Ok, maybe I'm confused.

My neighbor is a pastor of the Church of God. We have had many long discussions. (He of course was afraid to enter my tarot card reading room, he thought he might be "corrupted" or perhaps even possessed.) He had so much fear.

Anyway, I could see that the idea of "free will" was a thorn in their side. Their idea of free will was to choose their way or go the way of Satan and Hell. This being the only choice, this being their idea of free will.

This is not what free will is about.

Will is always "free." You either have it or you don't. If you don't then you are a robot, literally. All living things are living parts of God and have the will within them to use or not to use.

We can be brainwashed, we can be programed, we can be manipulated, we can be hypnotized, we can be made into slaves, but the will eventually steps up and says:

I want to be free. Screw this ****.

Jeannie

My X-husband's attitude was one and the same. Love me or else!
Serve me or else! Agree with me or else. etc etc.

(He may have eventually killed me, had I not left him.)

(Maybe he did in a different reality.)

You cannot demand love and respect. You have to earn it.

1 Corinthians 10:27-29


Perhaps your neighbor was concerned about your conscience?

There have been many interesting opinions on this topic during the course of this thread... some of which are quite compelling...

It is of my opinion that there is no such a thing a 'free will'...

All choice(s) has/have some mitigating influencial factors, which may or may not be within one's perceptional capabilities...

If 'free will' exists, then it exists for all. This is simply not the case.

If one truly wants to make what one feels is a better choice, but cannot because of some previously ingrained factor within the personal pyche, which is unable to be recognized by any measure of self-awareness, then that one has no will which is 'free'...

To me I have total freewill. I accept things just happen. not that the devil did it or made me do it. That is just a cop out. My freewill is to believe the scriptures. To believe in a creator and his name and only name is Yahweh. It is the (I Am That I Am) is what his name means. I am whatever you need me to be. My freewill accepts he sent his son as an example for us. That his name is Yahshua which means Yahweh saves and thier is know other name that can do this for it is his fathers and ours to accept.Yahshua does not save us, his father does. He Yahshua came as a gift to us. Yahweh does not send anyone to eternal torment. That would mean you have a immortal soul. The scriptures does not say this anywhere.The period we are here is training. Training how to live now and in the after world if Yahweh grants that to us. He is not a tyrant. I know many want to dismiss him because of what happened early in the scriptures. He is the giver of life and the taker of it. That is in todays world the afterlife.No one goes to Hell because thier is no such place. This is satans deception. This causes strife to those who fear a eternity of torture.Yahweh is love. Were you love, when your child was born and forever more? No difference. Freewill is given to us freely to see who will do as thier Father in Heaven says for thier own good or not. The judgement you speak of gives a very short punishment of death.no more existance. In his love all loved ones who choose a different path will be wiped from your mind. Why for when The New Jerusalem comes down all those who freely chose to follow thier father will be completely free of all the evil that is in this world. We will be given new names to reflect our sonship. Then we will be above the Angels in Heaven as we live on earth for eternity. 70 or 80 years a generation what is that to infinity? Yahweh is love and freewill he gives and does not enterfere with it....Blessings...Miles

"Yahweh is love"

"Jesus is love"

"God is love"

Its all the same difference.

Love is the way the truth and the light. No one can come to "the father" except by the way of Love.

I am that I am,
Jeannie

The will is free. There is a Will. If you did not have one, you would be like a computer, a robot, a drone, only following programming. You, I hope, are not.



I believe it is indeed the case. It could not be the other way. Because the Will is what gives life. It exists for all, even down to the tiniest particle. HOWEVER All do not use it. All are not aware of it.




Will is always free because God is free. (IMHO) Will is the desire of the one intelligent being that is the body of all that is. If you do not believe in Will, you are probably like one who does not believe in spirit, soul, life, God.

The will is the power of self direction. You can use it or ignore it's potential. You can deny it exists. But by the very fact that you can discuss it, it exists. A robot would not know in the slightest what you were talking about. Neither would a computer. Artificial Intelligence has no will.



From the Power of Will:

For the Will "does not sensate: that is done by the senses;

it does not cognize: that is done by the intellect;

it does not crave or loathe an object of choice: that is done by the affections;

it does not judge of the nature, or value, or qualities of an object: that is done by the intellect;

it does not moralize on the right or wrong of an object, or of an act of choice: that is done by the conscience (loosely speaking):

it does not select the object to be chosen or to be refused, and set it out distinct and defined. known and discriminated from all others, and thus made ready, after passing under the review of all the other faculties, to be chosen or refused by the Will: for this act of selecting has already been done by the intellect."

They killed Yahshua for saying ( I AM ) Which he was in the burning Bush.. To apply them to yourself is putting yourself up pretty High.. Dagon was said to be this....Miles

But then it is still a fact that I am.

I have always said that I only know one thing for absolute certain. That is that I am.

Everything else is just opinion.

Jeannie

I guess it depends on how you believe in those words. You see the hebrew words for I Am That I Am is the name of Yahweh. That is why they said he Blaspemed because he said that is who he was. The same reason Stephen in Acts 7 was stoned to death...Blessings..Miles

That is because they do not realize that they are God.

All is God.

All has a presence within them that says:
"I AM"

I don't care a tinkers damn who stoned who. They were unaware of what they were doing.

What they do unto others they do unto themselves.

What you do unto others you to to God.

Jeannie

I can agree with your last statement..Blessings..Miles

If you agree with my last statement then you must also agree that "others" equal "God"

If "others" equal "God" then you too must be "God"

If you do not agree that you have a presence in you that states "I AM" how many times a day have you said that? (I am...)

The awareness that you exist is an awareness that states, "I AM"

I Exist.

That is what I know for certain.

Jeannie

The Holy spirit when it enters you is part of Yahweh yes. It is though not Yahweh. Yahshua said we are Elohim quoting from the psalms. Yahweh calls himself Elohim. The great Judge.We are judges within the body. This we do for love just as you judge your children when they mess up your rules. Which are usually hopefully are for thier own good. But you are not I Am. Then what you are saying is you are the g-d of this world. I am not ( I Am ) sure you know who that is. Now whether you want to lift yourself up to an elevation that proceeds Blasphamey I would recommend getting that idea comepletly out of your head. Now if your pagan and do not believe in the scriptures then i guess it is true as you spoke about stoning.. The scriptures though make it very clear about Yahweh's name.. Yahshua's has been the only one to deserve and be I Am..Shalom...Miles

Same as nature vs. nurture-

A little bit of both...

Peace to you then. You separate yourself from God. I consider myself part of the whole -I am. I don't claim to be THE GOD of this world or any other world except my own. I don't call myself pagan either. I don't give names to gods either. Everybody has a name for their God. Then they proceed to kill each other over that dispute. God has no name.

You have free will whether you belong to a group or not. You always have the choice to choose their way, your way or some other way. Even though you are influenced by what you are taught you still have the option to use it or ignore it. Even if you are held against your will and forced into submission physically you still have choices mentally.


Some interesting thoughts and displays of free will are all in this thread...

He does have a name. Yahshua prophesied another would come in his name. That is who the world would accept. Those who have reverenced his name you will find since the Holy Spirit has come live in shalom. The prophesied name is where all the wars have come from. Because confusion is in it. People hold on high popes who slaughtered who knows how many. Martin Luther is held upon high yet he burned Jews at the stake and burnt thier towns. They are Hitlers because Hitler used martin luthers writings at least why the Jews should be exterminated. My own brethern The Poor men of Lyons that popes slaughtered 800,000 of us yet we are still here. We did not fight back but preached about the lies and atrocities of the day. They reverenced Yahweh's name. You can still see the stakes in England where they mounted thier heads at the steps of the church to warn others thier fate. They died for that name.It will happen again.You speak of wars in the names of g-ds. You are right because they did not teach what the scriptures say. This is the spirit of Anti-messiah in the world today. Proclaiming what they are not and following after seducing spirits. The Spirit of Yahweh will not enter that spirit. Only the spirit of the lawless one will...Miles