If everything that happens is God's will, how can anyone say they have free will? Aren't we all puppets of God, doing His will so that the outcome of our actions accomplish His goals?
2006-09-01 05:39:50 · 23 answers · asked by Questor 1 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Free will is an illusion brought about by our non-omnicience. To us, a scenario in which we are free to choose A or B does not take into account the hidden constraints such as psychological state and a myriad other factors. It is impossible for us to know everything that is involved in a decision because that would require knowing the precise state of the entire universe at that precise instant. Even if we did, our knowledge would change that state, because the state that yields a certain decision requires our ignorance. By knowing, we change the state of things, like groping in the dark to discover the location of marbles on the floor changes their positions.
Even if there were no God or gods, then things would be just as deterministic. In a rational universe, where effect follows cause, with a defined beginning state and a defined end state, there is likewise no room for free will.
You're either a puppet to a god or a puppet to a set of randomly determined quantum parameters.
2006-09-01 05:59:28 · answer #1 · answered by BrianthePigEatingInfidel 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Not everything is God's will but free will does dictate everything. Freewill was ours at the beginning God gave us that because he wanted beings that would serve Him because they wanted to. This is why Adam and Eve were kicked out of the garden they chose to eat the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Let me help you understand what I'm saying. Lets imagine that you have a choice put in front of you. You have outcome A or outcome B (just to keep it simple for everyone). You can chose either your choice (free will). Now lets say that you chose outcome A. In turn this places another choice with two different outcomes in front of you. Once again you choose an outcome. So now you have chosen a path. God knows the choices you make and the outcome plus He knows all the choices and outcomes of all the choices you didn't make. That's freewill but there is God's will for your life. These are choices that you freely choose so that you may follow his will. Romans 12:2 describes how we find that will. I hope that answers your quandary.... :)
2006-09-01 06:18:52 · answer #2 · answered by bigdog 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
God chose to give us free will. Not everything in this world is God's will. God doesn't want natural disasters, famine, crime, hate, and all these other things for us. He can work through these circumstances to bring good out of it, but it all boils down to our own choices. God works in spite of our wrong choices to accomplish His will. He doesn't "force" us, He doesn't make us do what we do so that His ends are accomplished. Rather, He works His own ends IN SPITE OF our choices. God does use Christians sometimes, even though He could accomplish His ends without our "help", to give us a part in things. But Christians choose to voluntarily work for God's glory. That is also free will. In the end, God has our best interests at heart. He wants us to have a relationship with Him and spend all eternity with Him. He also wants to help us make good decisions on this earth so that our lives here will be as good and right as possible and so that we can be His "lamp shining in the darkness"... to show others the Way.
2006-09-01 05:51:20 · answer #3 · answered by M 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
there is a confluence of wills and it doesnt matter if the will if an angel, man or God... God accomplishes his purpose but doesnt obliterate the will
Gods will and man's will occur together, doing violence to neither
story of Joseph sold ot slavery, story of the cross being both good examples of people freely choosing evil and God accomplishing a greater good by plan at the same time!!!
now it depends on what you mean by free will.. man has a free will..but it is tainted... and without a ton of amazing grace will freely choose to reject God on some level... just as a criminal will freely choose to run away form the police 10 times out of 10
2006-09-01 05:44:08 · answer #4 · answered by whirlingmerc 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, HE gave us free will, to choose life as we have to go through the SON, JESUS CHRIST, or to reject HIM and accept death, and the fiery burnings of Hell.
HE knows what we choose, but, HE doesnt choose it for us. We choose what our destiny is, HE just knows the outcome of our Choice!
HE is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. HE was there before us, and will be there after us. We, as linear beings, dont understand that, or a lot of us cant comprehend what HE is to us. We are very narrow minded, short sighted beings, that are finite in our lives and can not see even a small percentage of the "big picture" of life.
Trust in HIM, and HE shall set you free with the TRUTH.
I wish you well..
Jesse
2006-09-01 05:46:28 · answer #5 · answered by x 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
God is capable of taking into account every choice made by every man.
When Jesus died on the cross, everything happened exactly as God pre-ordained, yet no one was forced to do anything against their will.
Some people chose to cooperate with God. Some people chose to oppose him. God knew who would do what and when, and he simply overcame the forces arrayed against him.
God will prevail, that's for sure, because none of us are powerful enough to stand in his way ... but it's not due to a lack of freedom.
2006-09-01 08:48:16 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
NO, we are not puppets of God...in fact that's why we have free will to begin with.
NO, everything is not God's will. God can not sin and will not let sin into his kingdom.....this is why sinners can not be part of it. Only thru the redeaming blood of Christ can we enter the gates of heaven into his kindgom....
Nothing happens that God doesnt already know....Nothing will happen that he doesnt already know.....Read Job.....
JOB 1:1 In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil.
JOB 1:6 One day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them. 7 The LORD said to Satan, "Where have you come from?"
Satan answered the LORD, "From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it."
JOB 1:8 Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil."
JOB 1:9 "Does Job fear God for nothing?" Satan replied. 10 "Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. 11 But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face."
JOB 1:12 The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, then, everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger." Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.
God allows things to happen in our life....why?...to see if we will run to the phone or the THRONE....
2006-09-01 05:53:30 · answer #7 · answered by bandaidgirl 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
His goal is our immortality and eternal life. If we choose not to follow his will, as we very obviously can since we have free agency, we will not achieve God's (and our) goals for us.
On a macro level, yes, everything that happens is God's will. But on a micro level, it is very much up to us how our lives turn out.
2006-09-01 05:42:48 · answer #8 · answered by Open Heart Searchery 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
everything is not God's will. simple fact. if He wanted to make us to where we did everything that He wanted us to do, there would have been no point in making us, now would there?
we pray for God's will to be done for a reason. it doesn't just happen. God is a gentleman, He doesn't impose or force His ideas or will on anyone.
2006-09-01 08:31:46 · answer #9 · answered by lordaviii 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Your missing some points in your logic. God is not limited like we are. We live in time and space and God lives outside it. Its not a matter of God controlling our choices rather a matter of God already knowing our choices before we make them. God is not saying you cant control your fate but He is saying "I already know what decision your gonna make and have acted already in response to it". Somewhere in someplace everything is finished with God. Remember, God is not finite like you and your mind but infinite(no limits).
2006-09-01 05:50:03 · answer #10 · answered by icyhott4urmind 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋