He is religious and I am not. He was telling me that he believes that God has a plan for us, including our deaths. I asked him about free will, would it still exist if our lives were predestined? He tried to explain why we did, but I still think we would not have free will if this is the case, what do you think?
2007-09-11 23:28:27 · 9 answers · asked by panzerfahrer81 3 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
I don't know about everyone else, but I am certain I have free will. I decided to answer your question, but I could just as well have passed over it. The outcome of our lives depends on the choices we make.
2007-09-11 23:32:12 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The truth is; life's destiny is death. The story of afterlife is an attempt to mask the fearsome enigma of death. It is also an act of not accepting that life would but just end in death. In a way, life is predestined: that is life dies. No religion can tell that life will not die; because it will regardless of Jesus Christ being hanged on the cross for a thousand times. Because we have but finite understand of things, life and events; we tend to focus our thoughts to somethin g that could give an explanation. Our explanation of things which lay beyond the grasp of our understanding like the complexities of space and time: we invented God. Anything after is easy to understand because there is God. Death which is a sinister phenomenon in our existence cannot be so explained and understood, we in turn concoct the story of paradise and death is no longer as fearsome as it used to be. We then call death as a matter of a journey from one ontological existence to one so divine. Dying becomes so sweet and beautiful; an ugly face masked with make ups of make believe. True, if life dies what is the point of free will? There is no such things as free will.
2007-09-11 23:46:15 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Freedom is correlated to our nature, which is finite and conditioned. Therefore, whatever freedom we might possess, would be marked by these realities. Nothing like absolute freedom could be credibly asserted as being a quality of a finite nature. The question of God's providence and human predestination is one that has vexed theology for millenia. John Polkinghorne has some contemporary insights into this apparent predicament, as does Bernad Lonergan.
2007-09-12 00:36:45 · answer #3 · answered by Timaeus 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The issue is if you are willing to believe in the existence of things that human logic cannot explain. Maybe there is a way for free will to exist while there is a general plan for all of us, where nothing is yet decided. I don't know!...
2007-09-11 23:41:37 · answer #4 · answered by Cherry Pie 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You are making a profound point here... if everything is God's will, then our freewill is no real freewill. The truth may well be that we have freewill but God has no will.... in fact my logic tells me that an omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient God can have no reason whatsoever to harbor any will at all. The concept of God's plan or will doesn't logically gel with His being all powerful, all knowing and ever present.
2007-09-11 23:45:43 · answer #5 · answered by small 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm not religious, but I believe in absolute determinism. There's a final solution that has to take place, and all the lead-tos are destined for that end. In fact, the end may actually lead to the beginning. In either event, every tiny little event is just as necessary as the next.
Here's why: Clinching evidence against determinism "If I didn't have free will, I wouldn't do *does something unexpected* this."
Everything that happened was caused by the preceeding events. You were created by your genes and your circumstances, things that happened before your birth, and your actions are dictated by what you know, and who you are. If who you are was pre-determined by your genes and your environment, then it goes without saying that your actions are a necessary consequences of those conditions.
2007-09-11 23:36:46 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
i have an example for you, if you have 3 children and you give each of them $10, and you come back the next day and you tell the 1st one he spent the money of video games and the 2nd one that he spent the money on sweets and you tell the 3rd child that he didn't spend the money he saved it, you made these assumptions because they are you're children and you live under one roof and to some extent you know them so well, and you know their personalities and how they would react in certian situations. Its the same thing with god he created us and everything around us, so he knows everything about our personalities and how we will react to all the situations around us, the fact that god knows how i think doesn't mean he controls how i think it just means he knows what paths ill choose and what decisions in my life that i will take.
2007-09-11 23:42:00 · answer #7 · answered by pinkish 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
when we are predestined, the only way we can exercise our freedom is to choose from the choices that are given to us.
2007-09-11 23:36:34 · answer #8 · answered by dudes 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You both went over board. After we die we become compost. that;s it! God or not.
2007-09-11 23:35:08 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋