How would knowing that God exists impede free will?

Because if there was absolute proof of God's existence, then there would be no such thing as believing in God or not believing in God. There would be no way to deny it. There would be no choice in the matter.....it would be coerced. God doesn't coerce you into doing anything you don't want.

God wants us to choose him because we want to, not because we have to. He wants for you to have a certain measure of FAITH and not have to rely on total proof in order to believe in him.

He doesn't give absolute proof, but he has made his existence sufficiently obvious to every one of us, so we will all be without excuse.

EDIT --- Yeah so what? That was then, this is now. That was before the Fall of Man. The fact that Adam and Eve had knowledge of God and still chose to disobey him, shows the rebelliousness and the sinfullness of man and why we deserve to be damned.

All I can say to you about this matter is that God chooses not to reveal himself fully to us, presumably because he does not deem it is necessary in order for us to believe. We already have sufficient reason to conclude that he is there.

Aside from that, we need to have faith. We must have faith that Christ has died to save us, and that God has given a provision for our salvation, even though we don't deserve it.

Why do you require total proof? You are not going to get it. That is not what religion is. You have to find in your heart to make a leap of faith sometimes.

You are making the presupposition that God does exist and gives us free will. The first scenario is flawed. The children have the freedom to react in any way they would like. The situation they are placed in isn't chosen by anyone. Many would argue that this helps prove against freewill and that the universe is deterministic (even many Christians believe this). and for 2nd scenario: you might look at the situation and say that it is terrible, but God didn't create the world to be a utopia. Evil exists. As cruel as it seems, "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" and the punishment for sin is death (damnation). God loves both the victim and the criminal, but it his action to save them in the life that matters, an eternal one. All in all, I think the question is much much deeper than what is actually asked, and this answer, although insufficient, is the best I can do with the setup.

It wouldn't.

I asked a question about this the other day (about why faith was a requirement). The christians all answered something along the lines of, "Oh, you HAVE to have faith!" or "knowing god existed would mean no free will!" However, not one of them could explain why.

People today *know* for a fact that some things are illegal, but they do them anyway. They still have the free will to choose to do them or not, even though they absolutely know the law and know what the consequences are.

The same would be true of god -- having him provide absolute, undisputable proof of his existence wouldn't matter, people would still have the free will to choose to follow his proven-to-exist laws or not, and suffer the consequences if they didn't. It makes no difference whether there's "faith" (without any evidence) in god or proven, verifiable knowledge that god exists. So the "faith" requirement isn't needed at all...clearly it's an after-the-fact artifice to try and explain away the complete lack of evidence for their god :)

Peace.

Free will is the right to decide. How can you make a good decision if you don't have all the facts?

(2000 year old rumors do not equal facts)

Quote: "There would be no choice in the matter......it would be coerced. God doesn't coerce you into doing anything you don't want."

Really? Because by your definition God is coercing me to believe in electricity, atoms, air, other people, etc etc. by allowing absolute proof of their existence.

Where is our free will to 'believe' or 'not believe' in all of these things? I guess God sometimes sees it fit to take our free will away from us, as long as it doesn't result in helping us get to heaven.

It wouldn't.

The mere existence of an omniscient being, however, *would* preclude free will from existing in the first place.

Addendum: "Because if there was absolute proof of God's existence, then there would be no such thing as believing in God or not believing in God. There would be no choice in the matter......it would be coerced. God never coercing anyone into doing anything they don't want."

Are you joking? Your argument is that the very existence of facts violates our free will?

Besides, half of the country doesn't accept evolution. I'd say that proof doesn't really count for much when it comes to the stubbornly ignorant.

Anyways, free will doesn't have anything to do with making conscious decisions. It's simply the property of nondeterministic (living) systems to act through internal volition.

"He doesn't give absolute proof, but he has made his existence sufficiently obvious to every one of us, so we will all be without excuse."

The fact that there are many people who find insufficient cause to believe in God proves your claim to be demonstrably false.

If he'd made his existence sufficiently obvious to every one of us, every one of us would believe in him.

"Why do you require total proof? You are not going to get it."

A single shred of evidence would be a nice start.

Not enough for me to accept God's existence as true, but atleast it'd be *something*.

I do not fathom your conception of how God hampers free will. This is merely an opinion, thus, God does not use coercion. Furthermore, the information you've elicited is simply contrived from stories in the bible, which is not meant to be read literally, thus, it is simply a book to show us how life works.

I hear the voice of a spirit that claims to be God™.

That means conversation with a spirit that claims to be God Almighty. Maybe He is lying, but that is what He say's. He and I do not 'get along' very well.

Even His suggestions are kind of like a demand. If you don't do what He wants, He keeps talking about it until the person, me, wants to slam his head against the wall.

He gets what He wants.

I don't understand the disobedience thing. The only way it could happen is if He isn't talking to you.

Your so right, Some would worship and follow HIM, Most would Ignore HIM. The Old Testament is full of ups and downs.

GOD Bless YA,

Chicago Bob. (Imasinner)

Please pray for our Country and Our President (DAILY)

There is more Joy in JESUS in 24 hours, Than there is in the World in 365 Days. I have tried them both.(ME TO)

R.A. Torrey.

And yet, many say that "miracles" are "proof" that a "god" exists. If they really believe that a "god" wouldn't "reveal" itself, why do they believe in "miracles?"

Nothing real requires faith.

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Because you limit yourself to what you think God would want you to do when you should really only limit yourself to what you think is right and what would improve your life.