necessarily God's will. He created us all and gave us all free will. Also, Satan is the one who is in charge of the bad things that are happening to us all! But, I think that God can(and does) use some bad things that happen to us and he turns them into a test...I think that it is mostly a test of faith. Hope this helps!
346012
By God's own account of it all Lucifer was guilty of was looking for a little democracy. Then God unleashed is "Shock and Awe" all over Lucifer's *ss and found out that the D man had no weapons of mass destruction at all.\n\nOff to Guantanamo with no trial and a sentence of all eternity for Lucifer.\n\nSeems a little harsh for the God that loves everything doesn't it?
1077403
I'm not sure how I'm gonna answer this, but here goes.\nLet's see: God created Lucifer (now known as Satan) as His second in command. Lucifer then saw how much better than all the other angels he was and thought to himself, "If I'm so much better than them, why can't I be better than God himself?" No one knows where this thought came from, seeing how God only makes perfect creations. The only logical place that it could have came from is freedom of choice that God gave them when He created the Angels. This freedom also explains why 1/3 of the Angels chose to follow Lucifer in his rebellion against God. After Lucifer and his demons (fallen angels) were cast out of Heaven, God seperated His angels so far away from Lucifer's that the demons know that they can never get back. Lucifer is free to come and go as he pleases in God's throneroom (as evidenced in the first chapter of Job), but he can never return to what he once was. This fact has angered him so much over the millenia that he's esentially declared war on humanity, God's most prized creation. The first battle in this war was waged on the day of Adam and Eve's temptation and fall away from God when Satan successfully decieved them to eat of the tree that God explicitly said not to eat from. The victory was prophesied not even a day later when the Spirit of the Lord walked through the Garden looking for Adam and Eve to felowship with them as He normally did, only to find them hiding from them, dressed in fig leaves. God asked them why they were ashamed of themselves, and then they went through the whole "it's his/her fault" routine, blaming each other for what one did. When the truth finally did come out (not like God didn't already know), God pronounced consequences on humanity (a series of hardships which can be read in Genesis 3), and cursed the serpent (as this was the creature Satan used to decieve Adam and Eve). The curse on the serpent also held hope for the redemption of Mankind, as it fortold of the defeat of Satan through the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The war was over before it begun! \n\nSo, to answer your question: Yes, Satan invented the concept of sin. He then successfully marketed this concept to himself, his demons, and ultimately to humanity. He even tried to get Jesus to sin, but since Jesus is God in the flesh (and God is perfect), he couldn't do it. Jesus was the only man who ever lived here on earth that lead a perfect life, one completely without sinning.
879252
He knows what's going to happen no matter what we do. We have the free will to choose Him or to not, and to choose anything else or to not. He knows what we're going to choose or what we're going to do, but that doesn't stop us from being the ones who choose it. See? If He created humans without free will, then His reason behind the creation would be pointless. We'd just be like puppets on a string, running around doing what He wants. He doesn't want that. He didn't create us to be something to play with, He created us to have a relationship with us.
917231
Wow, talk about looking at yourself.  That was me not too long ago.  The problem is that God can only interfere on a limited basis with out obscuring "free will".  The hard truth is that rapists and murderers have free will also.  It's complicated, and hard to justify. but I guess the better questions would be, why didn't  we do something about it?
554191
The case of free will vs. predestination has everything to do with whose eyes you look through. Yes, because God dwell in eternity and sees the end from the beginning, He already knows the outcome of your decision. He looks at the earth's timeline, then chooses those who choose Him. However, to have true children and not robots, God gave us a free will to choose. We can choose to love God, we can choose to hate Him, or we can choose to exchange the concept of God for only what we can see within our puny science. If free will truly did not exist, God would provide a world with only one choice and provide tons of evidence to MAKE you believe. But He does not do that. He provides just enough evidence to allow you to think beyond the physical and into the eternal. But you must decide for yourself. But do not be surprised if God knows your decision the moment you make it. \n\nYes, God sees our life as a done deal. Yet, we ourselves do have free will to choose. It would be like I could go back in time, meet with George Lucas while attending USC film class. I would know everything about what he would write and the companies he would start. Does he have freewill to write Star Wars? Yes. Would my knowledge change the fact that Darth Vader will be Luke Skywalker's dad? No. It's a done deal because I am not bound by time. \n\nSo what is the big deal about free will? Well, those of us with children understand that there is a big difference between programming our computers to wake you up in the morning with "good-morning father-I-love-you" and having your little son or daughter jump on your bed at the crack of dawn yelling "Good morning daddy! I love you!" The Almighty God has a myriad of angels proclaiming "Holy, holy, holy"--but they have seen Him, so it is easy. Think what it means to God, having NOT seen Him, yet lifting your arms and proclaim, "Good morning Lord! I love you!"  \n\nBlessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace. Ephesians 1
919158
Yes, God has the power to predestine or not predestine our lives as He so chooses.  I agree with you in that I believe we have free choice.  I don't understand so easily how you come to know the mind of God.  Everyone is selected for His service, and everyone is blessed.  We need not seek Him, since He is already knocking on the door of our hearts.  All we must do is let Him in.  Yes, because of our freedom of choice, if we choose to follow God, we will be with Him forever in heaven.
404028
I would rather not make a decision at all.  God gave us all free will and said to not judge others.  Therefore, I couldn't take way the free will of others or judge them and their mistakes by sending them back to start all over.
304621
I was always told that God allows evil because He is all about free will and doesn't want to impose himself on us. God allows us to see Him if we chose to see him and he will leave us alone if we don't. As for the evil thing, i beleive that evil comes from your inability to resist temptation. Satan doesn't make you do anything, he just suggests it.  You do the rest.
442585
In one sense,  both.\n\nHOW are we "free"?\n\nWe are free ABENTS --that is, we are free to CHOOSE, can freely make choices about what we do.  But, of course, we are not free to do just ANYTHING because of the limitations of our own nature and place in creation.\n\nSo, for instance, in may in one sense by "free" to do lift a building but what does that mean if I do not have the strength to do so?   I'm free to figure out complex mathematical formulas, but if I do not have the mental facility (and/or if the training is not available to me) what does the "freedom" mean?  Of what value is it?\n\nIn the same way, though I am a free AGENT, that does not mean my "will" is free.  In fact, Scripture is quite clear that human beings, born with a sinful, selfish nature are "slaves" to sin.  That is, even if we are "free" to do whatever we want, if our whole bent is to want only to serve my self, not to love God or others, my very will (what I choose) is itself BOUND, not ABLE to desire and choose what is good.\n\nThat is, unless and until God does something to FREE my will from bondage to sin and self to do what I humanity was created to do (to delight in loving and serving him --to FREELY choose what is good, as does God and the angels).\n\nThis is why the Reformers (not just Calvin!), following Augustine, taught that we are free to act as we will, but our WILLS --and WANTS-- are not free, but bound to sin.   In fact, Luther responded to the contrary idea by Erasmus with a book called *The BONDAGE of the Will.*   This is also a large part of what the Reformed & Presbyterians churches mean by "total inability" (a more accurate term than the oft misunderstood "total depravity").\n\nTo some degree the whole church has taught that our very WILLS, as sinners, have a bent against God, and that whatever "freedom" we have is limited by our sinful nature.  (But they also teach that the believer experiences some freedom from sin in this life, and perfect freedom hereafter.)\n\nDo note, in all this, that the Christian conviction is that really being FREE does NOT mean 'being my own ruler' (autonomy), but being free to want/choose and do what I was CREATED for.  (Compare a fish in the ocean, free to swim -- it is not "freedom" for it to leave the water.)\n\n-------------------\n\n"Free" AND Predestined?\n\nEveryone here seems to be making the assumption that we must either be free to choose OR God has predestined events --or at best that he has predestined things in a very general way and the rest is all up to us.\n\nI suggest that, as impossible as it is for OUR finite minds to reconcile the two it is NOT one or the other, or a compromise between the two, but BOTH are true.\n\nNow I noticed that the "we are free" side did not cite any verses, or any other evidence beyond their own.   Actually I think they could have.  Because we ARE free in the sense discussed above (and with the limitations!)  And the 'predestination' side is also absolutely correct to insist that God is sovereign, and especially that we (as sinners) do not freely choose to respond to him, unless and until HE choses us and acts to free our sinful WILLS to respond.  (Before that we 'freely' choose to rebel; when he has graciously wooed, won and turned our hearts** we freely choose to follow.)\n\n**note that he does not, in the process, violate our human nature, but works in keeping with it ('he does not treat us like sticks or rocks' the Reformers would say)\n\nThere is, of course, still a great mystery here and much that our proud hearts do not want to accept (we don't want to "let God be GOD!") -- but as with many questions about the nature and acts of God we should not be suprised that we cannot wrap our minds around it.  If WE understood how it all fits together WE would be God!   Yet we CAN understand and exp
473236
Evil is man made. God has given us free will. It is up to us to recognize evil and choose to do what is right. In the end, our good will be rewarded.