There's a third option. There is a god but he is either apathetic or evil |
So you would create non-humans with their own thoughts and feelings. You would create creatures that only did what you programmed them to do. There would only be pre-programmed creatures that resembled humans, but not humans. Like AI people. They would he like the robots people on Westworld. You would control their thoughts and actions. Humans now have free will. You would have to take that away to guarantee your perfect society and perfect humans. You would take away the bad, but also all the things that make humans individuals and have thought and power to control their lives. |
*So you would create non-humans without their own thoughts and feelings.*
Sorry, the first sentence was mistyped. |
I never said that. God can’t create a space or people with free will but no evil? Well then heaven is gonna SUCK. |
Why ask why? It's like asking the Wizard of Oz. All conjecture. |
So how can people have free will if God takes the ability of humans to choose for themselves away? Free will is free. Totally free. Free will is not predetermined, programmed, AI creatures that look like humans, talk like humans, but aren’t human. Humans are individual beings. We are unable to fully serve God in this life due to sin, but in heaven "every curse will no longer be" (Revelation 22:3). We will not be under the curse of sin any longer, so everything we do will be worship in heaven. We will never be motivated by anything other than our love for God. Everything we do will be out of our love for God, untainted by our sin nature. Heaven is a different place than earth. But really since you don’t believe in God, why do you care? You don’t believe in any of this stuff; why are you so worried about it? This has zero bearing on your life, why is it so important you endlessly debate things you don’t believe in? |
Answer this question: Is there free will in heaven? |
This is actually not true. Have you seen what Orcas can do? There is absolutely thrill killing (ever seen a cat play with a bird), rape, infanticide, etc. in the animal kingdom. They do not have a consciousness to the level that humans do, but many display intelligence, empathy, ability to help or harm others, etc. Let’s not pretend animals are just out there following some set of rules for survival and never do anything like kill or maim for fun. I agree with you humanity is deeply flawed (and we have more tools, language, etc. than any other animal to overcome these flaws if we wanted). But we aren’t alone in the universe as far as doing some messed up stuff. |
Answer this question: Do you believe in God? regarding your question: Adam and Eve had a choice to make in the Garden of Eden, and that shows beyond all doubt that mankind was created with a free will. Humans has retained his free will, and we will retain free will in heaven. In heaven we are completely conformed to the image of Christ (Romans 8:28–30). We will not want to sin. In heaven there will be no temptation to lure us and no devil to deceive us. We will face no test; our moral state will be secure. Jesus has a truly free will yet is without sin, so will we retain a free will yet be without sin. We will be like Him. (1 John 3:2). Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. |
That is simplistic and a misunderstanding of what God is and is not. If the world must be your literal Garden of Eden in order for God to exist, you have a ways to go on your path of understanding. Even Jesus suffered in Human form. |
So because people thousands of years ago were ungrateful a-holes, we now have kids dying of cancer and in car accidents and drowning and born into abuse? None of us asked to be born but are here in a world of suffering because people before us sinned? |
Animals do not sin. They are incapable of sin because they were not created as independent moral agents. Sin does not begin with the act; it originates in a soul that has the law of God written upon it (Romans 2:15; James 1:14). Human beings are created in the image of God with an everlasting soul (Genesis 1:27). Animals are not created in the image of God. Animals can choose to do things others want them to do, but that is trained into them using treats. Unfortunately, some people train animals to react in aggressive or harmful ways by physically punishment and pain. The moral laws of God do not apply to animals. Now if you do not believe in God, this will not make sense to you. Nobody here is asking anyone to believe in God or believe any of this stuff. The people who don’t believe in God and don’t believe this stuff, that’s perfectly fine. You have no need to believe anything. However, lots of people do believe this stuff. Their belief should be respected, the same as someone’s disbelief. |
You can spin it however you want, but there has never been a convincing way to reconcile an omnipotent god, a loving god, and infant mortality |
But this whole Garden of Eden story does not make sense when you consider what we know about the Big Bang theory. Humans weren’t around at the start of the formation of life on earth so who is recording these stories. And how are we not all now genetically related to 2 people? How did we get different races on different continents just from Adam and Eve. Most reasonably educated Christians I know do not believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible. Also, why is the Christian Bible with Eden the true religion and not any of the 4,200 world religions? Are the people who were born into Christianity just lucky to be have raised into the one true religion unlike those kids in remote villages who will never have the opportunity to be baptized? Why would God give some people a leg up on having the correct beliefs and not others? The only logical conclusion is thar humans have made up stories to make sense of the world. Where you were born determines which set of stories you believe. And then in turn people go cause wars over these made up stories in the name of some God who would want them to murder people in His name? (Hint: the terrorists we hate also think they’re doing the Lord’s work). I’ll add though that I’m not 100% sure there is no God or intelligent creator or something more out there we don’t understand. I just think the religious stories about the Garden of Eden and Noah’s Ark, etc. can be disproven by modern day genetics. Perhaps there is a God who loves us out there, but we humans sure like the weaponize our religious beliefs against women, gays, people with other beliefs, etc. and then vote to give ourselves a tax break for it. |
The present human condition *if you believe in God* is the result of original sin. If you don’t believe in God, it’s just life. People get diseases, have accidents, fall off ladders, get bitten by mosquitoes and contract malaria, take too many drugs and overdose, get sick and die. People have accidents and don’t mean hurt themselves or others; some people absolutely mean to hurt others and take great pleasure in the pain of others. I don’t know how people who don’t believe in God think the universe works, but it seems many think everything is random. Nobody is trying to convince those people to believe in God. |