Free will, robots and emotions?

Question

I always read people stating that "if God hadn't given us Free Will, we'd be like robots"

Is that true? Assuming there is a God who created us: how do you know there aren't a million more emotions that he didn't give us? We can love, hate, be angry, etc, etc now. But how do you know there aren't many more emotions possible that He simply didn't give us?

And why is 'robot' the alternative to Free Will? He could have simply created us with the power to make decisions, yet no evil inside us. We'd still have free will, but we'd simply be better people.

Answer 1

If God has free will, and freely chooses never to do evil, because it is not in his nature to do so, then he could have made us the same way. That rather effectively refutes any argument about evil being necessary or inevitable.

Answer 2

No mainstream Christian theology denies the concept of free will in the sense of making day-to-day decisions. The only argument is where we have (or do not have) the ability to look to God for salvation. Arminians believe that we have this ability; Calvinists do not. Therefore, Arminians extrapolate Calvinist theology into God's forcing people into belief or unbelief, and thus "God doesn't want robots" is an argument-by-slogan fallacy that is easily propagated.

Free will has to do with autonomy, and is not an emotion. Whether God had other emotions available to give to man is not identified or supported in Scripture, so I'll leave that one alone.

I've already covered the fact that we do have the power to make decisions, but from a Calvinist viewpoint, without the possibility of looking to God for salvation, we are left with a singular destination of hell which makes any decision that we make, irrelevant. Robots for Satan, in other words.

As for creating us with the power to make decisions, yet no evil inside us, Adam did have the full capability to keep the law of God. He did not, and the doctrine of original sin supports the idea that Adam's "federal representation" brought all of humanity down with him into a total depravity, which Arminians do not believe.

However, if total depravity does not exist, this leads to questions about God's omniscience and ability to rule his universe, if the Almighty is now under man's thumb and man is considered a neutral agent in salvation.

Personally I believe in an omniscient god and a damaged man, rather than a fully capable man and a "damaged" God who yearns for man to accept him, sadly (?) placing the unbeliever in hell after a dividing line of death.

Answer 3

The state that we're in might be either free-will or predestination, or some kind of combination. Predestined to something doesn't mean that we aren't given emotions. Our condition as we get to our destination can take on all kinds of forms, where we do make decisions and see results of those decisions.

I don't view Christian predestination as the same thing as determinism. God governs, and the end result and the destination of his people can be determined to whatever degree he chooses.

He, in my view, created us with free-will, and in the beginning (Adam and Eve) we were without evil, or sin. We decided to act on a temptation presented to us by Satan. My belief is then that you and I are born into sin, and a world cursed by sin.



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'acid' is correct in that I don't know what I am talking about. to imply that this is a settle issue is a surprisingly narrow view, especially from an insightful R&S participant. and to imply that for some reason 'acid' does 'know'? quite a claim.

It isn't a settled issue, with current debate, and multiple great minds dealing with this topic. Folks are still trying to figure out how best to describe the state we're in. Locke, Hobbes, Kerkegaard, Buddhists and Hindi all holding different positions, and in some way you hold the truth to this complex state of affairs?

Answer 4

I'm a determinist hoping to be a compatibilist. I _want_ there to be free will, but I can't prove it in any way. All evidence points to no free will for us complex deterministic biological machines.

Additionally, whatever the hell christians are talking about with free will is not the concept as defined "whether rational agents imagine or really do exercise control over their own actions and decisions. Addressing this problem requires understanding the relation between freedom and causation, and determining whether or not the laws of nature are causally deterministic"

They have something about being able to choose or reject god. or whatever.

Answer 5

It is with my own free will that I choose to believe in and serve the Lord! My faith brings me happiness. I've tried to live without God in my life (I never denied that I believed in him) and for me it just didn't work. I need the Lord in my life. If you think I am a 'robot' so be it.! You have your own free will not to believe if that is your choice. You can love or hate. You can be kind or hateful. You can be manipulative or compliant. You can show remorse or have a lack of remorse. You can be sympathetic or empathic. You can be kind or be cold hearted. It's all up to you.I am not judging you I am only letting you know that the choices you make in life are yours to make. No one can make them for you nor can you change my or anyone elses way of thinking. We each are in control of our own thoughts.I wish you no harm, Have a good day!

Answer 6

I suppose, but that isn't the way he did it.

When you stand before God at judgement, you will have to give an account of what you chose to do, and why.

And yes, when you do not have a free will....you are a prisoner.
Someone without a free will is not entirely human.

Answer 7

I don't claim to know the mind of your God.
I think you have missed the point; that good cannot exist without evil, any more than day can be, without night.
Would people who were only capable of half emotion, half feeling, half thought, or judgement, really be any better off? Or would they be leading soulless 'robot' lives?

Answer 8

We don't have free will at all. We are like robots. We are biological machines. We think we have free will.