Why would a perfect being make an imperfect world?

[Asmodee]

Please enlighten me.  What "one area" do we have complete free will over?

I made it very clear, I'm not sure why you can't understand what I said. Here it is one more time, the only true will you have is choosing Christ or rejecting Him, outside that all bets are off.
I do not see how I can make this any clearer.

GC

Christ, would you relax?  I didn't remember you saying that.  I'm sure you remember every word of every conversation you've ever had, but I can barely remember what day of the week it is some days.  Which is why I asked for qualification.  Now it is clear what you are saying.

What you are saying is that free will is both vitally important and not very important at all.  When Jesus comes back, it won't exist.  In Heaven or Hell you will no longer be able to make that choice, so long-term, God really doesn't care that much about free will.

And before Jesus existed, free will didn't exist.  Nobody could choose to accept or reject a savior before he existed and nobody was expected to.  So, early on, free will was also not at all important to God.

So, is free will an important concept or is it not?  Because you talk as if it is, but your description of it says otherwise.  It certainly doesn't look like something God cares much about, given that it is to exist for only a couple thousand years out of all of eternity.  Hell, even if you go by the 13.7 billion years of the universe, or even the 6,000 years morons think the universe existed there has been more time already without free will than there ever will be with it.

I think you are a bit confused as to the nature of free will.  Free will is the ability to act freely according to my own will.  What you're talking about is the ability to make one single, extremely specific choice.  I don't know what you think "free will" is, but if I chain you up in my basement and give you the choice to perform fellatio on me or be violently murdered, that is not "free will".  You are a slave.  Just because I give you a choice between two things I have not given you "free will".  You grossly misunderstand the very basic meaning of the concept.

---

Oh, there are arguments against it aplenty.  First, free will is a later concept, not something which actually made it into the Bible.  The Bible never even hints that this is a thing.  Quite the opposite, God freely tampered with free will in the Bible.  When she really wanted to punish people for ding bad she "hardened Pharaoh's heart" to make sure he would do bad so she could punish all the little babies in Egypt.  The God of the Bible certainly doesn't hold free will as this sacred pinnacle his followers today do.

And then there's the big argument against it.  If free will is so important, why will it no longer exist when you get to Heaven?  If free will is so important to God then why is the destination sans-free will?  I've never heard any Christian say that they think you will have the ability to sin in Heaven.  So right now free will is the most important thing ever, but in Heaven it will be utterly unimportant?  How about this as an alternate explanation.  Given that free will is not mentioned in the Bible at all, that God herself tampers with it as if it's meaningless and that it will no longer exist in Heaven, isn't it possible that free will is really nothing more than a convenient excuse to throw out when your brain just isn't limber enough to do the real mental gymnastics it takes to excuse the idiocy and contradictions in your beliefs?  Because I'm thinking that's the answer right there.

First, it does not follow that if Free Will is important in this life, it must be important in the next. Second, Free Will for the sake of Free Will is not what God measures as important in this life, it is what you do with the Free Will--choosing God. If you achieved this, the purpose of Free Will has been complete. 

And Free Will is certainly throughout the Bible. Even with your objection that God tampers with it...isn't that just further proof that it exists?

My objection that God tampers with it was simply a way of pointing out that it wasn't apparently that important.  Pharaoh was not given the opportunity to "choose God".

Where, in the Bible, does it in any way mention "free will"?  Yes, you can choose or reject God, but again, that is a single choice, not an overall "free will" theme.

And quick note, the definition of "free will" the two of you are using doesn't match.  On says it's "choosing Christ", the other "choosing God".  It's almost as if you guys are making this shit up as you go along.  Oh wait...YOU ARE!