Will Humans Have Freewill in Heaven?

[river]

Christians often explain why God allowed Adam to sin by saying thatthat without freewill it would be impossible for man to truly love God and of course, a freewill meant the possibility of sin. But this raises the question will humans have freewill in Heaven? If so then the same possibility of sin will exist. What will the consequence be tfor those who sin in Heaven? What were the consequences tor the angels that sinned?

If true love and joy could not exist in Eden without freewill and the possibility of sin then it cannot exist in Heaven. In fact, there will not only be the possibility of sin but it is probable, even inevitable that many humans will sin.

Every human who goes to Heaven will know at least one person who did not make it. A spouse, a parent, a child, a friend. The book of Revelations tells us the smoke of there torment will go up before the Lord forever. For the humans in Heaven this will be a constant reminder of something sinister in God. This will be worse than slavery. The African slaves could not choose their actions and were often forced to smile at the most gruesome treatments but at least they had the privacy of their own feelings and thoughts. In the presence of a God who knows our thoughts before we think them we won't even have that. We will be like zombies. If we have any freewill at all we will seek to be free. The evil of rebellion is not in the rebel but in the tyranny that makes rebellion necessary.

Some may be tempted to say that we will be so grateful for the sacrifice of Jesus that we won't want to rebel. Sacrifice alone cannot sustain gratitude. If anything, sacrifice with strings of obligation attached to it evokes resentment.

The smoke of the torment of our loved ones will go up as an eternal reminder to us of what will happen if we sin. Gratitude cannot be sustained under threat.. Gratitude and love will die and in their place will arise fear and hatred of this mater who cannot be resisted. Our fear and hatred will be known and surely punished. Since there will be no more sacrifice for sin the only punishment will be eternal damnation. The only way God can avoid eventually having to damn the entire human race is to take away our freewill.

It doesn't help to say that we will be perfect beings who won't have a sin nature that can feel fear, resentment and rebellion. The angels who rebelled in Heaven, not just the ones who rebelled with satan but also the ones who in Jude left their first estate and married human women, were not descendants of Adam and had no sin nature but they did have freewill. Paul tells us we will be like the angels. If the angels could rebel then we will be able to as well. Again, if God is able to let us have free will but still keep us from rebelling in Heaven then he could have done it in Eden and he could have kept the angels from rebelling. If we resort to the God can do anything answer we defeat the God had to allow sin answer.

[JoeyKnothead]

Imagine for one moment you appear at the gates of heaven and st pete is there ushering you in, i hesitate and say "when i enter this place will i be able to think freely?"

Pete replies "Sorry old boy, once you get through this gate you will never want for anything, you will never become jealous or angry, you will never feel hate or lust, your mind will be channelled purely to the goodness and grace of god, your thoughts will be of worship and praise."

or

Pete replies "Yes old chap, once you get through these doors you will be free to express yourself in anyway, your mind is your own, however i'd keep a tight rien on any sinful thoughts, he knows you see, he knows everything you will think about for the rest of eternity, just you dont, so be aware its 24/7 monitoring and the punishment will be hell."

Now both these options sound abhorrant, is there a third?

Option 3: keep a doobie on you always, and when you die say whatever'll get you into heaven, smoke that doobie with God, and then when He's all mellow and all, tell him to HELP THE NEEDY and quit worrying so much about His celestial utopia.