Why do I believe that free will is part of our lives, and part of Christianity?
To me the evidence is that both good and evil exists. Instead of us being God's empty vessels - His puppets - He gave us true souls and true free will. To me it looks like He valued free will more, but all the same He knew the price of free will as well.
So as Christians we are free... to choose God. And as non-Christians, something else. But that we chose God in our free will means that the choice will have significantly more value than just saying so as a slave of a master.
In my experience, this is also one of the major differences between Christianity and Islam. While God waits for the Christian "prodigal son" to finally return home, Muslims see as their strict duty to serve Allah.
Christianity is bittersweet that way. But so is life.
To me the evidence is that both good and evil exists. Instead of us being God's empty vessels - His puppets - He gave us true souls and true free will. To me it looks like He valued free will more, but all the same He knew the price of free will as well.
So as Christians we are free... to choose God. And as non-Christians, something else. But that we chose God in our free will means that the choice will have significantly more value than just saying so as a slave of a master.
In my experience, this is also one of the major differences between Christianity and Islam. While God waits for the Christian "prodigal son" to finally return home, Muslims see as their strict duty to serve Allah.
Christianity is bittersweet that way. But so is life.