Do We Have Free Will?
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I saw OBF bringing this term up a lot recently, so I felt like making a thread. This is actually something I've found interesting since a project we had back in high school physics. You end up tying together free will, determinism, quantum mechanics, etc. Many things I am not very knowledgeable of, but the concepts are pretty basic.
If you know all of the variables and have the equation, you can predict anything. It's already determined. No free will. But can we ever really measure all of the variables? There's uncertainty in the system, so is that free will?
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When it comes to predicting behavior in humans I think the one thing that would throw a monkey wrench with the variables in humans is that humans don't always think logically. I would think that would make some things unpredictable.
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Most religions make it their #1 priority to squelch the will, than they have you. Than they go and call spiritual practices that seek to align a person with his/her unique will.....they call it pagan, satanic, cult etc,etc,etc
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Most religions make it their #1 priority to squelch the will, than they have you. Than they go and call spiritual practices that seek to align a person with his/her unique will.....they call it pagan, satanic, cult etc,etc,etc
Most religions make it their #1 priority to squelch the will, than they have you. Than they go and call spiritual practices that seek to align a person with his/her unique will.....they call it pagan, satanic, cult etc,etc,etc
I'm gonna need you to pass that joint so I can get on your level of irrational thought and rambling, man.
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a variable is a placeholder for an ascribed value - so ascribed values would have to be arbitrary for many of them.
Human existence isn't a matter of only facts or equations ... it is subjective to a profound degree. Humans have instincts,
and an endless amount of varied experiences - exposure to stimuli. Over the many centuries... humans
observed nature... beautiful and/or catastrophic. One human being's fear of danger, may be the fun and
excitement for another. Observation of science - say, the stars at night. Where one person sees a big dipper, another
could see a sea creature with a tail. With that creativity/imagination and differing reactions to stimuli...
there is no equation to predict it, not even to explain it. The absolute miracle of life far surpasses any
chance of mathematical analysis.
Humans start life experiencing life around them. All the years of experiences mold them into their decision of what they
choose to be, how they see the world.... and it's all different. We don't even see colors the same way - the degree of green-ness
is not a locked in value. Some people don't even see certain colors - they see grey. The idea to design some math formula
to predict people's favorite color is pretty silly, then, correct?
The trend of having survival instincts, for example, is just a trend. Not a fact - some decide that they want to
risk very possible death for whatever reasons they have.
"Free Will" isn't just a trend - it is the human condition - humankind is that complex, and that unpredictable.
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I believe only God knows the decisions we will make before we make them. But does that lessen our freewill? I don't think it does. God only knows the good and bad decisions people will make. He doesn't force people to make them, they make them on their own. This I believe is what the Apostle Paul is saying about election of the saints. God knows who will respond and seek Him and those who won't. There is no such thing as seeking and not finding. I'm not picking on Woody but he would be an excellent description of one who seems to only believe in the the physical realm because the spiritual realm cannot be measured and confirmed as a scientist would do, Spiritual things would be a hard thing for him to grasp and seem ridiculous. Is God being unfair to someone like Woody who is predisposed not to believe in anything spiritual or a spiritual God? The answer is no because God says to those who would have a problem in believing in spiritual realities that if they ask He will even give them the faith they need to believe. I have read a number of testimonies of people like this who just could not believe the gospel but after praying for God to show them the truth their spiritual eyes were opened and they became believers.
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Most religions make it their #1 priority to squelch the will, than they have you. Than they go and call spiritual practices that seek to align a person with his/her unique will.....they call it pagan, satanic, cult etc,etc,etc
I'm gonna need you to pass that joint so I can get on your level of irrational thought and rambling, man.
I'm gonna need you to pass that joint so I can get on your level of irrational thought and rambling, man.
What dont you understand? Every sunday in every church in this country, its impounded on you that ur only will is through god. Im not arguing whether thats right/wrong....im just pointing out a fact. You do not have a will of ur own without this god or thst god....thats not my opinion thats whst they teach
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I believe only God knows the decisions we will make before we make them. But does that lessen our freewill? I don't think it does. God only knows the good and bad decisions people will make. He doesn't force people to make them, they make them on their own. This I believe is what the Apostle Paul is saying about election of the saints. God knows who will respond and seek Him and those who won't. There is no such thing as seeking and not finding. I'm not picking on Woody but he would be an excellent description of one who seems to only believe in the the physical realm because the spiritual realm cannot be measured and confirmed as a scientist would do, Spiritual things would be a hard thing for him to grasp and seem ridiculous. Is God being unfair to someone like Woody who is predisposed not to believe in anything spiritual or a spiritual God? The answer is no because God says to those who would have a problem in believing in spiritual realities that if they ask He will even give them the faith they need to believe. I have read a number of testimonies of people like this who just could not believe the gospel but after praying for God to show them the truth their spiritual eyes were opened and they became believers.
I believe only God knows the decisions we will make before we make them. But does that lessen our freewill? I don't think it does. God only knows the good and bad decisions people will make. He doesn't force people to make them, they make them on their own. This I believe is what the Apostle Paul is saying about election of the saints. God knows who will respond and seek Him and those who won't. There is no such thing as seeking and not finding. I'm not picking on Woody but he would be an excellent description of one who seems to only believe in the the physical realm because the spiritual realm cannot be measured and confirmed as a scientist would do, Spiritual things would be a hard thing for him to grasp and seem ridiculous. Is God being unfair to someone like Woody who is predisposed not to believe in anything spiritual or a spiritual God? The answer is no because God says to those who would have a problem in believing in spiritual realities that if they ask He will even give them the faith they need to believe. I have read a number of testimonies of people like this who just could not believe the gospel but after praying for God to show them the truth their spiritual eyes were opened and they became believers.
God wouldn't be God, if he made all people decide what they decide - it goes to the Angelic Conflict. If people had no free will,
there is no true belief in God. What honor is it to God if he made humankind without the ability to not believe in himself?
God is no master - nor slave owner. He our Creator...our Savior.
http://biblehub.com/john/3-18.htm
http://biblehub.com/john/14-6.htm
We are free thinkers - our choices are ours. We choose to believe, or not to believe. The idea that all things are interconnected,
and we have no free will to decide/interact differently is somewhere between fatalism and determinism. I believe
that liberal/progressive lack of responsibility for their own actions is related. Their emotions "make" them act ...it isn't
them that decide, it's just what they have to do. Their emotions are their guide...believing in our country, freedom, God,
family values... would negate their reliance on their own emotions as a "god" of sorts.
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