Free Will in Heaven? (reject, Satan, God, devil)

[bartdanr]

Originally Posted by Aqualung

Yes, he does have a necessary purpose. The purpose of us being here is to learn and progress and to prove to God that, even under tribulation, that we will be faithful. Most of us won't be faithful the whole time, which is where Jesus' grace comes in, but we still do need to show how well we can behave, even with tribulation.

HI Aqualung, thanks for your post.

Why do we need to prove anything to God? Doesn't he already know our hearts well enough to know how we would react under any circumstances?

Peace

[Aqualung]

Originally Posted by bartdanr

HI Aqualung, thanks for your post.

Why do we need to prove anything to God? Doesn't he already know our hearts well enough to know how we would react under any circumstances?

Peace

Well, not exactly. He doesn't "know our hearts well enough" in that regard. He knows what we are capable of withstanding and what we aren't (since he will only allow us to be tempted to a point that we can withstand) but we have free will and we have the ability to not go through with that. God is not omnicient in the sense that he knows exaclty what we will choose since He gave us free will. He does know what we can withstand, but he also knows we have the free will to resist. That's what the proving is. We prove that we will withstand, regardless of our free will, and go with what he wants.

He knows how we CAN act, but he doesn't know how we WILL act.

[bartdanr]

Originally Posted by Aqualung

Well, not exactly. He doesn't "know our hearts well enough" in that regard. He knows what we are capable of withstanding and what we aren't (since he will only allow us to be tempted to a point that we can withstand) but we have free will and we have the ability to not go through with that. God is not omnicient in the sense that he knows exaclty what we will choose since He gave us free will. He does know what we can withstand, but he also knows we have the free will to resist. That's what the proving is. We prove that we will withstand, regardless of our free will, and go with what he wants.

He knows how we CAN act, but he doesn't know how we WILL act.

Thanks for your repsonse, Aqualung.

I think this makes a lot more sense than the more "orthodox" idea that God knows all. For one, God knowing all the future would include his/her OWN acts, thus limiting his OWN free will. (But that's the subject of another thread I started...so far, with no responses.)

Peace

[Aqualung]

Originally Posted by bartdanr

Thanks for your repsonse, Aqualung.

I think this makes a lot more sense than the more "orthodox" idea that God knows all. For one, God knowing all the future would include his/her OWN acts, thus limiting his OWN free will. (But that's the subject of another thread I started...so far, with no responses.)

Peace

Yeah, that's how I always felt about the "orthodox" idea. Once I started to look at the ideas, I realised that they weren't really possible, and they just confused things a whole lot. Glad I could be of some help.