The bible condemns openmindedness and free thinking doesn't it? Where is the free will in dying? Where is the free will in obeying certain rules? Is it just me or does the bible sound like it is against free will?
2006-10-31 15:47:18 · 21 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
The best free will is in the story of moses when god makes the Pharaohs heart "hard" so he would continue with his infanticide and genocide. Talk about free will.
2006-10-31 15:50:45 · answer #1 · answered by Alucard 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think it must be open to interpretation. This is one of those classic debates. I look at the first chapter of Genesis and I see that God gave Adam and Eve a choice about the forbidden fruit and they chose badly. Christian faith seems to me to be centered on choice: a Christian must choose Christ as his or her savior. But there are places in the Bible where it seems like God isn't allowing choices, when it says that God "hardened someone's heart" or opened or closed someone's eyes to the truth.
But free will, free thinking and open-mindedness are three different things. In life, I believe we do have some choices, while other things are not open to choice, so when I talk about it at all, I don't call it free will because people have come to associate that term with an absolute kind of freedom of the will.
The Bible's stance on free will is not at all clear. The Qu'ran makes pre-destination sound much more clearly like the plan of Allah. Allah puts belief into the hearts of some people, but not others. I don't want to judge that, but in Islam it doesn't sound as though an unbeliever ever has a chance.
Sorry, off the subject. Biblically, it's debatable, but the real-world evidence indicates that some choices exist.
2006-11-01 00:07:00 · answer #2 · answered by anyone 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Free will is not really discussed in the bible. It is more of a concept promoted by the Church when it was fighting against the Idea of a clock work deterministic universe being developed by science just before Newtons time. Both the Catholic and Anglican Church regarded determinism as a threat and as a result reversed their stance on how God had determined (predestination) everything and that we had no choice but to obey and follow his will. This is just one of many "flip-flops" by religion.
2006-10-31 23:59:14 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Let me explain it this way by a lovely story I heard. There was this woman who was beat and mistreated by her husband their whole marriage. He demanded that the dishes be washed, the house clean, his food cooked, she bring him ice tea, etc, etc. The husband dies (I like to think she pushed him into a wood chipper one night...but anyway) and the woman is finally free. She starts dating again some time later and during the time when things get serious and they look into getting married, she makes a list of things she will not do for this soon to be new husband. However this new husband treats her like a queen. One day years later she comes across the list and realizes she does all of the things for the new husband that she did for the old husband. She realizes that it is not the acts but the will that the acts are created in. Hon, God doesn't want a forced hand. You can choose to worship Him, or you can choose to ignore Him. But, IF you choose Him, you are going to WANT to do the things the bible instructs because you love Him. That is our free will. When we make a choice for God, we do the things He wants because we love Him, we (Christians) are NOT forced to do anything. In fact, I could live the rest of my life ignoring the bible and what it says and go to heaven when I die. Those things don't earn me eternity. However I want to do these things because I love God (Same as the story about the woman above)
2006-10-31 23:53:48 · answer #4 · answered by newcovenant0 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The plan of Salvation depends on our agency or free will. That is one of the gifts we are given when we come to Earth. We are free to choose and know right and wrong. When we choose right we move closer to the Lord, when we choose wrong we are moved farther away. A man once described it to me, the Lord has everything we could ever offer him, except one thing. He does not have our free will. When we offer that to him, by choosing the way he would have us, he is free to bless us. The Bible, while it may seem as if free will is often blunted, men have always had the choice to follow heavenly father, but in the Bible, many often choose not to.
2006-10-31 23:52:11 · answer #5 · answered by freeze_guy_2001 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
just because someone says not to do something, doesnt mean you CANT do it, just that you most likely SHOULDNT do it. the Bible doesnt force your actions, only guides them toward the Lord, Jesus Christ. it is your choice from FREE WILL whether you follow them or not. as for the "free will in dying", you have to die, a part of life. if you say it that way, then where is the free will in being born? is that the same thing? well God created you, so His time is when you will leave this earth.
2006-11-01 00:14:37 · answer #6 · answered by bsbllplayr216 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Ther is free will. GOD does not force you to follow and obey Him.Salvation is a gift
so, it requires a freewill acceptance of that gift.
we have the right to choose our whole lives. that is freewill.
but there is always consequences for those freewill choices, wether they be good or bad.
in Deuteronomy 30 i think it says "i set before you now life and death. choose life" that sounds like freewill with a plea to chose the right thing.
So when it comes down to judgement, and you chose a life on earth without GOD, that choice will have eternal consequences
choose life that you might live!
2006-11-01 00:02:32 · answer #7 · answered by Da_Bears70 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Bible says that you can do anything you want, and you can. But some things are still wrong to do. You decide to do it, so it is your free will that causes you to make a decision, whether it is right or wrong has been outlined in the Bible.
2006-10-31 23:51:17 · answer #8 · answered by janeannpat 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Wel, the bible taught me that we are all one, all free to believe or not believe, sin is done away with, we are perfect in God's eyes. In fact, we are God.
Amazing how the same book can teach such different things.
www.gospelogic.com
2006-11-01 00:12:51 · answer #9 · answered by ridethestar 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In some ways it does condem it by punishment if it goes against the wishes of God. However, speaking from a rather symbolic point of view, rather than literal translationist of the texts, the idea is that you should be in harmony with the one - the whole - the God energy, whatever you want to call it. If you strive for this, there's harmony. Discord in yourself equates to discord in decisions and the way your life goes. I'm not saying I believe this, it's merely what I've seen and deduced from my own readings.
2006-10-31 23:51:19 · answer #10 · answered by thedarkduchess 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋