Free Will Dog Illustration
Author Randy Alcorn uses an illustration I've excerpted from here:
"Imagine removing meaningful choice from your springer spaniel. What would be left might be a dog who doesn't chew your slippers or chase the neighbor's cat, who doesn't bark or growl.
But he also doesn't crawl in your lap
and beg you to scratch him."
"He doesn't snuggle up to you or pull you
out the door by his leash and
lead you through the neighborhood, exploring."
"If that
is true of
an animal,
how much
more
true of a human being?"
This illustration demonstrates how much God values our choice. He grants us choice even though it brought about sin which brings death. Evil may not dwell with God. "For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you." Psalm 5:4
That's a big problem for us. Yet he still wanted us to have the freedom to choose. So he also provided the solution:
"The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature.
So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have.
And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit." Romans 8:3-4