+ How can you believe in freewill and causality?

Question

Causality states that there is a cause for every effect. God-given freewill states that we should rise above cause and choose the effect ourselves.

But if we are not loved, we hate. If we are not wise, we do foolish things. If we do not steal, we starve. How can God expect us to rise above circumstances of which are beyond our control? I do not control how much I am loved, how much I am taught, how much I eat. The love I've felt was denied to others. The knowledge I've learned was denied to others. The land I live in was stolen by my ancestors.

Epicurus forgets that every man has a different level of strength. And that strength is determined by circumstances beyond our control. What if Thomas Jefferson was born into royalty?

We only live in this America because it was stolen from other nations. Money will always be made off poverty.

Yes, we have personal responsiblilty. We must face the consequences of our decisions, but whether or not we are deaf and blind is up to our upbringing. There is strength to be found in sadness, tragedy, isolation...but those things are forced upon us.

When are we ever in control? I can only speak because someone else taught me. The foundation of everything I consist of was decided by others. Is that control? No, people are not robots...we are mirrors to the world.

Yes, but what made that person cheat? A choice was not made, the person was simply reacting based on his character thus far. People aren't just born bad, what we experience decides everything. It decides who we are.

I'm talking causality of human behavior. To think it does not exist is pathetic of you.

Answer 1

Free will does not mean that we have control of our circumstances, it doesn't not mean the we can choose whether we will be rich or poor ... it doesn't mean that we have the ability to control who loves you and who doesn't ...what free will means is that we have the ability to choose what we believe in...who or what we worship, we have the ability to choice goodness or evil, we have the freedom to do our own thing our own way or we have the ability to seek out Gods will for us. Jesus even had free will andthat is seen clearly when he was in the garden ,when he said "Father if it is possible to remove this cup from me, but not my will ( He knew it was going to be painful and who likes pain? who wouldn't say "but isn't there another way we can do this, in that situation?) but your will be done...it is a choice to give your all to God our to follow your own ambitions. Hope this clears things up for you

Answer 2

The idea of 'causality' simply means that in every instance known, B has followed A. To say any more is to assume one sees a necessary connection between A and B, which cannot be shown (inductively).

The idea of 'free will' implies an ability to wish somethingtobe the case. Even if onecannotact onthat wish, the will is still free. I'm not saying free will actually exists.In fact, I think it unreasonable to consider free will much either way, since showing that free will does or does not exist changes nothing. I believe that free will and causality are generally misunderstood, and do not necessarily oppose each other in any way.

Answer 3

Well causality is nonsense. First off.
It is the most conditional belief system that has ever been constructed by the human mind.
Think about it.
What separates one event from another?
Were do you draw the line?
What about quantum particles? Don't they act randomly?
But they can't unless there not bound by cause and effect.
and Isn't everything made up of quantum particles?
How can the process of cause and effect bind all objects in the universe, but not apply to the constitute material that makes up 100% of the object.
What force could have gotten this process going in the first place?
Could it have willed its self into creation?(wouldn't that violate the law of cause and effect? negating it's self in the process)

I know for a fact that it is an illusion.
Jesus Christ is the lord and savior of the earth. All knees will bow down to him on judgment day.
Clinging to an illusion of the mind to justify your evil will not save you.
God is the perfect judge.
Follow Jesus Christ he will save you.

Answer 4

The question is not about freewill, but absolute free will, which we do not have and relative freewill that we do have.

God will not judge us for what is beyond our control, but only where things ARE in our control.

Sin can not exist until two situations exist. ONE: There has to be a command or position of the Lord Almighty on something that is clear. Do this,.. do not do that!

However, if you do not have the freewill to disobey, the command itself becomes an absurdity. You can not order a robot that is only able to do task numbers one two or three to do task number four.

The Lord gave us relative freewill to disobey him. THEN and only THEN the question of sin arises for that situation only.

Had God not commanded Adam NOT TO EAT from the tree of Knowledge (which is all symbolic in my personal view), it would not have been a sin for Adam to eat from it.

People who mistake original sin do not seem to fathom this very clear and obvious fact and make it out as if sin is almost a real and non-metaphysical thing. I hope you are with me so far.

In the landscape of obedience and disobedience, the slope is easier on the disobedient, whereas you have to rise to obey and it takes effort to follow the Lord's command. One may take the easy way out and slide or take the tough way up and obey.

When you obey, you rise higher, but it takes effort to do so. You have to have the freedom to rise or to slide down. Causality is not an issue here. Many an evil man has turned into a saint and vice versa, clearly showing that there is neutral ground in which the Lord has allowed his enormous power to be removed to create a vacumn where we can operate according to our will. As this vacumn of power is created by the Will of the Lord, it is not completely out of his will either.

If I had a tennis court in my home and I allowed you and a partner of yours to come play with the caveat that no one should cheat. If one does, then they will not be allowed to play any more. Now if someone cheats, they are doing so because I allowed the game to take place to begin with. However, I am free at that point to exercise my right to not allow the cheater to play. In such a situation the responsibility of not being able to play any more completely rests with the person who cheated, although it is true that had I not allowed the cheater to play, they would not have cheated to begin with. But let us say you did not cheat and became a champion tennis player. Had you not received the opportunity to play and practice, that would not have happened if I did not allow you to play (presuming you had no other place to play at). I hope this is making sense.

So, if cause was absolute and there was no room for freewill, it would be tyrannical of the Lord to bind someone and then punish them for being bound. They are free to traverse the slopes of life. True they can not fly and are stuck to the surface of the slope of life, but they can move up or down.

I hope this makes sense.

Answer 5

First off let me take a bit of issue here:

"If we are not loved, we hate"--says who? Sometimes we are just sad. Sometimes we don't care. The options are endless.

"If we are not wise we do foolish things"--not always. Some of us just realize we lack in wisdom and hold back until we know better.

"If we do not steal we starve"--I don't steal. And I don't starve.

Given your faulty premises, it sounds to me that you need to go and look up the term "personal responsibility". Even in the Christian faith, people say "God helps those who help themselves"--and this is true of all faiths. We cannot just sit there like a bump on a log waiting for a deity to drag us by the nose through life.

Destiny does exist, but free will determines how you will reach that destiny.

Answer 6

Causality implies that you really are not responsible for your own actions. You can blame anything you do on other people or on your circumstances.

When you truly believe in freewill and God, you realize that you have options and you can choose to be something better than what "causality" would abandon you to being.

Choose God, and rise above whatever has happened to you.

Answer 7

"I do not control how much I am loved, how much I am taught, how much I eat. The love I've felt was denied to others. The knowledge I've learned was denied to others. The land I live in was stolen by my ancestors."

epicurus would tell you to stop being such a reactionary crybaby. you cannot control what happens to you, but you can control how you react to it. do you let a bad cirumstance destroy you, or do you let it make you stronger?

Answer 8

Matthew 12:37's Cause & Effect
By "thy words", "thou" shalt be (either)
justified(graced) or condemned(lawed)

It's not beyond yer control, but in yer control:
whatever ye bind on earth is bound in heaven,
whatever ye loose on earth loosed in heaven.

Hint:
bind law worketh wrath to avoid destruction from on high.
loose grace is sufficient to have construction from above.

1Thessalonians 5:3's Cause and Effect:
Cause: "they say" Peace & Safety in Law & Law.
Effect: "no escape" sort of destruction comes on "them"
(a pretty good "reason" to "come out from among them")

1Thessalonians 5:9's Above Law Law Cause & Effect
God hath not appointed "us" unto (law worketh) wrath.
(another good reason to come out from among them)

How do you spoil the house of law: sin and death?
Obviously you first bind the "strong man" of it: law.
Law: the source of sin & "strength" of it's death sting.
So obviously law isn't the solution, rather the problem.

Somebody tell GWB, who'd take his 'rule of law' global,
said global rule of law would be as globe-all destruction.
But said "destruction" is only for "them" folk, of them/us.

And if any man be (willingly) ignorant, let him be ignorant.

Let them have "their end" shall be according to their works.
Let us have our grace us ending, by go on unto perfection.
Do the end "run" along "with patience" unto the end written.
For the promise notably comes after do-ing the will of God.
And the will of God is have mercy, and "not" have sacrifice.
And the will "not" part of such is not then, not now, not ever.

The GRACE of our Lord Jesus Christ WITH YOU ALL. AMEN.