I think you are confusing having the choice to do evil but never doing it and not being able to choose it. We have free will, but it is hindered by sin (he who sins is a slave to sin). We all also have various kinds of spiritual blindness that keep us from having error-free understanding and reasoning. God is not hindered by sin in any way.
To have free will, more than one choice must be available to us. If all we can "choose" is to do good, then actually there is no choice involved, and thus no free will (or at least it is impossible for it to be expressed, in which case it is just a concept we can't execute, rather than a part of the way the universe works). This is why there had to be a tree of knowledge of good and evil. If Adam couldn't make a choice between good and evil, all his choices and decisions would be without a moral component.
Another thing to examine is whether a being without free will can create a being with free will. If God created us even though he didn't have free will, then what is it exactly that is constraining his will? There is no greater being that could. The only real argument here is that it is God's nature to only be able to do good, but IMO it would be impossible for such a being to create someone with freewill. Regardless, we know that he made us in his image, which is strong support that he has free will.
The Lord being infinite has a lot of implications. To us he is infinite, because he thought up, designed, and created space and time, which are inextricably linked together (which has been proven by repeatable experiments). The only legitimate logic we can have is to view everything from the perspective of the passage of time. That God existed before time began is revealed in Scripture, but there are no other details of what that kind of existence is like. We can't incorporate that fact into a chain of logic that is rooted and dependent upon the passage of time (the only way in which we can think). He stated a fact, but we still can only understand it as beings in stuck in time, and can't view it as one outside of time. (i.e., What were those experiences you've had outside of time like? *silence*)
Think about time as the medium through which events are possible. If time never changed for us, we wouldn't be able to do anything (such as choose or reject God). We couldn't let a ball drop (and if somehow we did, it wouldn't move). More to the point, if God exists outside of time, how could he learn anything. Within our understanding, we must conclude that God either knows nothing or knows everything.
I agree with this, however, note that everything is a twisted version of something he did create. There is nothing that exists that didn't have God at the root of its source.
I think you are confusing having the choice to do evil but never doing it and not being able to choose it. We have free will, but it is hindered by sin (he who sins is a slave to sin). We all also have various kinds of spiritual blindness that keep us from having error-free understanding and reasoning. God is not hindered by sin in any way.
Response:
I totally agree! The concept of God as expressed in the Bible is one which places God's nature far above that of any other reasoning entity.
No, I am not confusing ability to do evil but choosing not to with inability to choose evil and therefor not doing it. They are totally different things.
What I am questioning is whether God can be said to be capapble of choosing evil.
If indeed he is incapable of choosing evil because his inclinations toward righteousness are overpoweringly so strong that they don't allow it, then to me that seems like a being who is governed by something akin to instinct. Not a bad thing mind you since such an instinct would presumably not harm anyone. However, it would seem rather a bit robotic and computer like.
To have free will, more than one choice must be available to us. If all we can "choose" is to do good, then actually there is no choice involved, and thus no free will (or at least it is impossible for it to be expressed, in which case it is just a concept we can't execute, rather than a part of the way the universe works). This is why there had to be a tree of knowledge of good and evil. If Adam couldn't make a choice between good and evil, all his choices and decisions would be without a moral component.
Response:
Being in God's image and being pronounced as a good creation meant that Adam and Eve were without flaw. Had they been moral imbeciles incapable of understanding right from wrong, then they would not have been in God's image and little different from animals. Jesus is called the Last Adam. Adam is described as not being deceived by Satan. So this whole Adam and Eve as veritable morons idea is unscriptural.
The Tree
The eating from that tree did nothing for Adam and Eve intellectually.
They had been created perfect and fully capable in distinguishing right from wrong.
Satan was not a benefactor.
The tree represented one thing and one thing only-the choice to decide what was to be called good and what was to be tagged as evil without the guidance of God. In that sense they would become like god via becoming lawmakers. They were clesarly told that such a choice was wrong. The consequences of that choice we can clearly see in the havoc which that choice has brought.
Another thing to examine is whether a being without free will can create a being with free will. If God created us even though he didn't have free will, then what is it exactly that is constraining his will? There is no greater being that could. The only real argument here is that it is God's nature to only be able to do good, but IMO it would be impossible for such a being to create someone with freewill. Regardless, we know that he made us in his image, which is strong support that he has free will.
Response:
I fail to see how making us in his image proves that he has free will to sin if he so choses.
The Lord being infinite has a lot of implications. To us he is infinite, because he thought up, designed, and created space and time, which are inextricably linked together (which has been proven by repeatable experiments). The only legitimate logic we can have is to view everything from the perspective of the passage of time. That God existed before time began is revealed in Scripture, but there are no other details of what that kind of existence is like. We can't incorporate that fact into a chain of logic that is rooted and dependent upon the passage of time (the only way in which we can think). He stated a fact, but we still can only understand it as beings in stuck in time, and can't view it as one outside of time. (i.e., What were those experiences you've had outside of time like? *silence*)
Response:
Well here we differ considerably in our concept of God Such differences or lack of common ground make a discussion of such temporal distinctions a matter of opinion.
You see, I view time strictly as sequences of events. That being so, I don't consider God as being outside of time. Why? Well, because events were taking place in heaven in a sequential manner prior to the big Bang.
For example, prior to the BB God created his own dwelling place and called it heaven. Prior to this moment he alone constituted all reality. Prior heaven's creation, a human unimaginable eternity had elapsed passed during which God was totally alone with his inner ruminations or thoughts flowed in a manner the preceded and followed one another Such sequences could be used to determine a passage of time.
Then from a non orthodox Christian Unitarian viewpoint God created the Word or his Son. Then via his Son he created the angels. Then via his son our material universe via the Big Bang. Before this Big Bang there was constant communication between God and his son and his angels Prior to the Big Bang as described in the Book of Proverbs where Jesus is described as Wisdom personified and God refers to him as his master worker. So we see time differently in relation to the creator..
Think about time as the medium through which events are possible. If time never changed for us, we wouldn't be able to do anything (such as choose or reject God). We couldn't let a ball drop (and if somehow we did, it wouldn't move). More to the point, if God exists outside of time, how could he learn anything. Within our understanding, we must conclude that God either knows nothing or knows everything.
Response:
There is a vast difference between the eternal moment known as eternity and time. Eternity is the eternal unchangeable ever-present now upon which the sequence of events called the passage of time occur. The eternal moment existed before the BB and will always exist. Events or sequences of events which seen to flow past the eternal moment give a illusion of movement because of their temporal past present future lineal sequences. But the eternal moment, or eternity is stationary.
I agree with this, however, note that everything is a twisted version of something he did create. There is nothing that exists that didn't have God at the root of its source.
Response: There are truly cruel things displayed in nature which are irreconcilable with the personality of a loving and just God.
