Is Man A Free Agent?
Again I asked, "Would it not have been far better if Alaha (God) had created man and all creation perfect, for then man could neither have committed sin, nor because of sin would there have been so much sorrow and suffering in the world; but now, in a creation made subject to vanity, we have all kinds of suffering to undergo?"
An angel who had come from the highest grades of heaven, and occupied a high position there, replied, "Alaha has not made man like a machine, which would work automatically; nor has He fixed his destiny as in the case of the stars and planets, that may not move out of their appointed course, but He has made man in His own image and likeness, a free agent, possessed of understanding, determination, and power to act independently, hence he is superior to all other created things. Had man not been created a free agent he would not have been able to enjoy the Presence of Alaha, nor the joy off heaven, for he would have been a mere machine, that moves without knowing or feeling, or like the stars that swing unknowingly through infinite space. But man, being a free agent, is by the constitution of his nature, opposed to this kind of soulless perfection -- and a perfection of this kind would really have been imperfection -- for such a man would have been a mere slave whose very perfection had compelled him to certain acts, in the doing of which he could have had no enjoyment, because he had no choice of his own. To him there would be no difference between Alaha and a stone."
Man, and with him all creation, has been subjected to vanity but not forever. By his disobedience, man has brought himself, and all other creatures, into all the ills and sufferings of this state of vanity. In this state of spiritual struggle alone can his spiritual powers be fully developed, and only in this struggle can he learn the lesson necessary to his perfection. Therefore, when man at last reaches the state of perfection of heaven, he will thank Alaha for the sufferings and struggle of the present world, for then he will fully understand that all things work together for good to them that love Alaha (Rom. 8:28).