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Ok I am confused by this. Some people say they they believe in free-will, being able to choose for themselves their own life and what they do and want and whatever but will also express belief in destiny. how is that possible? Either you are choosing or something else is choosing for you right? Or is the true answer that it is a combination of the two, like, You choose to go to work but you get a flat tire on the way. So destiny would be like a multiple choice test in which you choose your own niche in the big picture. ??? I have no idea

2006-07-31 19:25:51 · 9 answers · asked by oraclesword 1 in Arts & Humanities Philosophy

9 answers

No one denies that man has a will — that is, a faculty of choosing what he wishes to say, do, and think. But have you ever reflected on the pitiful weakness of your will? Though you have the ability to make a decision, you do not have the power to carry out your purpose. Will may devise a course of action, but will has no power to execute its intention.

Joseph’s brothers hated him. They sold him to be a slave. But God used their actions to make him a ruler over themselves. They chose their course of action to harm Joseph. But God in His power directed events for Joseph’s good. He said, “But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good” (Gen 50:20).

And how many of your decisions are miserably thwarted? You may choose to be a millionaire, but God’s providence is likely to prevent it. You may decide to be a scholar, but bad health, an unstable home, or lack of finances may frustrate your will. You choose to go on a vacation, but an automobile accident may send you to the hospital instead.

By saying that your will is free, we certainly do not mean that it determines the course of your life. You did not choose the sickness, sorrow, war, and poverty that have spoiled your happiness. You did not choose to have enemies. If man’s will is so potent, why not choose to live on and on? But you must die. The major factors which shape your life cannot thank your will. You did not select your social status, color, intelligence, etc.

Any sober reflection on your experience will produce the conclusion, “A man’s heart deviseth his way: but THE LORD DIRECTETH his steps” (Prov 16:9). Rather than extolling the human will, we ought to humbly praise the Lord whose purposes shape our lives. As Jeremiah confessed, “O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps” (Jer 10:23).

Yes, you may choose what you want, and you may plan what you will do; but your will is not free to accomplish anything contrary to the purposes of God. Neither have you any power to reach your goals but that which God allows you. The next time you are so enamored with your own will, remember Jesus’ parable about the rich man. The wealthy man said, “This I WILL do: I WILL pull down all my barns, and build greater: and there I WILL bestow all my fruits and my goods. . . But God said unto him. Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee” (Luke 12:18-21). He was free to plan but not free to accomplish; so it is with you.
But freedom of the will is cited as an important factor in making MORAL decisions. Man’s will is said to be free to choose between good and evil. But again we must ask, from what is it free? And what is man’s will free to choose?

The will of man is his power to choose between alternatives. Your will does decide your actions from a number of options. You have the faculty to direct your own thoughts, words, and deeds. Your decisions are not formed by an outside force, but from within yourself. No man is compelled to act contrary to his will, nor forced to say what he does not wish. Your will guides your actions.

Yet this does not mean that the power to decide is free from all influence. You make choices based on your understanding, your feelings, your likes and dislikes, and your appetites. In other words, your will is not free from yourself! Your choices are determined by your own basic character. The will is not independent of your nature, but the slave of it. Your choices do not shape your character, but your character guides your choices. The will is quite partial to what you know, feel, love, and desire. You always choose on the basis of your disposition. according to the condition of your heart.

It is just for this reason that your will is NOT free to do good. Your will is the servant of your heart, and your heart is evil. “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that EVERY imagination of the thoughts of his heart was ONLY evil CONTINUALLY” (Gen 6:5). “There is NONE that doeth good, no, not one” (Rom 3:12). No power forces man to sin contrary to his will, but the descendants of Adam are so evil that they always choose the evil.

Your decisions are molded by your understanding, and the Bible says of all men, “And their foolish heart was darkened” (Rom 1:21). Man can only be righteous when he desires to have fellowship with God, but, “There is NONE that seeketh after God” (Rom 3:11). Your appetites crave sin, and thus you cannot choose God. To choose good is contrary to human nature. If you chose to obey God, it would be the result of external compulsion. But you are free to choose and hence your choice is enslaved to your own evil nature.

If fresh meat and tossed salad were placed before a hungry lion, he would choose the flesh This is because his nature dictates the selection. It is just so with man. The will of man is free from outside force, but not from the bias of human nature. That bias is against God. Man’s power of decision are free to choose whatever the human heart dictates; therefore there is no possibility of a man choosing to please God without prior work of divine grace.

What most people mean by free will is the idea that man is by nature neutral and therefore able to choose either good or evil. This simply is not true. The human will and the whole of human nature is bent to ONLY evil CONTINUALLY Jeremiah asked, “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots’? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil” (Jer 13:23). It is impossible. It is contrary to nature Thus do men desperately need the supernatural transformation of their natures, else their wills are enslaved to choosing evil.

In spite of the great praise that is given to “free will,” we have seen that man’s will is not free to choose a course contrary to God’s purposes nor free to act contrary to his own moral nature. Your will does not determine the events of your life nor the circumstances of it. Ethical choices are not formed by a neutral mind but always dictated by your personality makeup.
Nevertheless many assert that the human will makes the ultimate choice of spiritual life or spiritual death. They say that here the will is altogether free to choose eternal life offered in Jesus Christ or to reject it. It is said that God will give a new heart to all who choose by the power of their own free will to receive Jesus Christ.

There can be no question that receiving Jesus Christ is an act of the human will. It is often called “faith.” But how do men come to willingly receive the Lord? It is usually answered, “Out of the power of their own free will.” But how can that be? Jesus is a PROPHET — to receive Him means to believe all that He says. In John 8:41-45 Jesus made it clear that you were born of Satan. This evil father hates the truth and imparted the same bias into your heart by nature. Hence said Jesus, “Because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.” How does the human will jump out of man to choose to believe what the human mind hates and denies?

Further, to receive Jesus means to embrace him as a PRIEST — that is, to employ and depend on him to sue out peace with God by sacrifice and intercession. Paul tells us that the mind with which we were born is hostile to God (Rom 8:7). How can the will escape the influence of human nature which was born with a violent enmity to God? It would be insane for the will to choose peace when every bone and drop of blood cries out for rebellion.

Then too, receiving Jesus means to welcome Him as a KING. It means choosing to obey His every command, to confess His right of rule and to worship before His throne. But the human mind, emotions, and desires all cry out, “We will not have this man to reign over us” (Luke 19:14). If my whole being hates His truth, hates His rule and hates peace with God, how can my will be responsible for receiving Jesus? How can such a sinner have faith?

It is not man’s will but God’s GRACE that must be thanked for giving a sinner a new heart. Unless God changes the heart, creates a new spirit of peace, truthfulness, and submission. man will not choose to receive Jesus Christ and eternal life in Him. A new heart must he given before a man can believe, or else the human will is hopelessly enslaved to evil human nature even in the matter of conversion. Jesus said. “Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye MUST be born again” (John 3:7). Unless you are, you will never see His kingdom.

Read John 1:12 & 13. It says that those who believe on Jesus have been “born, not of the will of man, but of God.” As your will is not responsible for your coming into this world, it is not responsible for the new birth. It is your Creator who must be thanked for your life, and if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation (II Cor 5:17). Who ever chose to be created? When Lazarus rose from the dead, he then could choose to answer the call of Christ, but he could not choose to come to life. So Paul said in Ephesians 2:5, “Even when we were dead in sins, [God] hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved).” Faith is the first act of a will made new by the Holy Spirit. Receiving Christ is an act of man just as breathing is, but God must first give life.

No wonder Martin Luther wrote a book entitled The Bondage of the Will which he considered one of his most important treatises. The will is in the chains of an evil human nature. You who extol the free will as a great force are clinging to a root of pride. Man, as fallen in sin, is utterly helpless and hopeless. The will of man offers no hope. It was the will choosing the forbidden fruit that brought us into misery. The powerful grace of God alone offers deliverance. Cast yourself upon God’s mercy for salvation. Ask for the Spirit of Grace that He may create a new spirit within you.

2006-07-31 19:32:47 · answer #1 · answered by AirborneSaint 5 · 0 0

From experience, I would say that the world around us is like a computer program and the boundaries are set. We definitely have a limit. For example no matter how much will we have, we can't turn ourselves into pigs etc. But within that framework, it is possible to act freely through exercising the free will with which we all come into this world. So whenever you set out to do anything, be conscious of you free will which is asking you to do this activity. However if things go beyond your control, then be patient and recognise that it is destiny which is helping you out or on the other hand, blocking you from doing that acitivity. Both these might seem contradictory but life has enough to accommodate both concepts comfortably.

2006-07-31 19:40:26 · answer #2 · answered by ram 1 · 0 0

You don't need either.

It's more plausible that we make choices that are indeterminstically fated. There being no perfect, absolutely free and distinct place from which a person can make a choice-- always choosing the best among the options.. And doing so as the contingencies of life arise. There need not be a Newtonian universe to give an account of human decision-making without this free-will business.Just because chaos exists doesn't grant that I have this perfect, uninfluenced, godly control. It means that my choices are likewise CHAOTIC, uncontrolled, non-rule-guided, as with some of the parameters I base my choices on that often crop up, as it were, out of left field.

2006-07-31 19:40:49 · answer #3 · answered by -.- 6 · 0 0

It can be both. It is a matter of perspective. For the chooser it is free will. For the chosen it is destiny. The are many routes from A to B and it may be your destiny to choose one of those routes but it is your choice as to which and until you choose you don't know which, but, destiny does.

2006-07-31 19:35:45 · answer #4 · answered by LORD Z 7 · 0 0

people create themselves, and create their own lives. this means that they also create their own destinies. with their free will they are able to decide what they want to do with their lives, and if they are completely certain that they were meant to do something specific, then it is common for them to feel that they were born just to complete that. but "destiny" doesn't exist outside of that person's mind, it's a concept that allows them to feel more confident about the decisions they're making. there's no such thing as fate, and there's no reason why people should feel like they have to do a certain thing just because someone else told them to. life is full of seemingly infinite possibilites. it's up to you to carve your own path through the trials of time.

2006-07-31 19:34:03 · answer #5 · answered by Om 2 · 0 0

I believe ones Destiny is ones freewill.The choice to take the left fork in the road or the right fork.The obstacle in life ever which fork you do take in life is to make the most out of it until you get where you are going.

2006-07-31 19:33:42 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

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2016-04-20 19:06:57 · answer #7 · answered by ? 3 · 0 0

well we all have control over our thoughts and actions, we do not have control over anything else beyond that. I think things happen because they are suppose to. I think sometimes when you choose to go one way your suppose to go the other and God will help you out on that. It's like when you choose to not be humble, either you choose to be or your compelled to be. sometimes we just need a little help knowing what we should have chosen.

2006-08-01 07:44:36 · answer #8 · answered by kimber g 4 · 0 0

FROM FATE TO DESTINY, A LEAP OF FREEWILL. Both fate and destiny are your creations, one we live and the other we create as we live, through our choices in life. Fate is fixed, but not destiny. When we choose wisely while living our fate, we reach our destiny and sometimes even transcend it.

You have Freewill to choose your destiny or go by your whim. There is one life that you come with or are fated to experience according to your past choices, but beyond that what you do with those experiences is entirely your choice.

But embedded in between the pages of our fate, is a central theme of called destiny.

Eventually, there is nothing that is fixed in life, not even your destiny, you can even transcend your destiny if you choose to, after all you choose your destiny before coming here on earth, but before that you have to use your fate to reach your destiny by making choices that are in line with your destiny’s choices.

Though in all likeliness if you make those choices based on your personal intelligence you will hardly transcend your fated life, let alone reach your destiny, it is only when you are able to transcend you ego based fears and surrender yourself to higher potential, can you reach your destiny – your greater possibility.

Our destiny talks to us through our calling, and our innate inclinations in life, though more often than not we choose to ignore the voice of inspiration and choose security instead, as destiny would ask you to take a few chances.

No matter how far you might stray away from your path, destiny will always keep tugging at you, to lure to back on to the path of your soul.
Destiny is a silent calling that only you can hear and that gets you animated, the moment you get in touch with your calling.

Recognizing this is an individual choice and following the voice to your destiny takes grit and determination and above all commitment to yourself and life.

Two people can go through same childhood trauma but one may turn into a drug dealer while other may turn into a preacher of faith and compassion. Both might have preacher as a destiny, having chosen to go through similar childhood trauma as an experience, but what they do with it, is entire their personal choice, their freewill.

There is one life that you get, and then, there is one that you create through your choice while you are going through your fated life, transcending fate is the challenge that life places against every human being, no excuses there.

We all get a hand at destiny, no matter where we are in life, rest is up to us.

2006-07-31 21:16:24 · answer #9 · answered by Abhishek Joshi 5 · 0 1

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