Hello again!
More of my thoughts concerning free will in particular to this discussion.
If a man had an all powerful will, he may use it to force an intelligent sentient square block through a round hole. Just as some here have stated God has done concerning creation. However, one who needs to force his will upon another would make him a tyrant, and is not wise, knowledgable or understanding. Such a man, is a tyrant.
If a man had an all powerful will along with an all knowing understanding, he would never need to force or manipulate an intelligent sentient square block through a round hole. He would already know how the square block operates because he created the square block to fit within it's own parameters.
If he intended a square block to fit through a hole, it would not be round, it would be square.
If he intended for a square block to fit through a round hole, he would have created the square block without the knowledge that it was square. Then, knowing how that square block would operate with little or no knowledge of what it is, the square block would wear itself out trying to fit where it obviously does not belong; until, the block finds it's corners worn and then perfectly in such a round hole.
Man neither has a will that is all powerful, or all knowing. God is both all powerful, and all knowing.
I do not believe in a tyrant God, who must force upon creation His Will.
I believe in a intelligent God Who's Will is done intelligently and without violating the very thing He created.
Just because God is all powerful, does not mean He uses that power carelessly.
He set up natural and spiritual laws which work to keep us in balance, giving us awareness of the things we do not know so that we may choose what is right and true. We do something which is harmful, we experience pain to warn us to discontinue such action. We do something which is good, we experience joy to encourage such action. We reap what we sow.
I was simple in my explanation for understanding purposes, I do not want someone to make this an issue. I am conveying a general concept for the purpose of understanding how it works, without details of physics behind it.
God is complex, seemingly impossible to understand, and quite unfathomable by any mere human reasoning; however, I find that to fail to understand the simple things, a person will not understand the more complex things anyways.
Mankind has a free will, that has been prompted by it's ignorance of the knowledge of good and evil to sin. Through the process of sin, the knowledge of sin, the law, became understood.
The law, however, causes our sin to increase because the law never told us what was good, only what was evil and so we pursue it even more.
We recognize, by our free will, that the evil we do is the opposite to life because the wages of sin is death.
Death is a metaphor for ignorance of the truth, the dead know nothing.
However, where sin abounds, grace abounds even more. By that grace, we became aware of a different knowledge, a knowledge of good.
Whereas the evil we did brought us death, the good we do brings about life.
We are now aware of both the knowledge of good and evil and brought out of death, ignorance, into life, the knowledge of the truth.
Whereas it was inevitable for us to sin since we knew not what sin was. It is inevitable for us to be the righteousness of God, because we now know the knowledge of the truth.
This is the organic progress of a Child of God, and the Will of God for all mankind to endure. That by our free will, we make both good and evil choices bringing us closer to the knowledge of the truth in order to choose what is the acceptable, good and perfect Will of God for us. This, is what God intended and designed from before creation was even created.
All of this from Will of God, not from any man or his free will. By His grace, not by our works.
Romans 12:2
2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
James 1:25
25 But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.
1 Timothy 2:3-6
3This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 5For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6who gave himself as a ransom for all men—the testimony given in its proper time.
Teeee! That was a long post. Sorry if I got carried away.
