C. S. Lewis

Free will is what has made evil possible. Why, then, did God give [creatures] free will? Because free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having.

C S Lewis

There is no doctrine which I would more willingly remove from Christianity than this, if it lay in my power. But we cannot do so, for two reasons: first, because it enjoys the full support of Christ’s own teaching; and second, because it makes a good deal of sense. If the gospel is extended to us for our acceptance, it must be possible also to reject and refuse it. The alternative would be for God to compel an affirmative response.

 

Hugh Redwood

He [Christ] tells us plainly, and without any qualifications, that we are involved in a war in which there is no room for neutrals. Yet people attempt to evade His statement. Generally speaking, these are the very people who are the quickest in laying the blame upon God for all the sorrow and sin in the world. They argue that He could prevent it. They excuse their own do nothing attitude by making of evil’s apparent predominance a ground for doubt of His loving kindness. It never seems to occur to them to look for the cause in mankind.

Billy Graham

If God eliminated evil by programming us to perform only good acts, we would lose this distinguishing mark – the ability to make choices. We would no longer be free moral agents. We would be reduced to the status of robots. Let’s take this a step further. Robots do not love. God created us with the capacity to love. Love is based upon one’s right to choose to love. We cannot force others to love us. We can make them serve us or obey us. But true love is founded upon one’s freedom to choose to respond.

Margaret Parker

God could have made us robots or animals and programmed into our brains only the paths and connections that would mirror His own mind. Presumably, birds’ migration routes are somehow programmed into their brains like this. But instead, He gave us minds of our own. He wanted us to be able to think and reason, feel and imagine as He does so that we could freely choose to love Him and live in fellowship with Him.