The Scriptures speak much about the rich and powerful overriding the rights of the poor by violence and craft: Here are just a few verses about it:
Woe to those who add house to house and join field to field, Until there is no more room, So that you have to live alone in the midst of the land!
Ezekiel 34:18
Isn’t it enough for you to feed on the good pasture? Must you also trample the rest of the pasture with your feet? Or isn’t it enough that you drink the clear water? Must you also muddy the rest with your feet?
Ps.94:6
They slay the widow and the stranger And murder the orphans.
Exodus 23:7 Keep far from a false charge, and do not kill the innocent or the righteous, for I will not acquit the guilty!
Well, I would think not. Either we have free will or we don't. If God so proclaims all human beings have absolute free will then that means he is NOT going to violate his own declaration. The stories about God and his wrath on humans... just aren't true. I am just guessing that none of the victims of so-called God-invoked wrath responses, or punishments, or revenges...opted to die from their free willed choice. Thus it was inflicted upon them. What sort of God does that? Not mine.
We have free will and God never, not ever, violates his own laws. Can he? Yes of course. But if he did means his laws are mere suggestions that he can violate any time he desires.
It pains me to point out the obvious... but, the very idea of wrath and God-invoked punishments are absolute projections by men of human traits onto God. We then declare God handles mis-deeds the way we would handle them... a compete projection of a human trait onto God. Don't be so misled as to believe such because it is a man-made projection.
Just stop it already. Gees.
Sorry.
This is too broad a definition for free will, for the reasons explained here: https://www.gotquestions.org/free-will.html
God gives no mere human absolute free will, partly due to the tendency to use the will wrongly. Absolute free-will would be a dangerous power to have - that's why no mere human has it, or has ever had it. Our free -will is limited by a variety of factors-
Our nature as human beings: We cannot simply fly over a bridge without a glider or airplane, as birds can.
The actions of others are not in our control. We may want someone to act in a certain way, we can even try to force another to, but in the end, people make their own decisions.
There are set limits by God as to how far He will permit a person to go before He steps in and deals with it either personally, through angels, or through other humans.
I disagree with your positoin... at least so far. We have absolute free will to use it how ever we choose. Period. Right or wrong. Good or bad. And keep in mind that those too are ambigioius terms. What is bad in Africa is good in California. Free will is purely individual. We have endless options. Yet in every thought, every feeling, every action we take is a choice we must make individually... first. "The ancestor to every action is a thought." A thought by you alone.
Now, having said that, show me some biblical writings where God said our free will is resticted, has limits, or such... and I might reconsider my position.
About #3: Any idea what those God-set limits are? Can you describe even one? Please share.
When someone commits a violent crime in the name of God against an innocent and thinks they will get off- They WON'T!
I Kings 21: 7 - 24 (https://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/1ki/21/7/s_312007 )
1 Kings 22: 1- 38 , 2 Kings 9: 1 -37
Well to be fair, there are consequences for any use of free will... regardless of if it is used for good or bad. This is not a restrictive use of free will... because you can still make the decision. This is a consequence. Everything a human free-wills themselves into has consequences. I don't think there are any actual restrictions for how we might use free will. We use it anyway we choose. Granted, there can be severe consequences but at the end of the day we make the choice.
Even if someone holds a gun to your head to force you to make a decision a certain way... you still make the decision. Of course nobody can make the decision for others so yea, the guy holding the gun to your head might decide to pull the trigger and obviously you didn't use free will to choose to die. Even so, you didn't wind up at the end of a gun by accident. You were there as a sum total of decisions you made that led you there. Even if, for example, the guy with the gun thinks he chose you randomly... you made the choice to live there, be there at that moment, etc.
Free will is the most powerful gift given to mankind. We must learn to use it much more wisely. Thanks for your response.
God the creator does not violate free will in the scenes that he has no hand in it other than allowing others to violate each others free will… that has consequences.
Indeed! Everything has consequences. No way to avoid that. Yet, we have complete free will to make the choice that causes them.