Does a child born into a family of highway robbers and murderers who knows nothing of wrong and right and certainly not about the Torah, for whom there is no contact with the outside world; does this child have the same bechira as you and me?
No person EVER has the same bechira as anothers. Everyone is different, has different challenges in life and different ways to deal with them.
However, as I’ve mentioned in a different post Hashem sent the mabul to annhilate the sinning people at the time, Hashem overturned Sedom, Hashem destroyed both Bais Hamikdoshes.
The fact is that Hashem punishes sin. The curses in the Torah are there for a reason.
We are here for a reason, we were given challenges and the ability to choose the right way. As it says we just need to open our hearts like the size of a hole of a needle and Hashem will lead us to Him.
It also says everything is in the Hands of Heaven chutz yirei Shomayim. Obviously, the choice is ours.
There is one point in which we have bechira, and that point varies based on our past experiences and our environment.
Exactly. I don’t see this as a contradiction to what I’ve said.
Who said everything that causes one to fall was a challenge he could have overcome? Hashem may not hold a person responsible for such a fall, and only hold him responsible when he falls at the point of his bechira.
Pharo, whose heart Hashem hardened, meforshim say Hashem did that because Pharo himself chose to do evil.
If we choose to want to be good, Hashem helps. And those who c”v choose evil, Hashem helps them with it too.
And the truth is, you can never, ever know for sure if a person did something with his bechira or not, unless you are a navi. It’s difficult enough to know yourself.
I don’t put everyone’s actions under a microscope. But those who go OTD is because of their bechira.