Religious Free Will: Does it exist?

Question

I have asked a similar question before and I loved the responses. I am looking for more input from intelligent minds, Atheistic and Xtian alike.

Most, if not all, Xtians will agree that God is an omniscient being. This means that He knows all from the beginning of time until the end. Agreed?

Therefore he knows if you are getting into "heaven" or "hell" already.

"Pardon me! Did I break your concentration" - Pulp Fiction

Doesn't this irk you? It should if you are a thinking Xtian. It should p*ss you right off.

This means living your life is defined because your future is already set by God, and was well before you were conceived. So technically, you have no control over your life, and your life will be lead the way God already planned it.

So if you go to heaven, or hell, it was Gods choice eon's ago, and cannot be changed; no matter how you live today, tommorrow, or next year.

Your thoughts please? How does that make you feel? Any counter-arguments?

Tim:

You are missing the point of omniscience. It is not fore-knowledge. It is fore-knowledge, knowledge of the now, and knowledge of the ever-will-be. Your God knows where you are going, and always has. That is what you are confusing with pre-destination. The point of omniscience is mute because pre-destination doesn't exist if he already knows.

And by the way, corellating your own personal lifes experiences with a question revolving around the tenets of a God weakens your argument seriously.

Answer 1

no

Answer 2

No, free will, i.e. ability to choose God, does not exist. There is another way to look at your scenario. How about everyone from Adam forward, lost in sin and destined for Hell? There, now we can all have our "free will" making decisions the way we want, it doesn't make one big of difference, we're all headed for the same place. God is omniscient and knows all from the beginning of time until the end, as you've indicated, He doesn't need to plan out anything, we've already long since done ourselves in.

Now for some odd reason, this perfect God who would have been fully justified sending everyone off to their own destruction, somehow decided, before the beginning of time, that he would save some of His creation. Through nothing that we did, He sent his son to die for these elect people, with His Holy Spirit putting that belief in our hearts, holding us forever in the palm of His hand.

That's Calvinism in a nutshell, and it's not anything new in the theological world. Kind of old theology really, but it has stood the test of time to be a valid way to look at the scriptures.

Answer 3

First, please stop the abusive language in your questions. It does not make your argument stronger, but shows a personal weakness.

"Fore-knowledge" does not equal "predestination." Just because I know something will happen, does not mean that I make it happen.

I see high-school kids getting involved in sex and alcohol and drugs. I know what is going to happen: they will get STDs, the girls will be pregnant before they graduate, their hearts will be broken, and the boys will not hang around for the easy thrills or for the responsibility of raising the kids. Because she will be a single mother, she is almost guaranteed to live in poverty for the rest of her life, and the kids she bears will repeat the disastrous cycle, because "that's the way life is." Oh yeah, and the fatherless boys are 75-90% more likely to land in jail than those with fathers.

Meth will eat their teeth out, heroin and crack will fry their brains, alcohol will rot their livers and ruin their chances in life.

Because I know these things will happen to them, does that mean that I made them happen? No.

Because God knows that you are a sinner, did He make you sin? Was your sin predetermined by God to happen, or are you really the one responsible for your own actions?

Gee, let's see if there is another way you can dodge responsibility other than blaming God for what you yourself have done!

Numbers 32:23 "But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the LORD, and be sure your sin will find you out.

Answer 4

The true God doesn't have any consideration of this place or that place these are the creations of man. The true God wants you
to draw near to the wisdom and energy of the Universe and when you have done this you will unfold as pure energy and return home to your creator as the wondrous creature that you are.

Answer 5

unforcunatly no not any more. i hate that it is gone. my destany was set by me and God but only I can control my future. I don't believe in hell.

Answer 6

you have the right for whatever religion you want, but you shouldn't listen to other ppls opinions for the truth