free will

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In Confessions, St. Augustine expresses his free will theodicy, which is one of the most influential theodicies and serves as a prominent foundation to Christianity. He explains his theodicy as the following: free will, not evil, causes sin. St. Augustine, an influential church father believed that our ultimate good of human beings is to lead a spiritual life and turn toward God. He emphasizes that humans cannot do this by themselves. In fact, it requires Gods grace alongside our free will. However, it is mainly man that causes most of evil. In the dynamic poem Paradise Lost, free will is a consistent theme. Milton acknowledges man to have reason alongside free will. Similarly to Augustine, Milton writes, “reason also is choice”(III:108). Milton explains that when God gave us reason, he gave us free will. It is then our choice to obey or disobey God. In this paper, I will explore the joint between free will and reason in relation to our obedience and/ or disobedience to God. More so, this paper will seek to understand that the presence of evil is not a result of Satan, but God providing humans with free will.
In Paradise Lost, Milton uses the creation story as a strategy to explain that while free will and reason may facilitate us to obey God, it confronts mans innate selfish needs that causes us to disobey God, not Satan. Most Christian denominations understand free will from the fall of man. In the same instance, the fall of man is one that illustrates the original sin and man’s disobedience to God that results in our fall from God’s grace. In Book IV, Milton seeks to understand the presence of evil by the creation story. He describes Satan entering Eden, and as he sees Adam and Eve he is filled with jealousy(IV:288-258). Mil...

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...powerful God, he is also a loving and just God. He seeks for his creation love him whole-heartedly and independent from any external forces. He purposely did not create us with the same reasoning as his angels so that we can pick to obey him.
When we consider the creation story: Adam and Eve were considered perfect in all ways. Then, they disobey God, and tarnish their perfect image and must leave the Garden of Eden. So why did God not stop them if he knew that it would catastrophic for all generations to come? Was the fall inevitable? After Adam and Eve’s fall they are no longer perfect, but good humans. However, they develop a new fond appreciation and understanding of God’s love for them. Thus, they willingly begin working towards the path to his love. God gave Adam and Eve a choice to either obey God or their innate nature to eat the apple. So, the evil that

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