Free Will cannot exist as defined by Christians. Especially as relating to the Garden of Eden.

I will take the arguments that Pro has brought up in his topic, Free Agency of Man, and present evidence to support my case point by point. Thank you for allowing me to use the scriptures that I esteem as being true and that are available through my church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Argument 1 1. Pro: God is accountable and basically evil because he gave us our Free Agency when we did not have a prior knowledge of good and evil 2. Con: My defense: God is not accountable because we did have a knowledge of good and evil before we came to earth. Furthermore, we had the choice to follow God's plan of free agency and freedom of choice, or to follow Lucifer's plan of compulsion. God's purpose: Pearl of Great Price Moses 1:39 For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man Through this statement we can see that God's purpose is to bring our eternal happiness. Eternal happiness is attained through immortality and eternal life. Immortality and eternal life are brought about by the great plan of salvation offered to us, God's children. A plan which we freely accepted. Doctrine and Covenants 29:35-45 Behold, I gave unto him that he should be an agent unto himself; and I gave unto him commandment, but no temporal commandment gave I unto him, for my commandments are spiritual; they are not natural nor temporal, neither carnal nor sensual. And it came to pass that Adam, being tempted of the devil—for, behold, the devil was before Adam, for he rebelled against me, saying, Give me thine honor, which is my power; and also a third part of the hosts of heaven turned he away from me because of their agency; And they were thrust down, and thus came the devil and his angels; And, behold, there is a place prepared for them from the beginning, which place is hell. And it must needs be that the devil should tempt the children of men, or they could not be agents unto themselves; for if they never should have bitter they could not know the sweet— Wherefore, it came to pass that the devil tempted Adam, and he partook of the forbidden fruit and transgressed the commandment, wherein he became subject to the will of the devil, because he yielded unto temptation. Wherefore, I, the Lord God, caused that he should be cast out from the Garden of Eden, from my presence, because of his transgression, wherein he became spiritually dead, which is the first death, even that same death which is the last death, which is spiritual, which shall be pronounced upon the wicked when I shall say: Depart, ye cursed. But, behold, I say unto you that I, the Lord God, gave unto Adam and unto his seed, that they should not die as to the temporal death, until I, the Lord God, should send forth angels to declare unto them repentance and redemption, through faith on the name of mine Only Begotten Son. And thus did I, the Lord God, appoint unto man the days of his probation—that by his natural death he might be raised in immortality unto eternal life, even as many as would believe; And they that believe not unto eternal damnation; for they cannot be redeemed from their spiritual fall, because they repent not; For they love darkness rather than light, and their deeds are evil, and they receive their wages of whom they list to obey Pearl of Great Price - Chapter 3:24-28 24 And there stood one among them that was like unto God, and he said unto those who were with him: We will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth whereon these may dwell; (The person who was like unto God was Jesus Christ) 25 And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them; 26 And they who keep their first estate shall be added upon; and they who keep not their first estate shall not have glory in the same kingdom with those who keep their first estate; and they who keep their second estate shall have glory added upon their heads for ever and ever. (There first estate is our life here on earth, the second estate is our immortal life which comes after death and the judgement) 27 And the Lord said: Whom shall I send? And one answered like unto the Son of Man: Here am I, send me. And another answered and said: Here am I, send me. And the Lord said: I will send the first. (The one like unto to Son of Man was Lucifer who was also a Son of God as we all are sons and daughters of God) 28 And the second was angry, and kept not his first estate; and, at that day, many followed after him. Titus 1:2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began; The words "Promised before the world began" show that their was a pre mortal existence and that their was a plan. From the above scriptures we can see that we lived in Heaven with God and Jesus Christ before we came to earth. That while there, two plans were presented. One of free agency, and a way to again come back into the presence of God, and one of compulsion, which gave mankind no free agency but would force us to live God's commandments. Through God's love for us, he rejected Lucifer's plan, and we had the choice to then accept God and Jesus Christ's plan or to follow Lucifer. One third of the hosts of heaven chose to follow Lucifer. The rest of us chose to come to earth, receive a body and to be tested using our free agency. Argument 2 Pro: God should be accountable for our ultimate misery. Con: My argument: We alone should be held accountable because God has done everything he can to help us to return to him, and we have chosen to have free choice. 1. He provided prophets and teachers: Adam, Abraham, Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Peter, James, John, Paul, all of the apostles, and modern day prophets since the restoration of his gospel. Moses 6:23 See also: Ephesians 3:5,Chronicles 36: 15, 2. Prayer: God allows us to come unto him in prayer. Through the Holy Ghost we are able to communicate with him, and find out the answers to our questions, and direction in our lives. Matt. 6:6, Prov. 15:29, Chron. 7:14 3. A Savior: God allowed Jesus Christ to come to earth to teach us how to return to him again, and to provide a way for our sins to be paid for through the Holy Ghost. Book of Mormon: Alma: 34: 8-9,11,12, Mosiah 4:6-8 Bible:Isaiah 53:5, John 3:16 16 ï¿½ For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 4. A Conscience: He provided each of us with a conscience which speaks to our hearts of what is right and what is wrong. BoM: Alma 42: 17-18 17 See also Heb. 9:14, Rom 2:15 5. Scriptures: He provided a way for us to be able to study his words and learn of his commandments as revealed through the prophets. See: Luke 24:45 Argument 3 Pro: Perfection is not possible because we cannot control our thoughts Con: My argument: God judges us by the intents of our heart not our thoughts alone. See Doctrine & Cov. 6:16, Psalms: 139: 23-24, Acts 8:22. Argument 4 Pro: Sin does not allow us to live perfectly Con: My argument: Through repentance and the atonement sins can be paid for and thus we can attain a life unspotted by sin. Sins are then forgiven and forgotten by God and his son Jesus Christ. Bk of Mor. Moroni 6: 8 But as often as they repented and sought forgiveness, with real intent, they were forgiven. See: Bk of Mor: 2 Nephi 5-24 Matt: 3:2, 2 Cor 7-10 Argument 5 Pro: God is responsible and accountable for making Jesus suffer such a horrible death. Con: My argument: God allowed his son to suffer and die in this way because of his love for us and because Jesus Christ chose to do this for us. John 3:16, 1 John 4:9, D&C 34:3 I have ran out of space and have no room to actually include the various scriptures I have given references to. Please read them.