Choices....

[StormyOne]

Do humans have free will and can they really make decisions that control their own destiny? What part does The Creator play in this process? Does everything that happen mean those things are within The Creator's will? Even the horrific things?

Thoughts?

 

[k4c]

Do humans have free will and can they really make decisions that control their own destiny? What part does The Creator play in this process? Does everything that happen mean those things are within The Creator's will? Even the horrific things?

Thoughts?

Can the human finite mind answer such a question?

Some of the things we wound count as, not the will of God, could very well be the will of God.

Isaiah 45:5-7 I am Yahweh, and there is no other, there is no other God except me. Though you do not know me, I have armed you so that it may be known from east to west that there is no one except me. I am Yahweh, and there is no other, I form the light and I create the darkness, I make well-being, and I create disaster, I, Yahweh, do all these things.

 

[StormyOne]

Can the human finite mind answer such a question?

Some of the things we wound count as, not the will of God, could very well be the will of God.

Isaiah 45:5-7 I am Yahweh, and there is no other, there is no other God except me. Though you do not know me, I have armed you so that it may be known from east to west that there is no one except me. I am Yahweh, and there is no other, I form the light and I create the darkness, I make well-being, and I create disaster, I, Yahweh, do all these things.

Sure it can... and we can discuss it too...

 

[k4c]

Sure it can... and we can discuss it too...

God sets before us life and death and He wants us to choose life.

Deuteronomy 30:19 "I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live.

 

[Laodicean]

Do humans have free will and can they really make decisions that control their own destiny? What part does The Creator play in this process? Does everything that happen mean those things are within The Creator's will? Even the horrific things?

Thoughts?

The first Biblical reference to free will is in Genesis 2:17. "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." It does not say, "you will not eat of it" or "you cannot eat of it," as in a programmed robot, but "you shall not eat of it," as in "you have a choice, and here are the consequences."

Of course, if the Bible carries no weight with you, then you still have evidence of free will in and around you. Did you feel forced to ask your question about freewill? Could you have changed your mind and not bothered to ask it?

To me, the mess that this world is in is ample evidence of what happens when free will is exercised in the wrong direction. The horrific things are evidence of free will. We can't blame God for the decisions we make. Of course, the alternative, I guess, would be to wish that God had created us all as robots. Would you have preferred to be a robot?

 

[StormyOne]

The first Biblical reference to free will is in Genesis 2:17. "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." It does not say, "you will not eat of it" or "you cannot eat of it," as in a programmed robot, but "you shall not eat of it," as in "you have a choice, and here are the consequences."

Of course, if the Bible carries no weight with you, then you still have evidence of free will in and around you. Did you feel forced to ask your question about freewill? Could you have changed your mind and not bothered to ask it?

To me, the mess that this world is in is ample evidence of what happens when free will is exercised in the wrong direction. The horrific things are evidence of free will. We can't blame God for the decisions we make. Of course, the alternative, I guess, would be to wish that God had created us all as robots. Would you have preferred to be a robot?

So then, a person's free will can negate God's protection? Isn't that a possible conclusion? A person chooses to murder, exploit, etc, another person regardless of that person's prayer to be protected from those things...

You say we cannot blame God for the decisions we make, let me ask, what decision was it that a 2 year old child made that resulted in them being raped and abused?

As for being a robot, a possibility is that we indeed are robots yet unaware that we are...

 

[Byfaithalone1]

Do humans have free will

If they do, it only extends as far as God wants it to. One might wonder about the common use of the word "free." I'd suggest that "limited" might be a better term.

and can they really make decisions that control their own destiny?

Only to the extent that God allows it.

What part does The Creator play in this process?

He creates. This might include human will.

Does everything that happen mean those things are within The Creator's will? Even the horrific things?

As difficult as it is to understand, it would seem that this may be true.

BFA

 

[StormyOne]

If they do, it only extends as far as God wants it to. One might wonder about the common use of the word "free." I'd suggest that "limited" might be a better term.



Only to the extent that God allows it.



He creates. This might include human will.



As difficult as it is to understand, it would seem that this may be true.

BFA

Based on your comments perhaps our ideas about God and protection as well as "limited" will need to be redefined...

 

[Byfaithalone1]

Based on your comments perhaps our ideas about God and protection as well as "limited" will need to be redefined...

I think so.

BFA