Talk about throwing red meat to the loyal opposition! :) Indeed, what would have happened if the Jews and Romans had not used their free will to kill Jesus? I don't know, maybe, perhaps, THE ENTIRE DOWNFALL OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH! :) OT prophecy would have been destroyed, and Jesus' own words would have made Him a liar.
My red meat argument would then be that either Jesus was super duper lucky for things to turn out the way they did in order to accomplish what the Father sent Him to do, OR, maybe it's possible that God actually had a hand in arranging that all the necessary things took place. Perhaps God was really in control of the entire situation all along. Does God gamble on His plan, or does He ensure it?
I don't think that it is safe to say that Christ's pre-Resurrectional body was incapable of corruption -- it obviously wasn't. He suffered thirst and hunger, he suffered pain, he bled, he sweated. None of these things are characteristics of a glorified body.
So, then all of mankind is thankful that Jesus made the free will decision to not sin? Jesus could have sinned, but lucky for us He didn't?
[About Jesus on the cross:] In short, Christ could have chosen, so to speak to heal himself and continue to do so indefinitely. In that sense, Christ did voluntarily die, and the Scripture says that he gave up his spirit.
Now you're talking! :) The only addition I would make is to say that in EVERY sense Christ did voluntarily die.
The Theotokos didn't sin, and yet suffered the effects of "original sin" -- she grew old and died. I've not heard it said one way or another whether the Orthodox Church believes that Christ was born with "original sin" in that sense -- i.e. the tendency to death and corruption.
From my side, part of the answer would be that Jesus was never subject to growing old and dying of natural causes. He never had a tendency toward death and corruption. His mission and its accomplishment were perfect and complete from the beginning of time.
From my side, God did not rely on choices by men. Through withholding of protection and the causing of good, God's perfect plan was accomplished then, just as it is accomplished now.
"Talk about throwing red meat to the loyal opposition! :) Indeed, what would have happened if the Jews and Romans had not used their free will to kill Jesus? I don't know, maybe, perhaps, THE ENTIRE DOWNFALL OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH! :) OT prophecy would have been destroyed, and Jesus' own words would have made Him a liar."
This hardly follows. For what you say to be true, God would have to be unable to know what choices individual human beings would make. God is outside time itself, which is itself a created thing. Past, present, and future as we experience them do not apply to God.
Of course God would inspire the Holy Prophets to speak the truth about what would happen. And of course, Christ would speak the truth about what would happen to him. Men do not have to be made into marionettes for prophecies to become true. All that is necessary is for the source of prophecy to know what did, does, and will happen. This argument from prophecy in support of predestinationist theories implies that the only alternative is for God to be inside time, experiencing it in the same as as his creatures do, waiting with bated breath to find out what is going to happen in human history. He is, of course, not.
Calvinistic predestinationist theory is only one way to explain prophecy and its fulfillment. And in my opinion, it is hardly the most convincing explanation.
"My red meat argument would then be that either Jesus was super duper lucky for things to turn out the way they did in order to accomplish what the Father sent Him to do, OR, maybe it's possible that God actually had a hand in arranging that all the necessary things took place. Perhaps God was really in control of the entire situation all along. Does God gamble on His plan, or does He ensure it?"
See above. Why would Jesus be super duper lucky to know what would happen? To say this is to imply that I am saying that Christ was ignorant of the future. Please don't insult non-Calvinists that way.
"From my side, part of the answer would be that Jesus was never subject to growing old and dying of natural causes. He never had a tendency toward death and corruption. His mission and its accomplishment were perfect and complete from the beginning of time."
Did Christ pretend to hunger, pretend to thirst, pretend to suffer pain, pretend to be tired, pretend to sweat?
"From my side, God did not rely on choices by men. Through withholding of protection and the causing of good, God's perfect plan was accomplished then, just as it is accomplished now."
The Calvinist/predestinationist theory does indeed hold together, as do many theoretical constructs, but only if one is willing to believe that God created a humankind full of automatons, rather than creatures who are created in the image of God -- free to choose God or not.