Red Sky at Morning
Superstar
- Joined
- Mar 15, 2017
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- 13,933
My understanding is that while Man is born with an inclination for evil (like a child whose mother drank throughout the pregnancy is born with an inclination for intoxicants), he retains freewill. All intelligent beings have freewill. Intelligence & freewill are two sides of the same coin…you can’t have one without the other.Well,
Biblically speaking,
Free will to choose between doing good and evil doesnt exist as man is a slave to sin by his very nature. I believe man can turn to Christ and receive the gift of salvation, but only when the holy spirit is present to illuminate a person to their sinful condition and need for repentance. Jesus said he will send the comforter(the holy spirit) to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment.
I cant speak to any degree of mental impairment that would hinder proper understanding the gospel, but we see in the scriptures that natural man wasnt even able to understand the gospel apart from a work of the holy spirit anyways. It will be the same holy spirit that will work in the heart and mind of those who would otherwise struggle to understand. I really dont have an answer beyond that other than God helps people that are otherwise unable.
Thats the unfortunate reality with us finite beings. We are given a time to repent and then one day that oppurtunity is no longer there. These people had a chance to hear the gospel and an oppurtunity to react to it at some point and time with their free will. It is sad their free will could possibly be taken away by a debilitating injury, but its no diff then when someone loses their free will or ability to repent at the moment of death. At some point we all lose free will to accept Christ. Idk how God will judge acts where no free will is involved, but it wont stop him from judging that persons actions before they lost their free will. We will be without excuse. We all need to repent and turn to the living Christ while today is still today and while we have the free will to do so, because tommorow our free will may be taken away. Unless these people become instantaneously brain dead its probable they will be able to discern the rapid decline in their health and hopefully the awareness of their dwindling mortality leads them to repent when it still counts.My understanding is that while Man is born with an inclination for evil (like a child whose mother drank throughout the pregnancy is born with an inclination for intoxicants), he retains freewill. All intelligent beings have freewill. Intelligence & freewill are two sides of the same coin…you can’t have one without the other.
Now, if powerful forces pharmacologically move upon the rest of the population to deprive it of freewill and independent thought, that has huge implications for the criminal-justice system. The relevance of courts, laws, prisons, even the law profession itself, comes into question. If you are incapacitated to the point where you can’t rebel against any authorities, then technically you can’t commit a crime against your neighbor and by extension you cannot commit a crime (sin) against God. The latter will then have reverberations through the heavenly court system (if I can call it that)…of which the Day of Atonement is pivotal.
“As I looked,
Thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took His seat. His clothing was a white as snow; the hair of His head was white like wool. His throne was flaming with fire and its wheels were all ablaze. A river of fire was flowing, coming out from before Him. Thousands upon thousands attended Him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him. The court was seated and the books were opened.” Daniel 7:9-10
“Even now my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high…...on behalf of a man he pleads with God as a man pleads for his friend” Job 16:19-21