2007-01-09 10:23:59 · 20 answers · asked by STFU Dude 6 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
It's just as hard to explain as it is to understand. You have free will because you can still make your own decisions. The thing is...God is all knowing and he is outside of time. The concept is so vastly out of reach from our tiny minds thats its better just to accept it than to try and figure it all out.
2007-01-09 10:28:57 · answer #1 · answered by Hippie Chick 2 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Answer: it's not. I don't think the Bible teaches "free will" in the typical sense. But you might turn that around and ask how any kind of "free will" is compatible with an eternal plan of God. That's a good question, and one that I unfortunately cannot answer, at least not to your satisfaction.
However, I could ask you one in return: how is "free will" compatible with an atheistic mechanistic view of the world? If everything I do and am is determined either by my genes or random chance, where does the idea of free will come from?
The difference here is that in my case, I am appealing to an agent much greater and more intelligent than I (God, not you :-), and I think it's clear that an infinitely more intelligent being could understand a few things I don't. On the other hand, you are appealing to mechanistic nature, which we understand much better than we can ever hope to understand God. It seems to me the problem is much greater for you than it is for me.
2007-01-09 18:30:35 · answer #2 · answered by Gary B 5 · 0⤊ 2⤋
John Calvin called it predestination, that everything was set in place and cannot be changed because that is God's divine purpose. Personally, I can't abide by that theological mindset and can't understand how the Christians that adhere to that theology can put free will in a juxtaposition with predestination. Frankly, free will makes better sense to me. For example, I raised 4 children. I tried to teach them well but ultimately I have given them free will to make their own choices in life. If I controlled every aspect of their lives, then I simply raised 4 robots without brains or free will.
2007-01-09 18:40:09 · answer #3 · answered by Turnhog 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
im not sure if the quote counts for nonbelievers... but you do have free will... you've probably only heard it if u are a christian... and for christians, youre life is part of god's plan. Sometimes God will do things that you won't necessarily like, but "everything is part of God's plan". he does somethings to nonbelievers so that you will believe, or so that you will or won't suffer because of your way of doing things. If you were god it would all make sense.... its just hard to understand because we don't yet have the knowledge to comprehend all the factors of the Bible
2007-01-09 18:31:26 · answer #4 · answered by skateKad47 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
The dude, it's like planning a vacation...but as we all know too well, it may be perfect in your plans, but some things just don't go your way, like weather, or your car breaking down, or having a crappy hotel eventhough the pics on the computer looked awesome. Same with God, he plans our lives perfectly, but because of our free will, we take detours.
2007-01-09 18:30:26 · answer #5 · answered by Bronx B 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
You don't have free will anyway...
To quote myself on another site...
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1. Our personality is a composite of our biology and environment (nature and nurture)
2. To have a free will we must have defined our own personality
3. We have no say in either of nature or nurture
4. Therefore we are not free
Christians like to pursue a 'get-out clause' of 'limited free will' (yes, a contradiction in itself).
However since (3) is true, we do not have any shred of free will, and the notion of partial free will is in itself contradictory.
To define our nature would require that we have existed before we did in order that we choose what our personality would be. This is obviously a circular concept that can never be true.
To define our nurture would require that we can control others (that we even have the intelligence from birth to control others!), which would infringe on their free will, thus it is a self-eliminating concept.
If we all had a choice of the type of personality we'd have, knowing the existence of the christian god and what we were supposedly promised, who would reject eternal life for the threat of hell?
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2007-01-09 18:29:20 · answer #6 · answered by Modern Jesus 2 · 0⤊ 2⤋
I am a Bible thumping Christian.
Everything is NOT part of God's plan, but he makes allowances for those who are called His children
Read the Bible, Dude.
When God told Moses to speak to the rock in the desert in order for it to crack and bring forth water for the people of Israel, Moses diobeyed and struck the rock with his stick.
The water came out anyway.
But since Moses had disobeyed God, God told Moses that he would never enter the promised land.
God did not plan that, but Moses did it... therefore he reaped the consequence.
Like I said... Read the Bible to learn of God, don't listen to me or anyone else... Listen to God, that's why God gave us THE BIBLE!
Peace to you.
2007-01-09 18:30:35 · answer #7 · answered by Christian Paragon 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It's not. It contradicts the idea of free will. That, and a god even being omnipotent means he's all-knowing - knows the past, present, future... everything. Again - no free will.
2007-01-09 18:32:01 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
everything is part of gods plan because he knows the outcome of everything b4 you even do it so he planned around it we have free will to make our own choices yes but that doesnt mean that god doesnt already know what choice we are going to make
2007-01-09 18:28:06 · answer #9 · answered by Bobby O 1 · 2⤊ 1⤋
I didn't know God has a plan. To my knowledge only the ego has a plan, usually to be some place other than right here away from life & truth.
2007-01-09 18:32:24 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋