free will

[frankbaginski]

Just some thoughts I share with other people.

There are two aspects to freewill. The first one deals with God and does He intervene. I think that any read of the Bible would confirm that He does. But does He intervene and and force someone to do something they don't want to do, that is a very different thing. Lets take some examples, the global flood was an intervention to correct an error from fallen angels. The fall of man was an intervention because Eve took the fruit. After the fall man could not live without sin so God came down from heaven to take on the sins of the world. This of course is a big intervention. In all of these the future was changed because of the intervention but man was not changed in the sense that he could still sin. He had choice. So God can intervene and allow us to learn and allow us to have a path to redemption. Does He force this path on us? No He does not. So we have free will to make up our own mind.

The other aspect of free will comes from science. In a materialistic world view we are all slaves to the initial conditions of the universe and we all act out our preprogrammed roles. There is no choice and no soul, and no spirit. The connections in your head have been laid down by your DNA and your environment since birth. Everything you think or say comes from your environment and initial conditions. This of course makes no sense at all. Information theory tells us that you can't get something for nothing. So when someone creates new music or art this is a violation because it adds information that was not there to start with. Isn't it nice that God Choose to give us the ability to create on a small scale.

The closest in scripture that I find a personal intervention is Jonah. He is told to run off to Neneveh and tell them to repent. Jonah runs off the other way. You know the story. He does go to Neveveh and they do repent. But now you ask a few questions. If Jonah did not have his story to tell about the storm and fish would the people of the city repent? Was Neveveh doomed except for the intervention? Why was Jonah upset with God when the city was not destroyed? In all of this the people of the city had free will, Jonah had free will. Now in time the city of Neneveh went back to their old ways and the city was destroyed by the King of the Babylonians. The city was covered in sand and was only discovered around 1860.

I often wondered if Job received his troubles to save his three friends. God does work in ways we don't understand.

[fdesilva]

I have put a post under in the section God and Science titled Concept A which is a theory on Free Will. Love to get some feedback

[JesusSmiles]

The way I look at it is.....God created 'earth time' for mankind. He lives in an 'eternal time'. Therefore, it's not so much that God has predestined or over-stepped our free will....He just knows every choice we have made, are making and will make in the future. He sees it all at one time. He has a 'greater' perspective.

It's much like you watching a parade of ants going across your porch floor to the dog food. They think they are making some monumental journey... but you can see where they started, where they are at and where they are going. You have a 'greater' perspective.

[Marcosll]

It is possible that each decision you make is based on previous events however I think there is a small random and spiritual element that determines the outcome of any decision.

This is the only way I see things able to work.