Does free will include the ability to decide what you believe?

Question

If so, can you decide to believe that your back itches?

Or are there only certain kinds of things that you can decide to believe? What are those things?

Willow: Ok, so do it right now. Tell me how long it took.

Answer 1

yes but you will be strong arm or pester into following their belief.

Answer 2

Well, interesting question actually; because I don't think that the things I believe have much to do with me making a decision - I simply can't help what occurs to me as truth. What I say or do about them is a matter of choice and decision. And, I guess I could maybe decide to believe or not to believe something despite my experiences - but I think true belief just happens on a deeper level.

Answer 3

Yes you can decide what you believe. If you believe that you are going to get a car or a home or an A on a test, you may get it, but only if your faith kicks in. Believing his the first step. You can believe that eating vegetables will prevent you from catching a cold but if you don't step out and actually eat them, then you will never know so your beliefs have no substance because you have no proof.

Answer 4

OK, I know you're only a Meat Bot, so buckle up, and try to stay with me here.

What we call 'free will', is in reality only 'volition'. For example, you're on a street corner. You can decide, of your own free will to go left, right, straight ahead, back from where you came, climb the steps of the building beside you, or any number of available options. The key word here is 'available' options. You cannot decide to sprout wings and fly away. Not available, not an option, not a free will choice.

So, you have volition, not free will. Your choices are predestined by God, but because they are not readily discerned as predestined, you perceive them as your choice, which makes you responsible for them.

I told you to buckle up.

Answer 5

free will includes the ability to decide what you believe, whatever you want.but first ask yourself who gave you the free will? man or God? Man does not give free will, in fact if men had the chance to chain you down just to have their way, they will. but God will not do this. when you answer the "man or God?" question, (which is pretty easy) if you choose God, then you are faced with the choice to believe in him or not.

hope you make the right decisions in life because there is something called CONSCEQUENCES attached to every decision you make.

All the best

Answer 6

You can decide to believe anything - but that does not make it true. It just meant that you can believe it.

What is the line from Alice through the Looking Glass, "I try to believe 8 impossible things every morning before breakfast".

Answer 7

Free will is the ability to believe what you want but only within the restraints of what you know. If you believe an illusion then it will be real for you.

Answer 8

You'd think so.....

Actually have you ever heard of hyperchondria? If you believe yourself to be sick, you will make yourself sick.

If you put enough thought into your back itching, it will.

Mind over matter...

EDIT ~ Believe it or not...after writing this answer to you, I've been itchy. Not necessarily my back...but itchy nonetheless.

Think about someone having head-lice. Or have you seen someone with head-lice? Did that make your scalp itch? Did mine.

Answer 9

What a great question. You examine the limits of the human mind to a greater extent than we usually see here.
I think that there is only so much we can believe without losing any sense of continuity in the world.
We can choose many of our bliefs, and emotions, but most of us are not resolved enough. There is a psychological term called "cognitive dissonance". It states that as long as we experience life a certain way, or experience life a certain way, we will bend our minds around accepting the beliefs that justify the behavior or situations. This exists because we tend ot insist that things make sense, and we don't like the tension that comes with thinking one way and experiencing another. It can be very simple- for example, one way to make friends is to ask someone to do you a favor. The person originally has no reason to say no, and they comply. Later, they get the sense that they like you, because if they didn't they wouldn't have helped you.
It can also be extremely profound, this cognitive dissonance.
I forget the man's name, but there was an Aushwitz (spelling?) survivor who became very famous in psychology and in our world in general. He determined that he was going to stay as sane and hopeful as he could, because if there were any hope of getting out alive, the most important thing would be to tell his story to others. As horrible as things were, he was determined to remain positive.
He gave himself the mental resolve to hope in a totally hopeless situation, not for himself, but for others. His wisdom and strength have inspired countless others to control their outlook on life for generations.
There was also an American POW in one of the asian conflicts (Nam or Korea), in which the enemy would starve and beat prisoners into saying horrible things about the Americans. If I remember correctly, they were also forced to "confess" crimes on the part of the Americans that never took place, or some such awful thing. At first, the prisoners of course did not believe what they were repeating, but eventually, most of them were turned.
One man managed, for years, to keep in his mind the fact that what he was saying was merely for the purposes of survival. He lived with this cognitive dissonance, the insanity of not believing anything one experiences or does.
He came home, told his story, and for all that he had endured, was at least better off than his peers.
Another example: Patty Hearst. She was an heiress who was kidnapped by a band of thieves and criminals. During her long interrment with them, she was forced to join in the criminal activities of the gang.
Spending at least a month with them, she became one of them. By the time she was rescued from them, she vehemntly hated her family and all rich people, for their easy lifestyles, power, and their higher-than-thou attitudes.
She was forced into thievery, and to into a lower socioeconmoic status, and into an evil environment, and so her mind bended to the actions she was forced to commit.
She was like any other regular Auschwitz sufferer, or Average Joe POW.
As we have seen, there are at least two examples of extreme situations in which heroes have fought the generally overpowering effects of cognitive dissonance, and maintained their own beliefs.
So yes, at least as far as matters of import are concerned, I believe that it is possible to control what we believe to a larger extent than 99.9 (repeating) % of us do.
Now ask me if I believe that the sun will be around tomorrow, even if behind the clouds.
There is no reason or experience that I have in the whole world to change that belief, and I feel totally powerless to do anything about it.
Yes, I think there is a limit to what we beliefs we can change, based on certain experiences.
Overall, though, we are as driftwood in the tides of happenstance, unawares and unwilling to confront every thought we have with the vigiliance that your question requires.

Answer 10

Of course it does. If you decide that you don't want God to be a part of your life, He will reluctantly give into that desire and you will be ultimately separated from Him for all of eternity. . . in a miserable place called hell.

Answer 11

Yes. We are responsible for our beliefs. And those who believe that Jesus did not die for their sins will be burned on judgment day.