Argument from evil, restated

[whatever76]

Delighted to meet you, Zarith.

If the ability to choose is so important, why then do I end up in a place where I have no choice, if I make the right choice the first time? Free will is the most important thing ... but only up to a point?

Before we enter heaven, we willingly ask God to make us righteous-- to put to death our sinful self. God cannot remove the impure part of us unless we first ask Him to. Suppose you're a brilliant sculptor who makes living clay people. You give them the desire for food, called hunger. But they are clay, they do not need food. Nevertheless, some choose to eat for pleasure. Others tell you, "Take this craving from us!" If you sever their hunger instinct, are you violating their free will?

I think you avoid the question Zarith is asking. Why have an impure part to remove in the first place? Why give us the option? It's like if you built a car without wheels and then blamed the car for not making the right choice to have wheels. Or to use your analogy, why create clay people who hunger but do not need food to live?

Or to get right down to it, why create a paradise for your creatures and then offer a means to violate their right to live there? Or if there is an option, why not create your people so they cannot be deceived by snakes?
Or why not let their children back in since they were innocent of making the choice?

If god desires for people to choose to love him, then why is there an expiration date on this offer? Surely if hell existed, it would be filled with people who would make a different choice if given one more chance. Don't you think?

Yes, they'd want to be in heaven. But they'd choose heaven for pleasure, not for God. Desiring something, no matter how much, cannot persuade you to love somebody. If a millionaire told you, "Love me and I'll give you a car," could you do it? You might love the car, but not the man. It is impossible to love someone who is a means (of instrumental value) and not an end (destination). If God is not an end in your life right now, the offer of a different end won't change anything. God said, "Have no other gods before me." If you value heaven above God, you cannot inherit heaven.

If this topic still interests you, read Luke 16:19–31:
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?sea...ersion=NLT

If so, then why even bring up heaven or hell? Why tell the story of what happens to people who have everything they wanted and didn't help others if not to play upon their desires and fears?

You would be hard pressed to prove to me that what you believe is not out of fear of what will happen to you if you don't. A religion where everyone got into heaven no matter what they believed or did wouldn't have much influence, now would it? Fear is a requirement.