Free Will

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Undoubtedly, one of the most beautiful aspects of our relationship with God is the free will he has given us. It allows us not only to make our own decisions and think for ourselves, but it also allows us to become closer to God on a personal level than if we were forced to worship Him. However, the topic of Free Will versus God's Sovereignty has been a point of contention among many believers for hundreds of years. This debate even took over my old high school for a while, with a lot of the Juniors (now Seniors) claiming Predestination as the "only" way of thinking. I have always used Adam and Eve's free will to calm the debates on this topic - that God knew they would fall, but still gave them the choice to fall. I think that Raphael sums it up very well in Book 5, verses 523-528, "God made thee perfect, not immutable, and good He made thee. But to persevere He left it in thy pow'r, ordained thy will by nature free, not overruled by fate inextricáble or stick necessity." Here, Raphael lay it out for Adam and Eve plain and simple - they were created perfect but with the ability of choice. The age-old argument of Free Will versus God's Sovereignty will probably never die, but a simple look at the text (or in this case, a reimagined text) can answer many questions.

Edit: I commented on Abigail's and Zelda's posts.

Comments

  1. Ty GoramSeptember 4, 2017 at 3:38 PM

    It's always something that I like to thing about with choices. There's always one that is considered good and one that is considered bad. So while Raphael states that the humans were created perfect, their choices can change how they are perceived by others. So...is there really such thing as a truly evil person? I feel that's a fun question to ask along with free will.

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