You may or may not know, but free will does not exist as many understand it to. There is no magical soul that makes decisions. It is a vast amount of interactions between various stimuli and some random processes here and there, in the end, we do what we do because of the functioning of them all. Someone that studied the slightest bit of neurobiology would know this..
However, I guess it is stupid of me to think that any theist would actual study, or be able to comprehend neurobiology anyway right? So they continuously use the free will cop-out so that any individual has complete control over their very existence and being. Somehow though, God always manages to avoid responsibility for his behavior...
If you haven't and you aren't theist, there are many good books out there for laymen. One interesting theory on this is Hume's Fork. Simple but sensible.
2007-05-10 13:43:51 · 18 answers · asked by trinitybombshella 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Sorry chocka69, My God is smarter than yours!
2007-05-10 13:54:47 · update #1
Blah, Blah and more Blah. Can you get that fat head of yours through the door, Miss Know it all.
2007-05-10 15:10:52 · answer #1 · answered by angel 7 · 3⤊ 2⤋
Free will does exist biologically. Note(mystical point of view) leaves out theologies. The synapse,and electrical charges in the left hemisphere are programed to react some what clinically. The use of the left hemisphere is a habit using only one part of the brain.
In 1968 I had an anterior temporal lobectomy, with a considerable amount of brain mapping(beginning stages) experimental surgery. I was told afterword that I had learned all I could. Be happy in the life I had.
I subsequently attended college--have a degree in Bible and studied the funeral business and am a licensed funeral director. I also pastored a church. I am retired now. The compensation ability of the right hemisphere is what I have depended on for a long time. Right hemisphere people think differently and supposedly are more intelligent. There is more not know about the brain then most people could imagine. Check Dr. Sidney Goldring chief neurosurgery Wohl hospital/Barnes hospital/ Washington university/St. Louis, Mo.
2007-05-10 21:51:01 · answer #2 · answered by j.wisdom 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I'm a theist. I'm not a neurobiologist, but I watch House. :) He doesn't seem to be any happier as an atheist.
When I was an atheist I read "The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind". To quote one of the comments:
"His theory, in simplest terms, is that until about 3000 years ago, all of humankind basically heard voices. The voices were actually coming from the other side of the brain, but because the two hemispheres were not in communication the way they are now for most of us, the voices seemed to be coming from outside. The seemed, in fact, to be coming from God or the gods."
That seemed possible to me, but here I am believing in G-d anyway.
2007-05-10 21:03:36 · answer #3 · answered by ? 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Put pencil on a table near you. The choice is to knock the pencil off or leave it on the table. Do you not have free will in this decision? You might accomplish the task through various biological and chemical reactions, but you need to think bigger. Or you can always say nothing matters since it's all nothing but a bunch of atoms rubbing together, which might be an interesting brain teaser for a couple of minutes.
Oh, and don't lump me in the same group with you.
2007-05-10 20:52:43 · answer #4 · answered by x2000 6 · 2⤊ 1⤋
If there is no free will then those who use that argument have no choice but to make it. And you have no choice but to get fed up. That's evolution for ya. Unguided genes can be blamed for everything. actually I lent out a book to my brother in it was a section by someone who was highly esteemd in neurosurgery. He came to believe from he witnessed that there was a central self that operated apart from simply our biological self. If I ever get that book back I will try and get in touch with you. (If you want) If not the name of the book is the case for the creator by Legal Editor for the Chicago tribune Lee Strobel. I can't remember the name as it interviewed many scientists in many different topics.
2007-05-10 20:50:26 · answer #5 · answered by Edward J 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Listen, figuring out the biological side is just that. Saying that neurons are telling me to move a certain way is crazy. The choice affects the body, not the other way around. I have the free will to raise my arm or to lower it. Anyways, no real scientist or anyone really thinks we are unable to control ourselves and that it is just little things in our head guiding us.
God Bless,
Elisha
2007-05-10 20:50:32 · answer #6 · answered by Elisha 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
um excuse me, but i dont think that saying athiests cant study nuerobiology is politically correct u close minded religious bit.ch
get a life, stop being told how to live
if God created man in the exact image of himself, why would he have made athiest and homosexuals if he didn't want them?
God doesn't care about you-pray and pray for the impossible, offer your soul and YOUR free will and the only people who will do anything for you will be those who see how weak you are and take advantage of your ignorance to this idol, "God"
2007-05-10 20:52:32 · answer #7 · answered by kkid 2 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Your right about the freedom of the will according to the issues of that which is of flesh and blood. However the issues of the soul are of a different nature. I am not willing to cheat on my wife even when the stimulation of the senses say otherwise. How do you define that?
2007-05-10 20:53:12 · answer #8 · answered by beek 7 · 3⤊ 1⤋
Yes I am - good description. That is all that free will is, a series of complex chemical and electrical pulses and interactions.
2007-05-10 20:46:23 · answer #9 · answered by Big Super 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Free-will is obviously a poor excuse, if God supposedly knows everything, at all times, anyway.
2007-05-10 20:51:20 · answer #10 · answered by SB 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋