Does God have free will?
If not, why not; but if He does, can He choose evil?
It depends on how you define God, I think.
I’ve heard lots of definitions where he would definitely have free will, but plenty where he logically could not have free will.
If your definition is that “God is all that is good”, for example, then he himself can’t have free will based on the fact that for him to do something bad would make him not God.
If going based on the Bible, I would argue that he does have free will, and in fact chooses to do evil more often than not (e.g. endorse slavery, endorse human sacrifice, command genocide on several occasions, command that his followers cut open the bellies of pregnant heathens so they can’t have babies and the babies they’re currently gestating die, command that rape survivors either get stoned to death or marry their rapist depending on whether they were raped in the countryside or in a city, etc).
God is free to be Himself and live out His nature.
God does not endorse slavery….
1 Timothy 1:8-11 Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, **enslavers**, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.
God doesn’t endorse human sacrifice…
Jeremiah 19:5 And have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not command or decree, nor did it come into my mind.
Unless you include Christ (but technically that’s God/human sacrifice) and He went willingly.
God was ruling as Israel’s national king…
He was their political king for a time. He lead them into wars and political movements of victory.
God does not condone rape…
Whether they were in the country side or not… It says if she “screamed for help” in the city she was not to be killed. The point is she must show some “resistance” as a rule of thumb if there’s people nearby who can help. In the countryside no one can help. The point is if the woman had people nearby and she never cried for help or had any resistance it was considered consent. This would motivate women to cry for help if they weren’t sneaking around and she regretted it. You knew it had to be a real rape to cry out for help with the stakes so high.
Deut 22:24 Then ye shall bring them both out unto the gate of that city, and ye shall stone them with stones that they die; the damsel, because she cried not, being in the city; and the man, because he hath humbled his neighbour’s wife: so thou shalt put away evil from among you.
By the way if the father refused to let them to marry they would not marry and he’d just pay a fine. The father had to represent the woman in those days so he would represent her will on her behalf to the rapist. There’s a loophole to the marriage.
Exodus 22:17 If her father utterly refuse to give her unto him, he shall pay money according to the dowry of virgins.
"God does not endorse slavery…."
That's funny. 'Cause in Leviticus 25:44 he explicitly says his followers can own slaves:
"Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves."
And he says that slaves can be given to your children as their inheritance:
"You can bequeath them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life..." (Leviticus 25:46)
And that fathers can sell their daughters into sex slavery:
“A young woman who was sold by her father doesn’t gain her freedom in the same way that a man does. If she doesn’t please the man who bought her to be his wife, he must let her be bought back. He cannot sell her to foreigners; this would break the contract he made with her. If he selects her as a wife for his son, he must treat her as his own daughter.” (Exodus 21:7-9)
"God doesn’t endorse human sacrifice…"
My dude. My buddy. My pal.
Also what about that time Abraham was told to sacrifice his son?
Or when God killed all the firstborn in Egypt?
Or when Jephthah made a vow to sacrifice whatever would come out of the door of his house and God accepted the vow, knowing full well that the first thing would be a human, who was then sacrificed?
"The point is if the woman had people nearby and she never cried for help or had any resistance it was considered consent."
You... you realize you're victim-blaming rape victims, right? Not screaming for help does NOT equal consent. That's not how consent works.
And if she DID consent without coersion she doesn't deserve to be stoned to death.
"By the way if the father refused to let them to marry they would not marry and he’d just pay a fine."
a) Yes, the rapist would pay a fine to the injured party -- which according to the Bible was the father, not the rape survivor. "You break it, you buy it" kind of thing. Because women are legally possessions with no self-autonomy according to the Bible.
b) Yes, if the FATHER decided she shouldn't marry him, not if the VICTIM decided she wouldn't marry her rapist.
c) And you think just paying a FINE is the correct punishment for RAPE???
d
"The father had to represent the woman in those days so he would represent her will on her behalf to the rapist."
Yes, the father was the one the rapist dealt with -- because women weren't legally considered people. Funny how you skip over that.
And you're entirely assuming that he'd represent her will. Because guess what?
