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Illusion of Free Will?


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I see this as just one more effort to set aside theological and philosophical (metaphysical) concerns in favor of a pure naturalistic worldview.

 

Ultimately, it will fail, because it (as some of you have already suggested) removes any vestige of personal responsibility for one's actions from the table, and that isn't going to happen -- ever.

 

Personally, I hold a biblical worldview. I'm not dogmatic about the beliefs of others, so don't fear some diatribe. I'd be happy to discuss the ramifications of a biblical worldview if anyone likes, but you are "free" to believe what you like. With that being said, however, in the biblical worldview, Christians typically hold that we are created in the image of God. That is not a literal image, as in a picture, but a likeness, with similar capacities, including free expression of our will, just as God freely expresses his will.

 

It is this freedom of the will that actually gets us in hot water, for we often choose to stray from those things that God would have us do (or be -- sometimes it is more a mater of position than of action). Biblically, this "straying" and act of the will is called "sin" and it is in effect a rebellion against God, who originally designed a perfect world, with people that were designed to operate with perfect wills, bent toward a perfect God. That picture was spoiled when one of the angelic creatures rebelled against God, desiring to be a god himself, and in so doing, also led humanity into rebellion against God. We didn't have to follow, but we chose to, and the results are what we see today, and throughout history -- pain, suffering, misery, war, hurt, anguish -- mixed with the remnant of God's blessings, love, intimacy, fellowship, and relationship.

 

As we bend our wills in God's direction, we begin to partner with him to accomplish the restoration of what once was, accomplished through the completed work of Jesus Christ, who's propitiation makes possible the restoration of what was lost through the rebellion and resultant curse of sin.

 

So, bottom line for me, at least, is that yes, we do have free will as human beings -- something that we get from being created in the image of God.

 

At least the author of that article was being consistent with his naturalistic stance. Naturalism MUST forgo freedom of the will, for all is random chance, with no free exercise, once you hit the bottom line of that philosophy. It is all action-reaction, mechanistic, and not driven by thought or desire. A failed worldview system IMO, but attractive to some for the perks -- i.e., not having to answer for issues of morality and ethics for starters.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Free will can't be unconcious. Free will is the fact that we make a concious choice about something. If we're doing it without knowing, it's the opposite of free will and predetermined...

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