Zone1 Why was it important for God to give us free will?

[onefour1]

In your opinion, why do you feel that it was important that God give us free will to choose between good and evil?

 

[progressive hunter]

In your opinion, why do you feel that it was important that God give us free will to choose between good and evil?

that way he didnt have to deal with us,,

 

[The Irish Ram]

The Angels have free will too. Free to choose who to follow.

 

[there4eyeM]

Of course, this is all just a poetic way of putting things.
Besides, "God" and "free will" are not defined for the conversation.
"God" and the entire category of theology demonstrate the limitations of conversation and reasoning.
Accepting that a creator of the universe exists and that creator wished to be accompanied by a creation, that creature would necessarily have to have choice to be at all interesting. Yet, what is choice, especially when it is so limited; i.e., the "choice" of believing in "God" is totally binary.

 

[HaShev]

In your opinion, why do you feel that it was important that God give us free will to choose between good and evil?

Because it's like Socialism or communism, whereby there would be no drive or motivation in life, therefore no appreciation or respect for life nor progression, if it was predestined ploted and controlled. It would take the inspiration out of life and the spirit from the personas. You get what you want and accept even the bad and ugly, just look at Cali, they chose hell, "let them eat bugs" and now they can wash it down with waste water while residing in tents.
It's like hell but no gnashing of the teeth, because they don't have many teeth left from the drugs.

California Proposes 'Toilet-to-Tap,' Turning Wastewater into Drinking Water

California proposed regulations that would allow "toilet-to-tap" programs that recycle wastewater and add it back to drinking water systems.

www.breitbart.com

 

[Blues Man]

Is Free Will an Illusion?

Don't trust your instincts about free will or consciousness, experimental philosophers say

www.scientificamerican.com

 

[CrusaderFrank]

In your opinion, why do you feel that it was important that God give us free will to choose between good and evil?

The Kabbalistic explanation is that when there was only the Light and the Vessel, the Vessel one day decided to stop receiving the Light because it wanted to know what it felt like to give

 

[Votto]

In your opinion, why do you feel that it was important that God give us free will to choose between good and evil?

Because God is Love and for love to exist you need two parties who are free to love or reject the other.

 

[Blues Man]

Because God is Love and for love to exist you need two parties who are free to love or reject the other.

So tell me how is a murder victim exercising his free will to be murdered

 

[Meriweather]

In your opinion, why do you feel that it was important that God give us free will to choose between good and evil?

It is important that God gave us free will because we are so bad at it and need the practice. Look at what we are doing:

• Let's create a big government with lots of laws, bureaucracies, and rules to tell us what to do.
• Instead of small, independent businesses, let's create corporations that create more regulations from with in. Human Resources! Tell people what to do, how to do it, and when to do it! Also, let's tell them to hire people with degrees.
• Young people must have degrees so they know they must do as they are told.
• Medical policies! We must have medical policies that are followed nation wide, even world wide.
• Zoning regulations and homeowners associations so they know what to build, where, and how they are to care and maintain their homes. Probably better tell them when to water, too.
• Speaking of Zoning....Isn't this a Zone 1 thread?

Hmmm. Seems to me we use our free will to set up agencies to tell us what to do in all phases of not only our life, but our day. Free will doesn't seem all that vital to us. We are sure doing our best to insure we don't have to use it--and are still looking for bigger and bigger government to decide for us.

 

[progressive hunter]

So tell me how is a murder victim exercising his free will to be murdered

so tell me how you survived this long without stabbing yourself in the eye with a fork??

 

[HaShev]

so tell me how you survived this long without stabbing yourself in the eye with a fork??

His guardian puts corks at the end of all his forks and knives.

 

[onefour1]

In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we believe that not only God is self-existing but man also. Before being born as a spirit child of our Father in Heaven, we existed as intelligences that have always existed.

Doctrine and Covenants 93:29
29 Man was also in the beginning with God. Intelligence, or the light of truth, was not created or made, neither indeed can be.

Abraham 3:18
18 Howbeit that he made the greater star; as, also, if there be two spirits, and one shall be more intelligent than the other, yet these two spirits, notwithstanding one is more intelligent than the other, have no beginning; they existed before, they shall have no end, they shall exist after, for they are gnolaum, or eternal.

The intelligences that exist in the universe are self existent and they have always had free will. We do not believe in the idea of ex nihilo creation either. We believe that all the elements are eternal and also have always existed.

Doctrine and Covenants 93:33
33 For man is spirit. The elements are eternal, and spirit and element, inseparably connected, receive a fulness of joy;

What we understand by the term, "creation" is not that God creates out of nothing but that God is the great organizer of spirit and element that already exist.

God is a being who has free will. Nobody tells God what to do. God, of his own free will and choice, chooses good over evil. He receives the greatest degree of joy and happiness through being a truly good being. He desires that his children also learn to become like him. He has commanded us to be so.

Matthew 5:48
48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

In order for us to become like our Father in Heaven, we must learn to choose good over evil of our own free will and choice to become like our Father in Heaven. One can only become a truly good being by choosing in and of himself to be good. Nobody can force one to be good and then have that being truly be a good being of him/herself. Even though free will is an eternal principal, it must be honored because it is the only way by which a being can truly learn to be a good being in and of him/herself. Satan's plan in the premortal existence was to take away the free agency of man. God rejected this plan and then Satan rebelled and we had a great war in heaven.

Moses 4:1-4
1 And I, the Lord God, spake unto Moses, saying: That Satan, whom thou hast commanded in the name of mine Only Begotten, is the same which was from the beginning, and he came before me, saying—Behold, here am I, send me, I will be thy son, and I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely I will do it; wherefore give me thine honor.
2 But, behold, my Beloved Son, which was my Beloved and Chosen from the beginning, said unto me—Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever.
3 Wherefore, because that Satan rebelled against me, and sought to destroy the agency of man, which I, the Lord God, had given him, and also, that I should give unto him mine own power; by the power of mine Only Begotten, I caused that he should be cast down;
4 And he became Satan, yea, even the devil, the father of all lies, to deceive and to blind men, and to lead them captive at his will, even as many as would not hearken unto my voice.

So this life is a test to see what we, as intelligent beings, will do with our free will. Those who chose good over evil and repent and change their ways to do good will find themselves in the highest degrees of the kingdom of heaven. God promotes goodness. True progression requires that we have free will and learn to be good beings in and of ourselves. God is trying to raise us up to be like him, beings who are good of their own free will and choice. That is the best possible being of all beings. God knows that we will all, at times, make wrong choices. For this reason he has provided a way for us to repent and change into a good beings. Through His Only Begotten Son in the Flesh, He has brought repentance and forgiveness that we might learn from our mistakes and overcome them.