Free Will in Heaven: An Insoluble Trilemma for Believers?

In discussions with Christians about why there is so much suffering in the world despite the existence of an all-good, all-powerful, and all-knowing God, a common response is that God did not want to create "robots" who are programmed to only do good(free-will defense). True freedom requires the ability to choose evil, and without the option to make immoral choices, humans would not possess genuine free will. Evil exists because God granted humans the gift of free will, allowing them to choose between good and evil. As philosopher William Lane Craig explains, it is logically impossible for God to allow genuine freedom without also permitting the possibility of suffering. According to this view, the presence of suffering and evil in the world is a necessary consequence of having free will.

While this is a popular defense, there are several strong counterarguments, such as the problem of natural evil (like natural disasters) and the contradiction between free will and God’s omniscience. However, in this post, I want to focus on an argument that I find particularly compelling. I have yet to see a convincing response to it—so feel free to comment if you think you have one!

Is There Free Will in Heaven?

This argument presents a trilemma for believers. A trilemma is a situation where one must choose between three options, each of which leads to problematic or undesirable consequences. It is similar to a dilemma, but with three choices instead of two.

The question is: Does free will exist in heaven? Believers 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 you can see, all three options present problems. This shows that the free-will defense does not adequately address the problem of suffering.