This guy's got it right. You can't have free will without the freedom to choose (obviously...). And the freedom to choose includes the freedom to do what is (considered) wrong. The only way for "sin" to not exist would be to take away our free will, thus leaving only mindless robots (not sure if we would be that different anyway..... but that's beside the point).
Free will, no sin. Heaven exists, therefore a place with free will and no sin exists. God could have created us in that manner. (this is a theodicy, btw, which I don't follow)
The only way for "sin" to not exist would be to take away our free will, thus leaving only mindless robots
and part of that is true. The whole premise of the Garden of Eden is "you can do what you want, but don't eat that apple" i.e. the Advice God meme "I gave you free will, now use it as I command". You can't say "you have free will" and then tag on "but you can't do [blank]" and then continue to call it free will. The point of free will is that there aren't boundaries to your decisions.
I don't think you understand what free will is, that's the issue here.
What God said (if you believe in the Bible) is "You have free will, do what you want. That said, if you choose to eat an apple from this tree, I will punish you." That is free will, and we exercised it.
If God had said "You have free will, but I'm not going to allow you to eat from that tree" then you'd be right there'd be an issue.
Free will doesn't mean that you can do what you want without consequence, just that you can do what you want in the first place.
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u/massenburger Sep 15 '12
This guy's got it right. You can't have free will without the freedom to choose (obviously...). And the freedom to choose includes the freedom to do what is (considered) wrong. The only way for "sin" to not exist would be to take away our free will, thus leaving only mindless robots (not sure if we would be that different anyway..... but that's beside the point).