Christians: It's my contention that most of you don't know what free will is. Your thoughts?

Question

Free will is not about being able to choose paper over plastic at the grocery store, it's about whether that choice was determined beforehand by the laws of physics. It's about whether you could have chosen otherwise. It's about whether control of your thoughts is an illusion.

By the way, we DON'T have free will.

Shaolt2002:
"Did God program my brain to make me want to shave my head?"
-- No, your brain decided to want to shave your head.

"Thus I am responsible for cutting my hair."
-- Your brain is responsible for making your hands cut your hair.

No, since I did not feel COMPELLED to cut my hair I did it on my own free will, and I alone am responsible for it.
-- That's the illusion. You ARE your brain. Your brain decided through it's processes to have a desire to cut hair. It doesn't feel at all like you were compelled.

Doubt is freedom: Then what was it caused by?

Qwyrx: Quantum mechanics may or may not be truly random, but that does not mean you have free will. It just adds randomness to a physical process.

Haysoos2: If there are no truly random events than yes, your answer was predestined. If there are, then it was not predestined but still determined by the laws of physics. Either way, no free will.

Answer 1

I know exactly what free will is. Do we have it? Well, here's my logic--I think that we do, because it makes a lot of other things in the universe both more meaningful and more interesting. If it doesn't exist, then my belief in it is, in and of itself, pre-ordained, so there's nothing I can really do to change that. Given what appears to be a choice, I chose the better half.

Also, you misunderstand physics if you think that anything that happens in the universe is "pre-ordained" from a physical perspective. If you actually study quantum mechanics, you will see that, on the most basic level, the universe is random. In large quantities, matter tends to be have predictably, but once you start looking at a small enough level, you see that probability dominates. In fact, certain aspects of QM tell us that in a certain sense, even the present isn't "determined" until it is "observed." So, all I'm saying is before you call out the speck of dust in your neighbors eye, you should look at the log in your own.

Answer 2

You've got to ask yourself, is choice determined by history, or is history determined by choice? Think deep on this. Just because God knows what you do in the future doesn't necessarily mean that our actions are predetermined, just that God knows what we will do, considering that He is outside of time - He did create time after all.

It is a difficult concept, and it should not be any less than that, it is a concept beyond our mental ability to grasp. However, a very rough analogy can be made by drawing a line on a paper. The line could represent a predetermined list of choices, or the line could represent what has already happened in the eyes of God. If a person was in the left end of the line, he wouldn't be able to see the right end since he is part of the line to begin with. You, however, would transcend the line, the paper. You would see the line in its entirety. Who's to say God doesn't do the same for our space and time?

Indeed, as far as salvation is concerned, God does choose these who He calls, but as far as free will goes, we must choose to respond to that calling. God does not force us to do something against our will, He does not "possess" us.

Answer 3

Life is a set of random equations. Go left go right, go straight. Think of this tomorrow when you wake up do everything that you did today down to the smallest detail. You cant. free will is about choice. There isn't a person anywhere on this earth that could prove to me that every action, decision mood swing etc. was determined before hand throughout my entire life. Free will is about making choices, these choices determine the outcome of any given situation. You can control your own life if you accurately determine the outcome of any situation. Argue, don't argue, give in, push back its all a game. the winner is the one who can see past the right now to a moment ahead.

Answer 4

I chose to shave my head a month ago. Did God program my brain to make me want to shave my head? I don't think so. In the least, I do not think he did, and I was acting on my own free will from all I can see. Thus I am responsible for cutting my hair. If a girl sees my head and dislikes it, I cannot say, "Ah cursed, this must have been God's sinister plan to make me cut my hair". No, since I did not feel COMPELLED to cut my hair I did it on my own free will, and I alone am responsible for it.

Answer 5

On the contrary, it is not Christians but secular humanists (like you?) who doubt free will. The Christian believes God has given Man free will to love or reject Him. Secular thought declares that the human will is an illusion and can be reduced to laws of biology and, as you say, physics. The Christian believes in a soul and mind beyond the physical body, while the secularist reduces the spirit to merely the physical workings of the brain. My free will allows me to reject your spurious reasoning.

Answer 6

It is no illusion. If you cannot reason and decide than it is less than human. We are made human by our ability to reason and conclude after weighing all the facts at our disposal. Yes we have free will it is what makes us the dominate force on the earth. This said reason and reason alone is why I chose Christianity. I weighed out all the things i could be and this (Christianity) is what I have chosen.

Answer 7

The will operates on a metaphysical level.

My brain dies with my body, but my soul lives on. All activity can be traced back to its origin. If the brain was an electified impulse, then I am the one causing that impulse, meaning I am not my brain, but thoroughly outside of it. In that sentence, outside is the metaphysical terminilogy. It means, I am not outside of it the way my hair is outside my body, it means I am outside of the workings of physics.


As for your question, you may be right when you say that You do not have free will. Not everyone has free will, just as not everyone can slam dunk, but when you say "we do not have free will," you are wrong. I suggest you freely decide to speak for yourself on that matter.

Answer 8

I'm an Atheist, and I believe in free will. Determinism is a load of rubbish. My choice to answer this Q wasn't determined by the laws of physics.

The answer to your retort is something called choice or free agency. My "brain" as you say, had different paths (alternatives) it ("I") could have chosen. But I chose to answer instead of getting up and going for a walk, which I shall do presently.

Answer 9

There will come a time that god will make sure that you have all the info you need to make an informed decision. and at that time you will know the data to be true because he will give you the discernment to know the data is true. At that time you will have a decision to make. But i say why wait till the last strike to swing at the ball. I hope you are not too proud to consider what i am saying.

Answer 10

Great question! Free will is subjective, naturally.

My will is only hampered by the laws of physics and that inevitable inner voice that one chooses or doesn't choose to follow. Even those people we deem amoral can choose their next move but choose to deny themselves the inner voice. Yes, you can choose a path and yes it may be delusional but is that not the beauty of the thing?