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Section 4. I say further: the Creator (His glory is great) has no hand in people's acts in any way — He does not compel them to obedience, nor to disobedience.
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I have evidence for this from the path of sense, from the path of reason, and from the scriptures and traditions.
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As for the path of sense: I find that a person is aware from within himself that he can speak and can remain silent; can hold and can let go —
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— he feels no other force opposing his will whatsoever. There is nothing to it except that he govern his nature with his reason: if he follows that, he is prudent; if not, he is ignorant.
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For when the Creator refrains from creating bodies and what is in them, that refraining has no opposite. But when a person refrains from acts, he refrains only by choosing to do the opposite.
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If he does not love, he hates; if he does not accept, he is angry — he has no station between the two.
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I should also clarify: a person does nothing except while choosing to do it — it is impossible for one who has no free choice to act, or for one who is not choosing.
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This is why we see that the law does not impose full punishment on one who does something reprehensible in error — not because he lacked free choice, but because he was ignorant of the cause and reason.