Does Christianity allow for free will?

"...then we must conclude that God wanted evil there and in fact put it there...". A couple verses in Genesis appear to back this up as you may know. Gen. 3:5;"...you will be like God knowing good and evil.", and Gen. 3:22;"Then the Lord God said, 'See, the man has become like one of us, knowing good & evil". This may appear to support the possibility that 'free-will' is not the cause of evil. It also makes for the possibility that the serpent was a 'tool' in the hands of God. What do you think?

As I thought, the ancient Hebrew God is both good & evil, and believers in the idea that He was good only will selectively read the Bible. By that, I mean they will consistently ignore or twist verses like Isaiah 45.7. to soften the fact that this God does some nasty stuff now & then.[This message has been edited by Prozacman, 01-05-2004]

Assuming of course that there was a FALL, but that's what Genesis indicates. However, there is a theory that God & Adam were planning to finish the Creation after getting rid of Lilith.

OK, they gained the 'kowledge of good & evil' when they ate of the tree. That much appears to be obvious within the context of Genesis. Innocent children are easily conned. You would think that God, being God, could have made absolutely sure they didn't fall for the serpent's "trap", but as I was tought, it was a test to see if A&E would be faithful to God. Or was it something else? Is it possible that the story has been worked over, or added to by a 'redactor'? Is it just possible that Adam & God & the serpent were buddies and were trying to finish the 'creation' without messing things up? Could it be that Eve, as beautiful as she supposedly was("...now this is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh")was a silly air-head with a hot-bod, and Adam just couldn't resist? Some christians still believe that "eating the fruit" was a metaphor for sex.

Isn't it interesting how most(if not all?) religions on earth seem to teach similar morals? Perhaps someday the leaders of all these religions will lock themselves in a room somewhere, give up all their theologies, and stick with what they have in common. Yeah right.[This message has been edited by Prozacman, 01-17-2004]

Secular Humanism. Hmm... Two very bad words for conservative christians. They would have us choose against that concept for reasons which are mistaken, because their understanding of it is mistaken. I think Jesus would agree with the ideals of secular humanism; Treating people as you want to be treated, giving to the needy unselfishly, making friends out of enemies, etc. Instead we are told by the conservatives to listen to them and believe like they do or we will end up in a screaming-in-hideous-pain-forever-hell-fire. APOCALYPTIC BLASPHEMING ABOMINATIONS! Do we really have a free will?? Not by that theology.

Maybe that's a plausible interpretation. However, it may be the the ancient Hebrew writer of the story was barrowing from stories in Sumerian-Babylonian myth, and adapting them to his religious concepts; just an idea that seems to be floating around in the world of mythology. If you ask me, assuming A&E were real people, which I don't believe anyway, then they really had no choice but to "eat of the fruit". Because then the writer(s) of Genesis wouldn't have much of a story for the priests to use in controlling the population, would he? Nor would we have the mythical basis for Judaism, Christianity, or Islam, would we?[This message has been edited by Prozacman, 01-20-2004]