(April 16, 2016 at 2:13 pm)Shadow_Man Wrote: What use is there in pulling the doll's string and having it say its pre-programmed "I love you?" None. But having fully sentient beings freely fall in love with you, freely declare that love, and tell you they want to live with you forever, starting now - that is wondrous. That is the plan. It is unfolding before your eyes.
There is a terrible punishment in store for those who don't declare that love. For many, it is necessarily a declaration made under duress. For others, it is made in the expectation of rewards.
The fact that there is a carrot and stick in this process nullifies the concept of free will. Eternal life and eternal damnation taint the process. If there was no reward for acceptance and no punishment for rejection, only then would a declaration of love be the product of a decision made by a person legitimately exercising free will.
This is one of the biggest arguments against the Christian assertion to me, that God would create beings without the capacity to make the conscious decision to love something (or not), and then expect a conscious decision from them on the pain of eternal torment. It is entirely irrational and, I think, reflects the brutality and emotional vacancy of the people who actually invented this whole tale.