Free Will

[fstkhnan]

I've been noticing lately that in some situations I dont really have free will......as athletes we have to do "study hall" and I really don't need to do it and I dont wanna do it, but it's mandatory, and it's out of my hands...I hate it....another thing, my freakin coach made me move out and live by the university, and I didn't wanna move out, but she like totally forced me to, I had no choice. After living out for about 2 weeks I hated it, and now secretly I'm living at my house........basically if she finds out i might get kicked out of the team.....I mean where is my free will? I wanna freakin live wherever I would like to live and do whatever i want..screw the mandatory rules that she comes up with!lol.....(i know my examples are all tennis related, but it's a big part of my life, sorry)lol.......

[loseyourname]

I am exercising my free will and reviving this thread. Suffer the wrath.

[loseyourname]

You're not listening to me. I'm not arguing that if God allows evil, he is responsible for it. I'm arguing that if His existence preceded that of our souls, then it is he that created those souls. It is He that created evil souls that perpetrate evil acts. That being the case, then yes, He is responsible for evil. The only way to get around this is to say that he created souls that were blank slates, completely devoid of character. But if this is the case, then what is it that determines the character of the soul? Nobody is going to deny the existence of character. Regardless of the existence of free will, there are some people who are predisposed to committing evil acts and others who are not. Why is this, and what is responsible? If not God, then I want to know what.

[Anonymouse]

Originally posted by loseyourname All right. You said God's existence preceded all, which negates your previous postulation of the eternality of the soul. So that takes us back to the original question - what determines the character of the soul? You seem to have already answered that it is God, that he determines all. He gives us the ability to choose between whatever options we may have, but it is he that creates us with a certain predisposition to make decisions that follow a certain pattern that we refer to as "character." While this doesn't completely negate free will, it does pretty seriously undermine it as well as making God largely responsible for a great deal of evil. Furthermore, it makes him awfully petty to lay the blame entirely on us when it should so obviously be on him.

If God has ordained us with free will, like I've said for a thousand times, and in order for man to be free to do good, he must be free to do evil. If you want to argue that somehow this makes God indirectly responsible, go for it.

[loseyourname]

All right. You said God's existence preceded all, which negates your previous postulation of the eternality of the soul. So that takes us back to the original question - what determines the character of the soul? You seem to have already answered that it is God, that he determines all. He gives us the ability to choose between whatever options we may have, but it is he that creates us with a certain predisposition to make decisions that follow a certain pattern that we refer to as "character." While this doesn't completely negate free will, it does pretty seriously undermine it as well as making God largely responsible for a great deal of evil. Furthermore, it makes him awfully petty to lay the blame entirely on us when it should so obviously be on him.

[Anonymouse]

Originally posted by patlajan These pointless discussions have been done, redone, and overdone. My outburtsts are much like your "this thread sucks" posts.
If I've contributed nothing why did you vote me best all around forumer. Hmmmm

Irony.

[patlajan]

Originally posted by Anonymouse You know, in all the time that you've been here, I've yet to see anything intelligent that you've contributed to any discussion aside from one-liners.

These pointless discussions have been done, redone, and overdone. My outburtsts are much like your "this thread sucks" posts.
If I've contributed nothing why did you vote me best all around forumer. Hmmmm

[loseyourname]

I agree. Your negative interjections are not only pointless but distracting. If you have nothing to add, then just stay out.

[Anonymouse]

Originally posted by patlajan I'm excersising my free willy. Which is what this thread should be named.

You know, in all the time that you've been here, I've yet to see anything intelligent that you've contributed to any discussion aside from one-liners.

[loseyourname]

Originally posted by Anonymouse Actually this goes into our everyday lives as well. We, ourselves can even known the future if we know which action we are going to take. Thus, if I park my car on the no parking zone over night it might be towed away. Now I have hope that it won't be noticed ( I have indeed parked it and it hasn't been noticed ). But if it is noticed I know the future, meaning that it will be towed away, and in this regard my article on math and numbers was indicative of something, that we make choices within the basic parameters of the system that is made.

You can never foresee all of the circumstances that go into making something come about. If so, you'd be rich beyond belief as the world's first accurate meteorologist. Presumably god knows a little more than you do. There is no comparison.