Personally, I believe in free will. After all, we all make choices and we face the consequences of them.
2007-06-04 11:59:49 · 27 answers · asked by tangerine 7 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
I believe in both. If someone decides to put an axe through my head, I don't accept responsibility for deciding to make it happen.
2007-06-04 12:06:59 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
Good question.
From my perspective the answer is both. Imagine that we are two part beings, part physical, the bodies we inhabit, and part energetic, the part people call the 'spirit', or the 'soul'.
The energetic part is eternal, infinite, seated beyond the physical realm. That part 'chooses' to manifest in this physical realm, from 'time' to 'time', what people call re-incarnation. It does this to experience all the potentialities of all the possible outcomes of all the possible situations that could possibly occur.
Imagine that before each manifestation, life if you will, the entity dfevelops a overall scenario of what it ( at the energetic level gender doesn't exist like here ) wants to achieve, but this is rather as a framework, an overall plan, not the minute detail. When the energetic part is installed in the physical part it starts to carry out the overall 'plan', that is 'destiny', but the person has the free will to choose what course to take at each decision point. That is 'free will'.
It can be that during the course of a life we may move so far out of the initial 'plan' as to render it unrecognisable, and this can be so in a desirable sense, or it may be in an undesirable sense. The children's game 'Snakes and Ladders' is, in fact, adapted from an old Tantric demonstration of exactly this situation. As we pass each decision point in each life we may catch a ladder, and zoom upward in our path of 'destiny', or, we may get gobbled up by a snake ( dragon ) and hurtle back down to a lower level of understanding.
If we choose wisely we can move on to the next level with a relatively few 'incarnations', and if not, then it may take a 'while' longer.
One thing is certain, you are absolutely right about the taking decisions and facing the consequences of them, it's called 'taking responsibility' for our actions, some of us accept that, but most of us at present don't. That's what the 'Blame Game' is all about.
2007-06-04 19:45:03 · answer #2 · answered by cosmicvoyager 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I believe it's a little bit of both (not to bite off of Forrest Gump or anything, but I honestly do.) Yes, we make our own choices in life, but things certainly do happen for a reason and opportunities seem to present themselves at the most perfect of times very often. However, what we do with those opportunities, are certainly a product of our own free will.
2007-06-05 08:33:33 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
I believe in destiny but i also believe in free will as we are unable to foresee our own destiny but we are able through free will and choices to enrich, enhance or destroy our own destiny. Remember we will never really know what are destiny consists of but our actions will have an effect on the path or direction that our lives follow.
2007-06-04 19:09:13 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
I believe in both, because in one dimension or another every possible choice is being played out, so that justifies free will, however our nature defines which of those choices we are most likely to make in this dimension, which constitutes a form of destiny, right?
2007-06-04 19:07:44 · answer #5 · answered by Taliesin Pen Beirdd 5 · 3⤊ 1⤋
Free will in the sense that we can choice to behave whatever way we want to. But not total free will, we are humans and so we are bound by the laws of physics.
2007-06-04 19:06:25 · answer #6 · answered by Moxie! 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
"Personally, I believe in free will. After all, we all make choices and we face the consequences of them."
You are on the right track, tangerine. That is a very good argument. However, remember that there is a God that sees the entire of human history as if it has already passed. The case of free will vs. predestination really has everything to do with whose eyes you look through. Yes, because God dwells in eternity and sees the end from the beginning, He already knows the outcome of your decision. He looks at the earth's timeline, then chooses those who choose Him. However, to have true children and not robots, God gave us a free will to choose. We can choose to love God, we can choose to hate Him, or we can choose to exchange the concept of God for only what we can see within our puny science. If free will truly did not exist, God would provide a world with only one choice and provide tons of evidence to MAKE you believe. But He does not do that. He provides just enough evidence to allow you to think beyond the physical and into the eternal. But you must decide for yourself. But do not be surprised if God knows your decision the moment you make it.
Yes, God sees our life as a done deal. Yet, we ourselves do have free will to choose. It would be like I could go back in time, meet with George Lucas while attending USC film class. I would know everything about what he would write and the companies he would start. Does he have free will to write Star Wars? Yes. Would my knowledge change the fact that Darth Vader will be Luke Skywalker's dad? No. It's a done deal because I am not bound by time.
So what is the big deal about free will? Well, those of us with children (not sure if you have kids) understand that there is a big difference between programming our computers to wake us up in the morning with "good-morning father-I-love-you" and having your little son or daughter jump on your bed at the crack of dawn yelling "Good morning daddy! I love you!"
The Almighty God has a myriad of angels proclaiming "Holy, holy, holy"--but they have seen Him, so it is easy. Think what it means to God, having NOT seen Him, yet lifting your arms and proclaim, "Good morning Lord! I love you!"
John 20:29
Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have NOT seen and yet have believed.”
2007-06-04 19:05:20 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
100% Free Will.
2007-06-04 19:02:40 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
Free will ... which creates karma ... which gives one a "destiny" of sort ... but free will is constantly creating more karma .... therefore, the destiny is constantly changing.
2007-06-04 19:15:57 · answer #9 · answered by MyPreshus 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Neither. Free will is not really free, since your choices are shaped by countless influences, causes and conditions you are not entirely free in making them. Hopefully you are intelligent, loving, liberated and reasoning in making them. But they are not entirely unfettered.
2007-06-04 19:04:07 · answer #10 · answered by buddhamonkeyboy 4 · 2⤊ 1⤋