Milton's depiction of free will and Christian faith centers on an omniscient God with selective omnipotence. He predicts the fall of man, without doing anything to cause or prevent it. It is Satan who causes the fall, God knowing that his imperfect creations would be tempted. Like Satan, Adam and Eve have the choice to obey or disobey God, and it is free will that gives importance to this decision. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned"?Get the original essayIn writing Paradise Lost, Milton sought to "justify God's ways toward man." His rewriting of Genesis provides his perspective on unanswered theological questions, including the theme of predestination. In “The Fallacy of the Fall into Paradise Lost,” Millicent Bell explains how “the transition from uncorrupted man and woman to corrupted humanity must simply be accepted as having taken place.” Bell argues that the fall could be predestined, although it should not be considered a sin. She considers it “the beginning of self-discovery by creatures that are essentially human, that is to say, imperfect in many respects.” Bell's interpretation contradicts Milton's theological beliefs. He makes it clear that the self-discovery she describes is a sin in itself. Eve displays such self-awareness before eating the fruit, when she becomes obsessed with her reflection. Milton portrays Eve's vanity negatively in Paradise Lost, making this argument invalid. Furthermore, this argument ignores God's monologue in Book III, which states that God created [man] just and upright, sufficient to have stood firm, but free to fail. God himself addresses the subject of predestination in this speech, explaining that Adam and Eve cannot "justly accuse their creator or their destiny" as if "predestination had prevailed over their will." Another problem with Bell's analysis is his argument that "the predestination of man" The first disobedience was not troubling to Milton as it may be to us, for Milton viewed the Genesis account as a received truth. Although Milton read Genesis as the word of God, he simply deviated from Scripture when he wrote Paradise Lost. These changes include the confusion of Satan and the serpent into one character, which explains why Eve could be so easily tempted. It is unlikely that Milton was indifferent to man's early disobedience, given that he was concerned enough about the fall of man to write a heretical adaptation of Genesis. Yet Bell's analysis of Paradise Lost offers valuable insight regarding free will and sin. She refers to Areopagitica, where Milton explains that "we do not bring innocence into the world, but rather impurity: that which purifies is trial, and trial is by that which is contrary." Bell argues that Adam had to learn self-discipline through "painful experience" if he was unwilling to accept God's commandments. This suggests that there is hope for humanity to return to its previous status; a feeling supported by God in Paradise Lost. God declares that for having offended his majesty, all [man's] offspring are destined to die "unless someone be found sufficient to answer for his offense and suffer his punishment." This foreshadows the redemption of man through Christ. In The Meaning of Free Will, Robert Kane mentions that even the angels of Paradise Lost wonder "how they could have freely chosen to serve or reject God, given that God had them »..