For Christians that believe in Free Will?

If you have a choice between whom you will serve, how is that NOT free will? That's a fact of our existence! It seems as though you want to be able to disregard both God and Satan. If you buy a car, don't you want to use it to go places at your convenience? If God created you, why shouldn't He want you to serve Him and enjoy the blessings of eternal life??

If you will go back and read the third chapter of Genesis, it is quite obvious that Eve allowed herself to be persuaded by the serpent (Satan). It is equally obvious that Adam made his own choice when he accepted the fruit from Eve. Nowhere in this does Scripture suggest that God preordained this to happen.

Where is it that it is "clear that God planned everything"?? You mistake the omniscience of God from the exercise of His permissive will. He will allow you to go on as you want to although He does call you to repentance of sin and acceptance of Jesus as your Savior (John 8:36).

Yes there is free will. We can choose the good and right or we can choose the wrong. Now an unsaved person has reduced ability to choose God's way because of his sin nature, but he still has the ability.

Because God know the end from the beginning, knows what choices we will make does not mean that we do not really have free will. We are limited by time and ability and knowledge. God can know exactly what is going to happen, can have a plan which WILL come to pass, yet at the same time give us freedom of choice. They are two sides of the same coin. Armenianism (free-will) and Calvinism (Sovereignty of God in all things) are both partially correct.

It is like salvation. Jesus said whosoever believes in Him will have everlasting life. Other Bible writers also said we must choose. But Hebrews and others, quoting the OT, say that "Today is the day of salvation." We can only choose while the choice is being offered. God is sovereign and we can only come to Him while He is calling - but we can choose whether or not to come to Him while He calls.

What doesn't seem right to me is that God has predestined most of humanity to Hell. I also don't think that God planned the sin of Adam and Eve. I think that God has the power to intercede, but has given us freewill to do what we want. I also believe that God doesn't know all of what is to come in the future. God knows all of what has happened in the past and has determined some things that will happen in the future, so he comes out on top in the end, but as far a day to day decisions go I think we have complete free will.

I think this explains a lot of things about Christianity. First of all it is a clear explanation for the problem of evil. If God planned everything then he planned on evil to be a part of the world. If we have true free will we are able to choose Godly things or we can choose sin, and thus gets God "off the hook" for evil in the world. Also I think that the open view has a lot to say about petitionary prayer. We actually can change God's mind on certain things, by asking him in prayer. I also think that this is the way we actually live out our life and seems to make the most sense.

While it may not seem right to you, it is clear from scripture that the prayers of the righteous are heard by God, and He has changed His mind on their behalf. Consider Hezekiah here:

2 Kings 20:1 In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, went to him and said to him, "Thus says the LORD: 'Set your house in order, for you shall die, and not live.'" 2 Then he turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the LORD, saying, 3 "Remember now, O LORD, I pray, how I have walked before You in truth and with a loyal heart, and have done what was good in Your sight." And Hezekiah wept bitterly. 4 And it happened, before Isaiah had gone out into the middle court, that the word of the LORD came to him, saying, 5 "Return and tell Hezekiah the leader of My people, 'Thus says the LORD, the God of David your father: "I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; surely I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the LORD.

God's will was that He would die, but Hezekiah chnaged the will of God by asking.

As far as changing God's plans, there are numerous instances in the Bible where God changed his mind, and His plans. Our future, our destiny is not set in stone. It is largely determined by we ourselves. God plans to destroy evildoers. If we are evildoers, we can change God's plan toward us by repenting.

Also, why did Jesus feel the need to pray? It was to influence the mind of God. God's plans are "flexible" for want of a better word. Prayer can and does change things.

God's sovereignty is not necessarily incompatible with us having real choices and responsibilities. There are huge volumes written on this. It depends how you define freewill(some calvinists prefer 'free agency' as a term). Do you refer purely to matters related to salvation, or freewill in a broader philosophical sense???

Jason, I think it is because we are held accountable for our choices and they have a hard time with God planning every detail if our choices are ours

I am a calvinist myself, I think we have far less free will than some think we have

God gave us the FREE will to choose whether we go to heaven or hell through grace.

find articles on the dead sea scrolls .. god told people to not worship pagan idles... your worshipping a symbol that was used to execute people for goodness sake. Jesus didn't even gain his title of son of god till 300 years after he died. A king had to change pagan festivals into christian ones to try to up the popular faith.. hello wake up!!!

Did you write this question of your own free will?

Did God "dictate" it to you?