Why have a free will?

When God created man in the garden He gave man a free will in order for man to be separate and distinct from God. Created in the likeness or image of God, man was not God but a kind of reflection of him. The lines of distinction from man's point of view were blurred. God was obviously more powerful and the creator but man in his original perfection could not see all the differences clearly. God gave man a free will to operate in cooperation and obedience to God. Man’s free will is a reflection of God’s free will. The infinite difference between the created and creator would only be known IF AND WHEN man should chose to exercise his own will outside of God. When that happened the separation was infinite, immediate and obvious. All that God is, man was not. All that man now is, God is not. The contrast is now quite clear. Think of it like this. If you put the above white paper doll (perfect man) on the white background you could not see him as distinct from God (the white back ground). God is a white piece of paper, man is a white cutout image. Place the cut out on the white sheet of paper and the paper man blends into the paper god. When man opted out of God’s will and into his own, the likeness was destroyed. He is now demonstrating one chief distinctive from God...exercise of his own independent will. Man is now quite distinct from God, losing all that is in God. As it were, man’s own will stained him the blackest of black. Now instead of seeing man white on god white, it is black on white. All That which is NOT god showed up instantly and immediately with no way for man to restore that division or unstain himself. God made it possible to restore man’s purity and “whiteness” in the life and work of His son. When, by faith, man commits to the eternal will of God he does not become god, but is made white again and restored to his original position in God. the shack study guide