Ah, close, but not quite. What I’m trying to say is that Henry Ford does indeed allow everyone to have their Model T in whatever color they want; it doesn’t have to be black. However, it just so happens that everyone wants a black Model T!
This is where I haven’t completely hashed out my line of thought yet, but I think it makes sense so far. In a nutshell, we have free will, but we also have many natural propensities towards certain thoughts and behaviors. Some people seem predisposed to be more “good” while others are predisposed to be more “evil,” regardless of what we consider to be “good.” So, just on that point, if “free will” exists, then it can clearly be reconciled with quite significant predispositions. So, it seems to me that, under our assumptions, **God could keep free will and reduce a lot of sin just by creating people that are more likely to do more good. **
Yes, right, that is the accepted dogma. Eh, I think what I said in that post was misleading. I think what I wrote in this post explains it a little better. I’ll elaborate a bit more.
From post #39 - “Everyone may be a sinner, but it can’t be denied that some people are a lot worse than others. Not everyone is a rapist. Not everyone is a child molester. People are not born as blank slates; even if it is a “free choice,” different people will choose different things.”
So, I don’t mean a dichotomy between people that are 100% obedient to God and people that always disobey God, but rather a difference of degree; maybe a continuity of sinfulness? Heh.