Is there free will in Heaven?

[RosslynV]

The spiritual world is a great mystery to us. However, we can confidently state that those souls in Heaven have merited their place there and have conquered sin. Free will presupposes that one has a choice between good and evil. But souls in heaven do not want to commit sin (or evil acts). So the only choice the blessed in Heaven can choose is for the good.

Lucifer was kicked out of Heaven for his disobedience, so sin is possible in Heaven. Anyway, I don’t know where I’m going with this. Was sin only possible for angels? Are human souls capable of sin in Heaven? Free will is a great gift from God so I doubt it would be taken away in Heaven.

 

[4love2God]

RosslynV asks : "those souls in Heaven have merited their place there… Free will presupposes that one has a choice between good and evil. But souls in heaven do not want to commit sin… Are human souls capable of sin in Heaven?"

Hmm.

First, what would a Sin be, to a Soul that has made it out of Purgatory, and into Heaven?
It seems to me, that outside of rebelling against God’s authority (like Satan did), there wouldn’t be much to do in Heaven that would be a Sin.
But, I think their reason to NOT “Sin” is their Love of Jesus Christ, and respect for the honor of being promoted into Heaven.

That said, I believe that when a Soul gets to Heaven, it is pretty-darn Happy to finally being living with Jesus Christ.
I also believe that these Souls have Free Will.
I imagine that they would probably NOT “Sin” (especially knowing what happened to Satan).
They have Free Will do any Good thing, which they would most-likely DO.
And their Free Will could allow them to misbehave, which they probably NOT do.
I believe that when Satan (and his angels) were kicked out of Heaven, that all of the ideas to rebel against God’s kingship of Heaven, were kicked out with them.

So, to that Soul who decides to rebel against God, what would happen to him?
I mean, God (in the distant Past) sent Satan (and a Third of all of God’s angels) out of Heaven
The Bible doesn’t hint at the Fact that a Soul could ever be kicked of Heaven.

It would seem to me that God (Who knows ALL) would know that a particular Poor Soul in Purgatory would one day rebel in Heaven … so that God would leave that Soul in Purgatory for a LONG time.

 

[SoulSolace]

We are cleansed of all unrighteousness (and selfishness) before entering Heaven.
All sin is due to those things. Any sin puts ‘self’ before others.
The propensity for sin was brought into the world through Adam.
Heaven means we have been cleansed of even that propensity.
Like gold tried in the fire.

Praise to Our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

[marymary1975]

This is a very interesting thread. My understanding is that us humans, don’t have any more free will after our death; being that the main reason why you have only until the last minute before your death to repent and convert accept jesus and be saved, versus the minute after your death when if you didnt repent before dying you will be condemned. You cannot repent or accept Christ anymore after dying and you are bounded by your choices when you were alive. So basically your soul goes by the decision you made when you had free will before dying. After death free will is lost and that is why after death there is no option for repent. As to angels I think they do have free will because remember many angels including the devil decided to part away from God so that tells me they have free will. Also i am not sure how it works after the final second judgmemt in front of the whole world. Those are my two ceNTS but I am really interested in reading other’s opinions

 

[CarmelJerome]

A person who marries is no longer free to marry another person. A soul in Heaven is receiving the result of the person’s choices to respond to God’s grace and to unify his or her will entirely with Him; to be filled entirely with Christ; to achieve everlasting beatitude.

The very perfection of Heaven means the ability to choose anything counter to God no longer exists, but this is not at all a loss, because it’s the fruit of the RIGHT choices. The butterfly is not free to go back to the coccoon.

 

[Tiffany10]

I have thought about this question myself many times,
I think we become transformed from human way of thinking to a spiritual way of thinking,
Existence as we now know will pass, replaced by something we know nothing about…
Like a butterfly , a butterfly exists in a human world, but it knows nothing about
Human existence , does a butterfly sin ? I think we will be like butterfly’s living in a spiritual place , incapable of sin , but freedom of choice as to where we fly …

 

[twf]

I have freewill, but I cannot fly- it is not part of my nature. In the same way, as a glorified / deified saint, one has freewill but cannot sin - it is not part of saintly nature.

 

[tonyrey]

The spiritual world is a great mystery to us. However, we can confidently state that those souls in Heaven have merited their place there and have conquered sin. Free will presupposes that one has a choice between good and evil. But souls in heaven do not want to commit sin (or evil acts). So the only choice the blessed in Heaven can choose is for the good.

Free will presupposes not only a choice between good and evil but between many “goods”!

Lucifer was kicked out of Heaven for his disobedience, so sin is possible in Heaven. Anyway, I don’t know where I’m going with this. Was sin only possible for angels? Are human souls capable of sin in Heaven? Free will is a great gift from God so I doubt it would be taken away in Heaven.

Sin is not an expression of freedom but of culpable ignorance. It is a form of slavery - to ourselves - whereas love is a form of freedom - from ourselves.

 

[tonyrey]

This is a very interesting thread. My understanding is that us humans, don’t have any more free will after our death; being that the main reason why you have only until the last minute before your death to repent and convert accept jesus and be saved, versus the minute after your death when if you didnt repent before dying you will be condemned. You cannot repent or accept Christ anymore after dying and you are bounded by your choices when you were alive. So basically your soul goes by the decision you made when you had free will before dying. After death free will is lost and that is why after death there is no option for repent. As to angels I think they do have free will because remember many angels including the devil decided to part away from God so that tells me they have free will. Also i am not sure how it works after the final second judgmemt in front of the whole world. Those are my two ceNTS but I am really interested in reading other’s opinions

Love implies freedom to choose to love. Without free will we cease to be persons made in God’s image and likeness.

 

[mikekle]

So, in Heaven, all the ‘people’ there will be exactly like robots, the very thing God wanted to avoid on earth, by giving us free will…??

I thought God did not want a bunch of ‘robots’?

This is confusing to think about!

 

[Jvrlns]

The spiritual world is a great mystery to us. However, we can confidently state that those souls in Heaven have merited their place there and have conquered sin. Free will presupposes that one has a choice between good and evil. But souls in heaven do not want to commit sin (or evil acts). So the only choice the blessed in Heaven can choose is for the good.

Free will only presupposes one has a choice, not necessarily between good an evil, but also between two goods or two evils. We always choose an evil under the appearance of good because we are deceived, but in heaven you are seeing God face to face, Truth itself, therefore, you can’t be deceived. In heaven you always choose good on your free will.

Lucifer was kicked out of Heaven for his disobedience, so sin is possible in Heaven. Anyway, I don’t know where I’m going with this. Was sin only possible for angels? Are human souls capable of sin in Heaven? Free will is a great gift from God so I doubt it would be taken away in Heaven.

Not really, most if not all theologians agree that angels went through a trial just like us, but in their case it was instantaneous since they are pure spirits and don’t live in time. I don’t think that angels were enjoying the beatific vision when they went through their trial, in fact, I think it is impossible, you just can’t be deceived into committing an evil(wrong judgement) while you are looking at Truth face to face.

Forgive my English, it’s not my native language.

 

[hasantas]

=marymary1975;11841386]

…As to angels I think they do have free will because remember many angels including the devil decided to part away from God so that tells me they have free will…

Satan is not an angel but a evil spirit(Gin as in Quran). Gins have a free will so there are good and evil Gins and Satans are evil gins. Angel have no a free will. Angel fulfil what they got ordered by God. Angels do no do anything by their free will.

 

[hasantas]

The world is place of oppositons:Good and evil, light and dark, hot and cold, negative and positive. We have a free will to elect between them which we are responsible for. But in Heavens there is no polarities so humans in Heavens must not to decide between good and evil and there is no sin in Heavens. Humans have a free will to do what they pleasure with in Heavens.

Humanbeing will go Heavens with their material bodies but not only with souls.

 

[Bob_Crowley]

I’ve wondered about this question myself. As the OP wrote, the devil was in heaven, yet rebelled. He exchanged heaven for hell (not much of a bargain if you ask me).

So what’s to stop human souls who get to heaven from making the same mistake?

I suspect it will have to do with the sheer joy of heaven - you wouldn’t want to swap it for anything else. And what would you swap it for? All the potential joys of earth - even illicit joys eg. the pleasure of lust - will have been transcended into something far more sensous and pleasurable.

It would be as though someone who was pardoned after serving some years in Alcatraz, and was then given a mansion in the hills of Hollywood, courtesy of the judge, along with a houseful of pleasant company.

So why would he want to go back to Alcatraz? Would there be something he missed?

The difference between us and the devil is twofold - first of all he had no experience of anything outside heaven. We’re born into the experience of a fallen world.

Secondly he had (or has) much greater abilities. When he fell, it was because he wanted to be like God Himself. When Man fell, it was simply because he wanted to know everything (and the atheists show that spirit today - knowledge is their god). There’s a difference.

 

[tonyrey]

So, in Heaven, all the ‘people’ there will be exactly like robots, the very thing God wanted to avoid on earth, by giving us free will…??

I thought God did not want a bunch of ‘robots’?

This is confusing to think about!

Without free will we would be robots because we wouldn’t be able to make our own decisions. In Heaven we have far greater scope for choice than in Hell because we are not restricted by selfishness and lack of love for others. The Communion of Saints offers far more opportunities for enjoyment, development and fulfilment than “splendid” isolation. We are made in God’s image and share in His creativity instead of being left to our own devices…

 

[davidv]

=marymary1975;11841386]

Satan is not an angel but a evil spirit(Gin as in Quran).

This not in accord with Catholic teaching.

391 Behind the disobedient choice of our first parents lurks a seductive voice, opposed to God, which makes them fall into death out of envy.266 Scripture and the Church’s Tradition see in this being a fallen angel, called “Satan” or the “devil”.267 The Church teaches that Satan was at first a good angel, made by God: "The devil and the other demons were indeed created naturally good by God, but they became evil by their own doing."268

Gins have a free will so there are good and evil Gins and Satans are evil gins. Angel have no a free will. Angel fulfil what they got ordered by God. Angels do no do anything by their free will.

.
“…they became evil by their own doing” quote from the Catechism clearly indicates that free will was involved.

 

[laircy]

Jimmy Akin wrote an interesting article about free will in heaven: strangenotions.com/will-we-have-free-will-in-heaven/

 

[fhansen]

The spiritual world is a great mystery to us. However, we can confidently state that those souls in Heaven have merited their place there and have conquered sin. Free will presupposes that one has a choice between good and evil. But souls in heaven do not want to commit sin (or evil acts). So the only choice the blessed in Heaven can choose is for the good.

Lucifer was kicked out of Heaven for his disobedience, so sin is possible in Heaven. Anyway, I don’t know where I’m going with this. Was sin only possible for angels? Are human souls capable of sin in Heaven? Free will is a great gift from God so I doubt it would be taken away in Heaven.

The will is always predisposed towards the good. But we don’t necessarily know what the good is. But as we do come to know and embrace the true good in this life with the help of grace, and reject evil, which is also known in this life, we then will find ourselves coming near to God, ultimately entering into His presence in heaven. In heaven the ultimate Good is known directly, intuitively, and cannot be resisted or refused because our desires are all met, satisfaction is complete-the will is free but there is nothing more to will, nothing more to want.

 

[jonathan_hili]

I don’t think there is a contradiction between free will and eternally choosing not to sin in Heaven.

The nature of sin is movement away from God, the Good. Now, we do so for a variety of reasons: lack of or mistaken knowledge of the good, deliberate desire to choose against the good, giving into temptation and vices, and so on.

However, it seems none of these would apply in Heaven. Being in God’s direct presence, we cannot be confused about what the Good is; nor can we deliberately choose against the good, since our wills (through Purgatory) would be conformed to the good and desiring Him; and we would have no vicious temptations. Yet, in all these situations we are still free. If Heaven was not the direct apprehension of God, but say, some earthly paradise without God’s presence, sin may very well still be a live reality.