Whats the Point of Free Will?





Normally my posts are designed to point out the many inconsistencies in the teachings of Jehovahs Witnesses but this time I want to get you thinking on Christianity in general.

Basically, if you ignore all the arguments between the various Christian faiths about specifics, the bible teaches that God made man, he wanted man to worship him, man disobeyed and as a result man lost his perfection and inherited sin and death.  God then decided that for man to regain his lost perfection another perfect human would have to sacrifice their life and then all men who put their faith in this ransom sacrifice would achieve redemption.  Of course I've missed out the Devil, the Flood and many other things that interweave with the story but the basic premise is there.

Now put yourself in the role of God for a moment.  Firstly you are omnipotent - all powerful, all knowing and immortal.  You've created man and before man you created Angels - both of which you created with free will.  You give man a great place to live, plenty of food, a consciousness that is designed to learn so that he has a purpose (to acquire knowledge and pass it on to his children) and a companion to share everything with.

And then you put a tree in his paradise and tell man and woman - don't eat it's fruit.  Why?

What was the point of 'testing' mans loyalty?  You are all knowing and you created man with free will.  The point of free will is the ability to exercise it.  So either God is not 'all knowing' or he gets angry if man exercises the free will he gave - even though he knew that man would exercise it.

So now you have a dilemma because it isn't just man that you've given free will too, it's the angels as well and one of them has already exercised that free will by questioning your sovereignty.  What do you do?

Well, according to Christianity you told man and the Devil to get on with it - try and live without God and see what happens.  But you also still want men to worship you but you cannot deal with imperfection - therefore you have to provide a way for imperfect man to return to his perfect position. Your idea of justice is that the loss of perfection by one man can only be balanced out by the sacrifice of life by another perfect man - but all men are imperfect now.  To get around this you have to 'create' another perfect man - one that would be willing to make this ransom sacrifice.  Enter one of your favourite angels - Jesus.

You send Jesus to earth to live as a man for a little over thirty three years and then you maneuver events to ensure he dies thus delivering the necessary sacrifice that will allow man the opportunity to return to his original perfect position.

 WHY?

What is the point to it all?  Most Christians believe that redemption allows them to enter heaven. Jehovahs Witnesses believe God will restore paradise on earth and the majority of people who put their faith in Jesus will live forever on the earth.  Whether it's heaven or earth the final outcome seems to be a peaceful utopia where all men and women worship God for eternity.

So what was the purpose of free will?  If exercising the freedom to not worship God or even doubt his existence ultimately leads to death where is the freedom?   

Witnesses argue that God has allowed us six thousand years of self rule to prove we cannot govern ourselves without him yet he has, according to the bible, interfered continuously throughout that six thousand years.  Remember the story of the flood - where God killed everyone on earth other than Noah and his immediate family?  That seems like fairly drastic interference.  

The bible is full of instances where God has an input to direct things his way, it even predicts what will happen in the end - so where is the free will?  If God exists the only free will appears to be worship him or die.

According to Jehovahs Witnesses you don't even have free will when it comes to choosing which religion to use to serve him.  If you are not serving him exactly as he asks you will die at Armageddon anyway!

I argue that IF there is a God and he is all knowing and all powerful he would not have tested Adam and Eve in the first place because he would already have known the outcome.  If he already knew the outcome he would not have needed to create a perfect ransom to counter balance mans fall from perfection. He would have created all creatures without free will because if his ultimate goal is universal worship free will is pointless.  And finally IF there is only one way to worship him he would have made it patently obvious for all to see.

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