Does the Christian God Play with Free Will?

I think that if the Christian God exists, he obviously and arbitrarily futzes with free will. The entire story line of both the OT and NT is God manuevering around our supposed "free will". His book is full of confusing personality changes (fear God, love God, there is no fear in love), unfair testing of people and "laws" that he himself breaks (or commands his chosen to break). Then comes the clincher, the ultimate debunking of a truely free will...the threat that if you don't make the "right" choice you will suffer eternity in hell. I don't know about you but a coersed choice based on confusing, unfair and arbitrary commands doesn't sound all that free to me.
_________________________________________________________My son and I had a discussion just tonight on free will. (coincidentally after seeing Bruce Almighty ) He is a strick determinist and does not believe that free will exists. I am agnostic concerning the existance of either god or free will, but I do believe that for free will to exist it could only come about in a deistic universe.
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Asgara"An unexamined life is not worth living" Socrates via Plato

Hi John,You would ask that . This is only my musings, formulated in the wee hours, so please take it as just that. However, I will attempt to put down in this post my reasoning.In a purely naturalistic universe there is a cause to every effect. People are products of their heredity and environment and every choice we make is dependent on the events that lead up to the moment of choice. I suppose that you could argue that the ability to make a choice constitutes free will and in fact this is one definition of free will: However, the second definition of free will is: All choices are constrained by external circumstances.In a theistic universe, one designed and controlled by a supreme being, all choices are constrained by this being. God being the one that defines the choices we are given.AHHHH. I guess I have to make a change to my original musings concerning a deistic universe. A being that started the initial creation and set in motion the physical laws of the universe, but has no further input in this creation, has still left no unconstrained choice.Maybe there IS no such thing as a true free will, unconstrained by external circumstances. What we have is a "choice" bounded by a set of options determined by our heredity and environment and the decision we make is likewise determined by these same factors.
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This has been an exercise showing the differences in my thought processes on NO sleep and on eight hours of sleep. LOL (all thoughts subject to change at my whim )
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Asgara"An unexamined life is not worth living" Socrates via Plato

John,Thanks for your reply. Thanks for the clarification. To be honest though, I was using the term "naturalistic universe" solely as an opposing definition to a "supernatural" creation.
____________________________________________________________I have only a rudimentary understanding of quantum mechanics, but would it be fair to say that it is only an "appearance" of randomness? That we just have not been able, as of yet, to ascribe a cause/effect relationship to what we have observed, but one may yet be discovered?Is the "appearance" of cause/effect and of randomness any differant than the "appearance" of free will? In that all are merely a product of our current perspective and knowledge? (no need for reply, just more musings that may or may not make any sense what so ever) ^^
____________________________________________________________Curiosity will yet kill this cat, it being the sole reason that I don't get much sleep lately. ------------------
Asgara"An unexamined life is not worth living" Socrates via Plato