believers keep talking about how god gave us free will. but assume for a moment the absense of god. would we not still have free will? what would prohibit us from doing the things we want to do?
2007-08-16 08:52:28 · 8 answers · asked by just curious (A.A.A.A.) 5 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
I believe a universe truly without a divine dictator, would be more inclined to have individuals who have free will in its truest sense. When you really think about it, if the theistic proposition is true, and there is a God, from whom all extant things derive their existence, including the existence of free will itself, then how can our will truly be free?
If an individual’s will is derived from a creator, as an engine’s characteristics are defined by the engineer who designed it, then wouldn’t that individual’s will be strictly shaped and confined in the same manner as the engine is confined to parameters set forth by its engineer?
If that is the case than how can our will truly be FREE in any sense of the word? Simply put, if we attribute our existence, and the existence of our free will to a creator, then in no sense is our will free. As with much of theistic apologetics, their polemic is self-defeating. The argument from causation and design to prove the existence of God, as spurious as that argumentation is, actually negates the proposition that we have free will. It naturally follows then, that if free will is a sham, than many other religious propositions fall by the wayside, such as original sin and the need to be saved.
2007-08-18 04:01:18 · answer #1 · answered by Lawrence Louis 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Free will is always within the limits of God. So, there is no such a choice like not accepting Jesus as a Savior and still not wanting to go to hell.
Nothing prohibits some people from using their free will the way they want ,but God gave us our intellect and His Moral Law before He 'pushed us here'. His laws are protecting us.
2007-08-16 16:34:16 · answer #2 · answered by Nina, BaC 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Obviously, we would still be able to do as we choose, if there were no God.
The point is that while God has put forth a whole plethora of rules for us to abide by, he does not force us to do so. We can choose whether or not to worship him, we can choose right or wrong. He doesn't "force" us to do anything - he simply tells us what he expects and then lets us decide for ourselves.
Without a god, there would still be free will. But there would be no consequence for exercising it.
2007-08-16 16:03:10 · answer #3 · answered by Christie 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
nooo..i am not a theologist , .Theologists use this expression ''God gave free will''...but i suppose it comes from philosophy..not from Bible. I haven't studied philosophy, just philology..but i suppose so. I think that God NEVER gave free will.He gave only one way, one will ...the other path is forbidden by God..and God threatens us with hell in case we follow the evil path..so the other will is ..bad, comes from evil, devil , satan and we don't have FREEDOME (free will )from God to follow satan. It is forbidden. The fact that some do watever they want is a freedome that they assume without the will of God, actually disobeying.So the other will means disobeying God and God didn't give us this...He comanded us to love Him...He didn't say...if you want...(free will)..the fact that other choose to do the other will- evil ...means disobeing God and His will and assuming a will against God....and above God..of their own ....like satan did.I think it is just a wrong expression like many other ...but this places you in an equality with God..at the level of expressing your will ..and this is satanic ...actually probably it comes from philosophy and we know that philosophy is at the origins the expression of mytology, of ancient Gods..probably it goes to an ancient pagain God who was tolerant in sins ...having no morality..being unreal actually..just an idol of satan..invested by people and satan with their wishes..(aphrodita-- you could get everything you wanted from her....any woman..well but God didn't let the things just like that..
nowadays they probably didn't understand the meaning of free will but had to use it...being in circulation..actually theologists wanted to say that God let the people sin....because ..we don't know ..we just suppose..let's say..if the people want ..and want and want to sin..God , as a father..teaches the bad child..that it was wrong what he did ..along the years the man sees that he did wrong what he did..or after a while..even next day..and he learns from this..but ..satan fell forever...if we look into the past you will see how bad the sin was...nobody dared to say..''man has free will''..actually saying so..means defying God..in ortodox prayer..we invoke..not the free will..we just invoke our weakness and stupid mind ..that we had from the fall of eve and adam..a mind in decay like the cows..and we ask forgiveness that we crept like the pig into the dust...
2007-08-16 16:20:43 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Free will-
1 : voluntary choice or decision
2 : freedom of humans to make choices that are not determined by prior causes or by divine intervention
God does not grant free will because he has rules for you to follow.
2007-08-16 16:00:08 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
And what if I don't want free will? I had no choice in the matter right? Hence no free will?
2007-08-16 16:07:04 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
To say that man can exist apart from God is to say that a watch can exist without a watchmaker or a story can exist without a storyteller. We owe our being to the God in Whose image we are made. Our existence depends on God, whether we acknowledge His existence or not.
2007-08-16 15:59:42 · answer #7 · answered by Silver 5 · 0⤊ 2⤋
The laws we have to live by. Attorneys would be our gods.
2007-08-16 16:03:45 · answer #8 · answered by Me 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋