God gave people free will?

Question

Hey, atheist here...

So apparently we can CHOOSE whether to follow this God or not, right?

Did it ever occur to you Christians that atheism is NOT A CHOICE?

So, what you say is nonsense really.

I was born atheist-agnostic, as is everyone else, and simply stayed atheist. No decision for it ever came up.

And most Christians didn't choose either - their parents chose FOR them and they followed.

Laura,

agnosticism is not separate from theism and atheism.

Atheist-agnostic = absence of belief.
Atheist - gnostic - absence of belief and active disbelief.

Answer 1

No, everyone is born with a sense that there is some higher moral authority.

Lost in the hullabaloo over the neo-atheists is a quieter and potentially more illuminating debate. It is taking place not between science and religion but within science itself, specifically among the scientists studying the evolution of religion. These scholars tend to agree on one point: that religious belief is an outgrowth of brain architecture that evolved during early human history. What they disagree about is why a tendency to believe evolved, whether it was because belief itself was adaptive or because it was just an evolutionary byproduct, a mere consequence of some other adaptation in the evolution of the human brain.

Which is the better biological explanation for a belief in God -- evolutionary adaptation or neurological accident? Is there something about the cognitive functioning of humans that makes us receptive to belief in a supernatural deity? And if scientists are able to explain God, what then? Is explaining religion the same thing as explaining it away? Are the nonbelievers right, and is religion at its core an empty undertaking, or a misdirection, or a vestigial artifact of a primitive mind? Or are the believer’s right, and does the fact that we have the mental capacities for discerning God suggest that it was God who put them there?

In short, are we hard-wired to believe in God? And if we are, how and why did that happen?

Read more at:

See:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/04/magazine/04evolution.t.html?ei=5090&en=43cfb46824423cea&ex=1330664400&pagewanted=all

Answer 2

Ok here's something I'm trying to work out.

1. If God is omniscient then he knows all since that entails knowledge without limits, right? (Revelations and the other prophecies received from God are a testament to this)

In creating earth he foresaw everything that would occur. Good and Bad.
He created the world anyway

He knew beforehand that SOME of us would be believers and SOME of us would reject him. He knew the end.
But he created us anyway.

So....WHY did he create man--if he was going to save some and damn others?
Free will...and all-knowing creature?
Our choices are free but they are 'known'...
Look at the big picture, here: How can you even think 'free will' really matters in the grand scheme of things?

2. If this being created us knowing he was going to damn us how could this being be considered omnibenevolent? Good and Loving?
How can you reconcile goodness with a place like hell? If you can't then what sense does it make to talk about the goodness of God?
I mean in this context, what do you even mean when you say God is 'good'?

I am AGNOSTIC.
I'd like an answer if any have one.
I think I will make a post of this hold on.....

Answer 3

I'd be willing to bet that there are a lot of atheists out there who are going to disagree that their atheism is not their choice...

And I also have to disagree with your final statement. You're right that up to about age 18, I was a Christian because my parents were. But from about age 20 through age 37, I was agnostic because I no longer blindly followed where my parents led. Becoming a Christian again at age 37 was definitely my choice. And I have a church that is probably at least 30 percent new Christians who were not even raised in Christian households.

Answer 4

Because that is how you were raised. You DECIDED to follow your parents. That's why in Christianity you have two ceremonies in your life:

BAPTISM: the ceremony given to you as an infant (usually), where your parents make the decision to raise you as a Christian

CONFIRMATION: where YOU make the decision to continue living as a Christian, but you don't have to be Confirmed if you don't want to.

My mother was born Jewish and stayed Jewish until I was about four, and then she converted when she had a complicated miscarriage and felt she heard GOD explain to her that he had taken her child from her because otherwise my mom would have been the one to die, and she was needed for me and my brother and sister (HE was right too, because my parents got divorced last year and my dad is being the most enormous asshole imaginable and I probably wouldn't even be here if it were not for my mom).

My whole life, my mom's family has been trying to convince me to go Jewish, but I realized that I truly did believe that Jesus was the Messiah, therefore I was a Christian no matter what religion my mother practised when I was born. My grandpa is STILL trying to convince me to have a late bat mitsvah! XD How's THAT for free will?

Answer 5

Well, the thing is at some point most people are presented with the beliefs of a a religion. Most common here in the US is Christianity. However, if someone were to be presented with it, after being thoroughly educated and attending college, they wouldn't find it to be accurate or logical. So basically anyone that exerts any type of brain activity wouldn't waste their time even considering to believe. Not to mention that every single sect of religion claims to be the absolute truth. Which one would you choose? I wouldn't choose either. I'm sorry, free will or not, my will is not to disregard my brain.

Answer 6

God does give us freewill. He gives us the choice to accept Him and leave with Him for eternity or reject Him and live with Satan for eternity. We do have that choice, but God told Christians to go and preach the Word to all nations. So it is our job as Christians to tell all people about Jesus. It is up to you rather or not you will believe it or not.

People are not born as atheist. When Elizabeth was pregnant with John the Baptist. John worshiped Jesus while he wass still in the womb. Jesus wa still in the womb of Mary. My son when he was just a few months old would raise his hands when you asked him to praise the Lord. from the time he was small he would shout and clap and raise his hands when he was in church.

Our parents can not get us to heaven and they don't choose our religion. They may raise us to be Christians, but that doesn't mean that we will choose to accept Jesus or not. That is a choice that each individual had to make on their own.

Answer 7

No you chose as soon as you heard about God, but chose not to choose. That may be hard to follow, but you still chose. Just because you chose not change, doesn't mean you never chose.

And by what you said, Christians choose to follow, even after they leave thier parents, so they chose as well.

Hope this cleared that up, have a nice night.

Answer 8

Yes God gave a free will and free choice to all humans.But God had given the life guide i.e Zabur,Torah,Bible and the last Qur'an through His prophets.The life guide contains what we should be done and what should not be done with its consequencies.If we did what should not be done we will have sin.If we did what should be done we will get rewards.
So if you want to enter heaven after your death you must do what we should do in line with the God's life guide and we should avoid to do what should not be done.If you choose to be an atheist so you do not use the God's life guide.The atheists will go to hell.

Answer 9

Why do you blame someone else for your beliefs. It is your choice to believe in what your will is. No matter who you are there is a time coming for each of us when we will met the true living GOD. So either way-you either bow down now or bow down later. Your soul will live forever but your flesh is just a shell for the soul. Many will perish for the lack of knowledge in Christ. Every religion is accepted except Jesus Christ. Hell is real and so is God our Lord JESUS. If you are afaid to die than God is not in you.

Answer 10

That last conclusion is simply not true. Most christians are not found in America. Christianity originally spread under intense persucution. However the more persecution the more believers there were. Becoming a christian is a choice. If i wasn't a christian i would have committed suicide a long time ago. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNaoDyV-PJ4