Do you believe free will really exists?

Question

or is fate reality and free will the illusion?

The ancient Greeks believed that their thoughts were comands from the gods.

Now see commercials and rush right out to buy what it being advertised... is this free will?

Answer 1

Good question... because, as a natural psychic medium, unasked for by the way... it just happens to me... I've had a lifetime of weird and unusual experiences, which force me to go over and over this same question... since I have had so many premonitions which have all (but the most recent three, which I am forced to wait for) ... come true. These I've shared with two trusted friends in text messages, to be kept for a minimum of two years.

My premonitions can take between an instant or two to happen... ie: a thought which is backed up suddenly by information and confirmation, relating to the same... like most people have when they think of calling a friend and the phone suddenly rings within seconds and it is the friend... that's a premonition, whether you like it or not... or, mine can take a few months... or up to two years, for my longest ones to happen.

The longest ones are usually related to bad things like deaths... except, my dad's death, which took four months in total.

As a Christian, I believe God gave free will, yet, these things show me clearly that life is already written, and that the past, present and future, are already here... at the same time, but we cannot see it. I've had to try to understand what it all means, from my own point of view... and through vast psychic experiences.

I am not making assumptions for others... since they haven't lived my life and seen and heard, and witnessed, all the things I have. So when I came to my conclusion, it is and was then, very personal.

I believe God afforded free will... within a set design... and that we are on a set path from the start... that though we think we make the choices, we are guided all the time, and allowed to deviate only in as far as it can be done inside the design already laid out for us.

Because of my knowledge beforehand on many issues... I already know it can't be changed... I've tried, I've begged many others to pray with me to stop them... it didn't work, I've prayed and begged and cried and beaten myself up over them, but can't stop them happening. It's not easy to live with, being like me. so I'm always amazed that people want to dabble... because it's something I don't do, or need to do... I have no choice!

I believe the timing is already written for us of our death.

That we do have free will, but only within a limited area of our lives, as in, if I was on one path to town and you were on another... I may deviate and dawdle and you may go straight there... but somehow, without our design or intention, something may delay you unexpectedly, and I might get there sooner... and this was meant to be.

Or, we may get there together... since, if the design was that the ending was the same venue... nothing will prevent it.

And... because of this I had to consider something I'd never taken on board as a Christian before, Karma... that we have a soul repayment process going on... which is why some people have it all, and some have none, that maybe we each have a turn and turn-about system going on with this as well.

There's a lot more I could say, but given the nature of some responses to a recent question I asked, it would inlfame those who despise faith in God... and my personal discoveries, are very much inside this area.

Good question though;-)

Answer 2

Both FATE and FREE WILL really exist. If you were born poor from the start, that might have been the fate you are at that moment, then you came to realize that it is not the world you want. So you plan to get out of it.. As you grow and mature you tried your best to be rich and you succeed. That's FREE WILL because you chose to get out and won. To some that did not make it.. There are forces of circumstances around you that caused it but in the final analysis, your fate could have been your choice because you did not try hard enough or your best may have needed a little more effort. Creation must have given us the way to our final destiny but the journey is the ones that we do to experience the joy or sorrow to our destiny.

Answer 3

Chances are that you've heard the "puppets and robots" theory many times now, so let me put a different spin on it. What if we were all robots before salvation, programmed only to head toward destruction based on a virus called sin that was in the original robot, and propagated to all future robots? It took a patch called Jesus.exe to turn things around, except you can't talk to a robot that has already been programmed for destruction. Show the flowchart of salvation to them all day long, and they're still programmed for destruction. They have no idea that all it takes is for them to hit an "enter" button, and Jesus.exe will enter in. It takes a Holy Spirit to press that button that wakes them up, God has chosen them from the beginning for His glory, and when those previously dead-in-their-sins robots see where they could have ended up, they praise Him day and night for what He did for them. And they want to tell the other robots about it. Do they have to if God has already chosen who will & won't be saved? No, but that's not a part of their new programming. They have no idea whom God has decided on, they just want to tell the good news to every robot out there. Tell them all, let God sort 'em out. So no, I don't believe free will exists. Our natures are too sinful to be able to do anything about hitting the "enter" button. Let everyone believe the way they like, I would rather give the glory & credit to God than Man, and I'm well-supported by scripture in the way I'm looking at it.

Answer 4

No. I do not believe in the existence of free will.

1. Everything in the universe is governed by scientificly describable processes.

2. All scientifically describable processes can be expressed in mathematical formulas.

3. Human thought arises from the interaction of energy in matter in the brain and not because of supernatural involvement.

As I see it ---

The human brain is thus entirely computable because it is made of matter and energy and thus follows the rules of physics (and all the derivatives, chemistry, biology, etc). This means that the brain is capable of decision making, but not free will. Even a computer can make decisions given the right information and the right format for processing that information, but we wouldn't chalk it up to free will -- it's just a program.

There is only one loop hole -- quantum physics. As far as we can tell, quantum indeterminancy is truly random. However, if the Copenhagen "Many-Worlds" interpretation is correct, then all possibilities do in fact happen, which means that the perception of randomness is due to a narrow ability to percieve, but that the process is ultimately deterministic.

No. No free will. Sorry.

Answer 5

well if u think about it, your very thoughts are apparently the result of random chemical interactions in your brain which are in turn caused by all sorts of weird atomic and sub atomic stuff going on, i read somewhere that the thing that controls everything (in the chaos theory sense) is the first sub atomic particle and whether it revolves clockwise or anti clockwise, everything else in the universe if apparently derived from that... would that be a kind of fate? but free will hard to say, we get bombarded with so much crap nowadays we must be influenced by a thousand different things everytime we try to make a decision

Answer 6

Yes I do. Fate is an illusion. There is no way I am going to let some impersonal "force" make my decisions for me. I may make mistakes but at least they'll be *my* mistakes, not the Fates, the Furies or the Norns. "Fate" and "Destiny" are the ultimate cop-out.

Answer 7

I really don't believe in "fate" as a whole. I believe we have choices to make....we hope we make the right ones. But, even when the right choices are made, we have problems. The world is not perfect. Neither are we.

Answer 8

Yes to a point and then there is the laws that won't let you do things. For example, we should have the "free will" to drive as fast as we want to but the law won't let us but it's for our own safey so let me give you another example. My neighbor was baned form a store for and the cops were called the whole 9 yards so they had to take her picture and post it the store I guess, I'm not sure. When she posed she stuck out her toung at the camera the cop was holding!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She was told she could be arrested for that and taken to the station!! What?! Why can't we have the free will to take a picture the way we want to!!!!!!!!???????????

Answer 9

This question makes me wonder if God is making me answer this question, or whether I chose to.

I am a firm believer in FREE WILL, but I think there are certain things God can prevent if he chooses. I believe in divine intervention, but I don't think it guides our every step. I don't believe we are just puppets or robots created for the sole entertainment of a bored deity. Your question pokes at the greatest spiritual mystery of all time. Thanks for the brain-teaser.

Answer 10

Both theories correctly explain everything.
To test one, we'd need to have an absolute means to measure an individuals "fate".

Since we cannot, and I suspect never will, it has been my experience that Fate is the belief of people who are frightened of decision.