The Problem of Heaven for the Free Will Theodicy

In discussions with Christians about the question of why there is so much suffering in a world created by an all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-good God, a common answer is the free will defense. This argument claims that God did not want to create humans as robots, and therefore gave them free will. But with the possibility of choosing the good also comes the possibility of choosing the evil. According to this reasoning, the suffering in the world is caused by the free choice of humans to choose evil. It is therefore not a contradiction with God’s goodness, but a risk that free will entails.

One may wonder why a world without free will would not be better, if it would allow people to live together happily. Why is free will necessary? Another question is whether free will is even possible, since God is all-knowing, or why God did not refrain from creating a world that was doomed to fail. But that is another discussion.

For now, let us assume that it was desirable to create humans with free will. Why then are there earthquakes, floods, diseases, and all kinds of suffering that humans can do nothing about? This is called natural evil, and it poses a major problem for the free will defense, especially since these events are an integral part of the way the world functions.

But there is yet another interesting angle from which to approach this problem, one that is not often heard in these discussions: the question of whether humans will have free will in heaven.

Is There Free Will in Heaven?

This question presents a trilemma for Christians. They must choose one of the following three options:

Option 1: Free will exists in heaven, but so does evil

In this scenario, humans retain their free will in heaven, but that also means evil can exist. For many Christians, this is unacceptable because heaven is supposed to be a place free of evil.

Option 2: No free will in heaven, and no evil

In this case, there is no free will in heaven, but also no evil. This raises another issue: if God chose to create heaven without free will and without evil, why didn’t He make that choice from the beginning on Earth?

Option 3: Free will exists in heaven, but there is no evil

This option is appealing to many Christians: people retain their free will in heaven, but evil does not exist. However, this raises the same question as option 2: if God can create a world with free will and no evil in heaven, why didn’t He choose to create a world like that on Earth from the start?

As we can see, all three options present problems. This shows that the free-will defense does not adequately address the problem of suffering.