Freewill - does it really exist?

eyeslice

Paul wrote in Romans 7:19;"For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do
this I keep on doing.

So is there such a thing as free will, or are we all driven by our nature (our genes),
our nurture or both? Or perhaps, everything has been predestined for us and what will be will be?

Me? I don't think that I have much freewill. We are all driven by forces outside of our control.

I go to work each day because I have to put food on the table. It's not that I dislike my job, quite the opposite in fact
but it's probably not I would choose to do . We live where we do because we had to be close to my wife's ageing parents before
they died, and now we have kids, they want to be close to their friends, school, college, etc.

There are a few people who totally live their lives as they please but I have a suspicion that these people are not
always the happiest of people and certainly have often caused much anxiety and pain to those they become close to.
Most of us go with the flow and spend our lives 'going with the flow'.

BurnTheShips

Freewill - does it really exist?

I am predestined to reply: "Yes".

The Oracle

It most certainly does exist.

Not to be confused with fulfilling your responsibilities. Just because you behave responsibly does not mean you are not exercising free will.

The very fact one has responsibilities, implies that one is responsible, in other words they are able to choose their own response.

Free will makes us all responsible.

Interesting, isn't it?

The Oracle

LongHairGal

Eyeslice,

I tend to agree with you. We may have 'free will' but what are we free to choose from? This is the problem. It is like voting for candidates. What are people to choose from? The lesser of two evils?? So, we have 'free will' but it is all relative.

Like you, many people make the best choices they can in life with poor selections.

LHG

Deputy Dog

eyeslice

I think we have some freedom of the will, where desire is conserned. But, I dont believe we have any power to carry anything out, except from God.

lalliv01

So is there such a thing as free will

I read somewhere,(Ayn Rand,I believe), that stated that man has free will and that that free will

is: whether he, the individual, chooses either to use or not to use his mind, all his other decesions are dependent

on the use of that free will. That is the only thing man is free to do, to use or not to use his mind.

I agree with that thought, in case anybody cares?

hamilcarr

I'm afraid we're too heavily chained by the bounds of our environment to experience freewill.

(This statement is no exception)

Tired of the Hypocrisy

I would have to say as an absolute, free will does not exist.

God may give us free will to choose, choice one is life choice two is death.

Choosing another path or doing your own will gets you tossed into that hot as hell lake o' fire....If we choose life it is dependant upon doing His (God's) will. Matthew 12:50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother." Matthew 7:21 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

jaguarbass

eyeslice I agree with you. I have never thought there was much free will.

I dont have a choice to be responsible that's what I am.

An irresponsible person doesnt have a choice to be irresponsible that is who he is.

Genetic make up and the enviroment take our free will from us.

There are few choices.

I dont put much faith in the bible nowadays, but basically the theme of the bible is we have no free will.

God new us before we were born and predestined us. Some to be vessels of honor, some to be vessels of dishonor. Pharoh did not have a choice to let the Israelites go. Judas did not have a choice to betray Jesus. Adam and EVe did not have a choice not to eat from the tree. Satind did not have a choice not to resist. Hitler did not have a choice not to be Hitler. Bush did not have a choice not to be Bush. The bible says God picks the king. He must have picke Bush who is Americas king, because the people did not pick him. That's one other choice we dont have, who we vote for.

This goes with much I have read about quantum physics.

I know many people will dissagree with me. And they are probably happy and care free and too shallow to understand And they probably have no choice but to vote for McBush and McPalin.

happehanna

Wrote a 2000 word essay on this very subject last week

For me it makes no difference if you are a theist or a darwinist or a mixture of both 'free will' at best is just an illusion.

We are either at the mercy of our genes or one of God's playthings.

Freewill - does it really exist?

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