Free will

Saturday, October 17, 2009 @ 8:01 AM | (0) comment/s

hello darlings, i think many people question why God gives us freewill even knowing that we might make the wrong choices. asked my dad today & here're some answers he gave me which i hope would answer some of your questions too! ((:

Defining Free Will
There are several points on which there is confusion about what is meant by free will. Some have said that it refers to the ability to desire. But a better definition is that it is the ability to decide between alternatives. Desire is a passion, an emotion; but will is a choice between two or more desires. Also, some think that to be free means that there can be no limitation of alternatives—one must be able to do whatever he wants. But the opposite of freedom is not fewer alternatives, it is being forced to choose one thing and not another. Freedom is not in unlimited options, but in unfettered choice between whatever options there are. As long as the choosing comes from the individual rather than an outside force, the decision is made freely. Free will means the ability to make an unforced decision between two or more alternatives.
Geisler, Norman L. ; Brooks, Ronald M.: When Skeptics Ask. Wheaton, Ill. : Victor Books, 1990, S. 63
IF GOD KNOWS EVERYTHING,
AND HIS KNOWLEDGE CAN’T CHANGE,
THEN EVERYTHING IS PREDETERMINED AND
THERE IS NO FREE WILL
Knowing what men will do with their freedom is not the same as ordaining what they must do against their free choice. God’s knowledge is not necessarily incompatible with free will. There is no problem in saying that God created men with free will so that they could return His love, even though He knows that some will not make that decision. God is responsible for the fact of freedom, but men are responsible for the acts of freedom. In His knowledge, God might even persuade men to make certain decisions, but there is no reason to suppose that He coerces any decision so as to destroy freedom. He works persuasively, but not coercively.
Geisler, Norman L. ; Brooks, Ronald M.: When Skeptics Ask. Wheaton, Ill. : Victor Books, 1990, S. 32
LOVE AND FREE WILL
It is true that God desires all men to be saved (2 Peter 3:9), but that means that they have to choose to love Him and believe in Him. Now, God can’t force anyone to love Him. Forced love is a contradiction in terms. Love must be free: it is a free choice. So in spite of God’s desire, some men do not choose to love Him (Matt. 23:37). All who go to hell do so because of their free choice. They may not want to go to hell (who would?), but they do will it. They make the decision to reject God, even though they don’t desire punishment. People don’t go to hell because God sends them; they choose it and God respects their freedom. “There are two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done.’ All that are in hell, chose it.”3
3 ——, The Great Divorce (New York: Macmillan, 1946), p. 69.
Geisler, Norman L. ; Brooks, Ronald M.: When Skeptics Ask. Wheaton, Ill. : Victor Books, 1990, S. 67

One more.
Objection Four—Based on the Notion That Omnibenevolence Leads to Universalism
If God loves all people and desires all of them to be saved, then why are not all people saved? He is omnipotent, and an all powerful Being can do whatever He wants to do, can’t He? Further, God is sovereign and in control of all things (see chapter 23): His will cannot be thwarted, and He also accomplishes whatever He sets out to do (Isa. 55:11). But if He can accomplish whatever He desires, and if He desires to save all, then doesn’t it follow that all will be saved (universalism) ?
Response to Objection Four
God’s ultimate will is always accomplished, but His immediate mil is not. God wills some things conditionally and some unconditionally. Salvation is one of those things that is willed on the condition of our free will (John 1:12; Matt. 23:37). God does not desire that anyone perish, but that all should repent (2 Peter 3:9). But not all will repent; hence, not all will be saved. Jesus lamented, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing’ (Matt. 23:37, emphasis added).
God is all-powerful, but He cannot do anything: He cannot do what is contradictory, and He cannot go against His own nature. For example, “It is impossible for God to lie” (Heb. 6:18), and “He cannot disown Himself” (2 Tim. 2:13). Once again, God cannot force someone to freely love Him. So while God is all-powerful, He must exercise His power in accordance with His love, and His love cannot force someone to love Him.
Geisler, Norman L.: Systematic Theology, Volume Two: God, Creation. Minneapolis, MN : Bethany House Publishers, 2003, S. 380

God loves us THIS MUCH =D