I'm not very religious but I have a question regarding free will...?

Question

Like I said, I am not very religious. But I know that God gave us free will, the right for us to make our own decisions. There are millions of people who belief that every thing that happens in our lives is predetermined, that we have our futures completely mapped out.

My question is, does free will contradict the belief that everything in life is predetermined? Do people just tell themselves that everything happens for a reason to make themseleves feel better, or does it say it in the Bible?

Answer 1

Finally, someone asks the question I have been asking myself for years! By the way you worded it perfectly. I don't think our lives are predetermined, I mean how could they be? Just like all those people in the WTC, were they predetermined to jump out of a burning building......not likely. But whatever helps people sleep at night, I am not judging, just answering a yahoo question.

Answer 2

Predetermined has to do with karma, a reaction for every action. Whatever we put out has to come back. So if in one life we do not finish receiving the karmic debts, we have to take up another body in another life in order to finish paying off the karmic debts.

The only time you would have your future map completely altered, having some of your karmic debts wiped out or reduced is when you are under the grace of a Satguru (True Master- Pure Soul) such as Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi. If you read "An Autobiography of a Yogi" by Paramahansa Yogananda, it explains more of how the Guru can have control over the planets of your life if you surrender to one, speeding up your spiritual growth.

Free will has to do with the choices you are going to make, whether good or bad choices. For every choice you make, there are good or bad consequences. Let's say you donated a million dollars to feed the poor, then there is good karma ahead of you, God rewards you in the future, maybe like helping you never go hungry (predetermined).

One should place importance on what we are putting out there, even if it's just one word or thought, it has energy and will be released. If you don't hurt a being in any shape and form, then you are predetermined to not receive any hurt. If you don't hurt spiders, then a spider will never bite you in the future. So think twice about hurting all living beings!

Answer 3

The answer is yes. Free will and predetermination don't mix. If everything is predetermined then how can you do anything but what inescapable fate has planned for you? That isn't free will at all. That's following a very very specific path that you never consented to follow but are nonetheless destined to walk.

Forget supernatural mumbo jumbo. Neither predetermination nor total free will exist. Just live life as best you can making the best decisions you can.

Answer 4

Excellent question, Matt. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that everything in our lives is already mapped out, and that we have no way of changing anything.

It is true that God has a "plan" for the salvation of mankind, and that includes each and every one of us. But we also have a choice as to whether or not to cooperate with God's will for us.

What people tend to confuse is God's omniscience with predestination. God knows all and sees all outside of time - so for Him, past, present and future are all before Him at the same time - but just because He sees and knows everything that we will do or say, it's not that we do or say it because God makes us do or say it. It's that He knows it, because we have done it already in His eyes, seeing as He does the future as if it were past and present.

So does free will contradict the belief that everything is predetermined? I think that it does in the way that many people think about predestination. But that is not to say that God doesn't know what will happen, what each one of us will do or say, because in His eyes - which transcend time and space as we know it - we have already done it and said it!

I hope this helps.

Answer 5

Free Will.
We have Free Will, great what does that mean?
And does God know everything?

Lets look at a computer program that plays chess a simple concept but the decision trees can be massive.
Ok
After the first moves you move
The computer runs the trees and sees every possibility and its winning move, it moves.
You make a move
The computer runs the trees and sees every possibility and its winning move, it moves.
You make a move
--Continue--

With free will you have choices sometimes it is a simple choice see a movie or stay home.
God dose no know what you will chose, that’s free will.
But after you make the choice God can see where that takes you at your end.
After every choice you make God (runs program) sees your end.
The end can change, God can also place objects in your path, and the choices there can drastically change your end.

So can God see where you end up heaven or hell? YES
Can you change that outcome? YES

But remember human nature, if you are on a path, heaven or hell, you tend to stay on that path unless something some object, a block etc… by God or by Satan, may change the your path.

There is Predestined, There is no Predestination!
One that is Predestined is one that was chosen from before. (If you don't understand that put it on the shelf)
There will be more than 144,000 that are Predestined!
They are also the only ones that can commit the unforgivable sin!

Answer 6

it depends on how extensive the predetermination is. if there is absolute predetermination where everything is planned by G-d, even the tiniest detail, then no, free will cannot exist. but if you mean by predetermination more along the lines of fate where things are meant to happen in the "big picture" but the "little picture" is not planned, then yes, there can be free will.

Answer 7

Seems about 15 years ago the Calvinistic clan got carried away with the concept of "predestination" & that was the talk of the town. However it doesn't line up with the word of God.
"The Lord is . . not wanting any to perish, but ALL to come to repentance. "2 Peter 3:9

Does God know what is going to happen even to the tiniest detail? I believe he does. Does free will also exist? I believe it does. Do I understand it? No, I truly don't . I believe someday it will all make sense & we will understand it clearly when we cross over. Until then, who can wrap their mind around it?

Answer 8

We have free will and our lives are not predetermined. People do not want the responsibility of making good choices. They prefer to blame their circumstances on forces they have no control over. This is sad, but true. God wants us to use our power of reason--learn about him and about his son and act in a manner that shows we truly love and appreciate them.

Answer 9

We can't love God without free will, because without free will we won't have a choice, and so our love for Him and choice to follow Him wouldn't be a choice at all. He gives us the choice to love Him or not. But just because He knows what will happen and what choices we will make doesn't mean that we are predestined to whatever fate and that there's nothing we can do about it. We can't think of God's advance knowledge of what choices we will make in terms of human logic or understanding, because it's way beyond our ability to comprehend. That doesn't mean it's contradictory--it just means that we can't explain it away through our meager human ways of thinking. Does that make it any less real? Not at all. God made us to know Him and to have a relationship with Him--and for us to make the choice to follow Him (although not everyone make that choice).

If you'd like to chat more about this or anything else, feel free to drop me a line at [e-mail]. I've been around the block a few times and understand what it's like to have major questions about faith issues. Please let me know if I can help in any way.

Answer 10

I agree and disagree that everything happens for a reason.
What is predetermined is ur sex, family, and what I disagree is ur grades are not predetermined before u go to school, until u work hard and take the tests.