Free will in Heaven?

[JoshuaTree]

Will there be free will in heaven? If not, would you want to go?

 

[`mud]

I want to see the menu first !
And then I'll test my will, free or not !

 

[MonkeyFire]

Imo you can't have have knowledge without willfulness, but you need free will. I believe in compatabalism. Which is ultimately the story of Lucifer.

 

[WalterTrull]

Free will is. Whose is the question.

 

[`mud]

To be combatable or combatible with an unseen invinsible entitiy,
would be being both blind and deaf with no sense of touch.
ahhhhhh....the pain would still be there, wouldn't it ?
What value would heaven have, given these situations ?
I still ask...what's on the menu ?

 

[InChrist]

Will there be free will in heaven? If not, would you want to go?

I think those in heaven will have already freely chosen to live within the will of God and have had their lives transformed and conformed to the image of Christ so that in the heavenly realm their will always will be the same as Jesus'.

 

[It Aint Necessarily So]

Will there be free will in heaven? If not, would you want to go?

According to Christian theology, there would have to be free will in heaven. We are told that God doesn't want robots programmed to praise him, lest He would have made us that way from the beginning. Why would He build the universe to audition for those who would freely worship Him only to turn them into robots to do that for eternity?

But there's a problem there. Eternity means infinite time. Anything that can happen does happen given infinite time. How long can one hold out in heaven without rebelling and being cast out like the rebellious angels? A thousand years? A million? A billion? A billion billion? A trillion trillion trillion years?

Even then, one wouldn't have even begun to shorten the time ahead in which to fail.

 

[WalterTrull]

If you think of time as structure rather than a passing, then how big a structure can you get? Pretty big I'll bet.

 

[`mud]

How many eternities are inside infinity ?
How far does one's spirit go ?
Light beyond the light.

 

[Epic Beard Man]

Why not? If I had a theory the bliss would be so overwhelming I think it would make us automatons anyway...

 

[Samantha Rinne]

I'm syncretic. I've followed Christianity since childhood, but picked up strange ideas from different religions. One of the things that I've concluded is that Hell is the state of complete separation, Earth is kinda grey area, and Heaven is an area of unity. So the free will you might have in Heaven is less like "Do I want to do good or evil?" and more like "do you want a cheeseburger or a banana?" without any implications that one of these is bad for you.

 

[`mud]

hey Samantha,
Welcome aboard, my wife is a redhead, like you, I think.
You seem divided as to whether there are trumpets and angels up there.
Order the cheeseburger, your `spirit` won't know the difference.
The banana is interesting !

 

[ronandcarol]

If there is or if there isn't should not matter, you will be there because you have been serving the Lord in this life. SO, it will be natural to want to serve Him there also. (and when you see all those perish that do not want to serve the Lord, you will be happy and thankful)
ronandcarol

 

[Jeremiah Ames]

If there is or if there isn't should not matter, you will be there because you have been serving the Lord in this life. SO, it will be natural to want to serve Him there also. (and when you see all those perish that do not want to serve the Lord, you will be happy and thankful)
ronandcarol

Strange concept saying one would find happiness in seeing others perish. Perhaps you’re not talking about the heaven I think of.

Anyway, what exactly is your idea of perish? I thought it meant death or complete destruction.

 

[Skwim]

Will there be free will in heaven?

Of course there isn't. Why would there be?

If not, would you want to go?

Really depends on what it is. If all I get to do is sit on a cloud with a silly grin of contentment on my face, then no thank you. I'd prefer to be challenged in some way.

.

 

[It Aint Necessarily So]

Strange concept saying one would find happiness in seeing others perish

It can get worse than that. How about finding happiness in watching them being tortured?

• "At that greatest of all spectacles, that last and eternal judgment how shall I admire, how laugh, how rejoice, how exult, when I behold so many proud monarchs groaning in the lowest abyss of darkness; so many magistrates liquefying in fiercer flames than they ever kindled against the Christians; so many sages philosophers blushing in red-hot fires with their deluded pupils; so many tragedians more tuneful in the expression of their own sufferings; so many dancers tripping more nimbly from anguish then ever before from applause." - Tertullian

• This display of the divine character will be most entertaining to all who love God, will give them the highest and most ineffable pleasure. Should the fire of this eternal punishment cease, it would in a great measure obscure the light of heaven, and put an end to a great part of the happiness and glory of the blessed." - Samuel Hopkins

• "The view of the misery of the damned will double the ardor of the love and gratitude of the saints of heaven ... The sight of hell torments will exalt the happiness of the saints forever ... Can the believing father in Heaven be happy with his unbelieving children in Hell ... I tell you, yea! Such will be his sense of justice that it will increase rather than diminish his bliss." - Jonathan Edwards

• "In order that the happiness of the saints may be more delightful to them and that they may render more copious thanks to God for it, they are allowed to see perfectly the sufferings of the damned ... So that they may be urged the more to praise God ... The saints in heaven know distinctly all that happens ... to the damned" - Thomas Aquinas

• "The door of mercy will be shut and all bowels of compassion denied, by God, who will laugh at their destruction; by angels and saints, who will rejoice when they see the vengeance' by their fellow-suffer the devil and the damned rejoicing over their misery." - Bishop Newcomb

Why?

• "Non-Christians often ask the Christian, "But how can the God of love allow any of his creatures to suffer unending misery?" The question is, how can he not? The fact that God is love makes hell necessary." - Christian Theology in Plain Language, p. 219

Kids, too:

• "Reprobate infants are vipers of vengeance, which Jehovah will hold over hell, in the tongs of his wrath, till they turn and spit venom in his face!" - Jonathan Edwards

• "What will it be like for a mother in heaven who sees her son burning in hell? She will glorify the justice of God." - Catholic Truth Society

One might ask just how all of these people in heaven laughing at the suffering of strangers, former friends, and even former loved ones that didn't make it would make them any different from Satan and the demons below doing the torturing.

 

[`mud]

Ahhhhh.......heaven !
Shall I worry........not a chance !

 

[Truthseeker]

I'm syncretic. I've followed Christianity since childhood, but picked up strange ideas from different religions. One of the things that I've concluded is that Hell is the state of complete separation, Earth is kinda grey area, and Heaven is an area of unity. So the free will you might have in Heaven is less like "Do I want to do good or evil?" and more like "do you want a cheeseburger or a banana?" without any implications that one of these is bad for you.

I agree with you, but you can be separated from God here on Earth which is Hell, or close to God here, too, which is heaven. Also there are degrees in this. There are different levels of heaven and hell.

 

[Twilight Hue]

Will there be free will in heaven? If not, would you want to go?

Ask the devil.