Do we control outside forces that influence our decisions?

Question

People say, "only if you let it," but I don't choose how I feel about something. I just do. You can't choose to find this question hilarious so how can you say you have control over your emotions? We can develop maturity, but we need a reason to, an outside force. Do unconscious decisions constitute as freewill?

Answer 1

You are absolutley right, my friend. We do not choose how we feel or what we believe. If love was a "choice", we would all choose to love bean sprouts and hate chocolate, but we don't control such desires.

The "outside force" is God Himself and He has revealed in the Bible how it is that He can be completely sovereign over the free actions of mankind:

"for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure." - Philippians 2:13

God controls both our "will" (wants/desires) and our "works" (actions). He does this according to His good pleasure (praise Him that His pleasure is GOOD).

We don't "let" God do anything. He is God, all by Himself, and He controls every atom in the universe.

Answer 2

as individuals in this metropolis of humanity we really have very little control over outside forces for example, the way the system is controlled be it financially or security we have little choice than to go with the flow of things.
you can choose how to react in certain situations though, you can choose to forgive or punish, to feel angry or be passive, but as to the world as a whole we our really only little cogs in a huge machine.