Determinism In Western Religion

God cannot determine the outcome of our free choice. So either there is no omniscient god or we are created without free will and therefore are forced/unable to avoid doing evil. Again this shows that god is not benevolent, nor omniscient, therefore he is non-existent. Theists may argue the following reason for god to have granted humans free will. It is possible that god raised homo sapiens to rationality giving the gift of abstract thought, language and disinterested love. And so it is arguable that god gave us free will to allow for love, as free will is necessary for love. Although this may be one of many reasons that god granted us free will, it is one that we may understand. Free will is necessary for both erotic and platonic love. One may argue that evil is only trumped by love. And that the existence of evil, although in its masses is worth it for the sake of

The idea that God gave humans free will is one that is essential to the Christian faith. This is highlighted in Genesis. If we were to believe this concept consequently, we would believe that we are morally responsible for our actions. The idea of omnipotence logically requires God knowing what we will do before we do it. This is a problem with the idea of free will, as this may mean that we do not entirely have freedom. It could be argued that God has no right to reward and punish if he is able to foresee what will happen. In the Bible there are many passages which demonstrate God rewarding and punishing.

Hard Determinism argues that every event is causally determined. For an event ‘A’ to occur casually means that there are antecedent causes that ensure the occurrence of ‘A’ in accordance with impersonal, mechanical causal laws. To clarify hard determinism further, let me present hard determinism as an argument. Basically hard determinism argues that: (a) Determinism is true (b) Determinism is incompatible with free will (Holbach, 451). In defense of premise (a), the hard determinist says that obviously everything is caused, therefore determinism is true. To prove that determinism is false, the opponent would have to come up with an example of an uncaused event. To defend premise (b), the hard determinist

God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, therefore a predetermined path of righteousness or condemnation is contradictory to the core values of Christianity, as it eliminates the need for the will to be saved by Christ. This shows that God does not control our actions, in hopes that we live in accordance to him.

The consequences of accepting that the goodness of actions consists simply in the fact that God favours them are obviously disagreeable. However, the consequences of accepting the alternative also appear unfortunate. If it is maintained that God favours certain actions because they are objectively good, it seems that their goodness is independent of His will. But such a view appears to be inconsistent with the conception of God as the omnipotent creator and sustainer of all that is. It means that there is a realm of moral values which exist quite apart from God's creative will and to which His will must conform. Such a view must inevitably appear blasphemous to all those who believe in God, for it makes God out to be less than He is.

Determinism says that past events and laws of nature determine every fact of the future, meaning if evil exists, then God there’s the possibility God does not have the power to control evil. If this is true, then God can still exist as an all knowing, all powerful, all good being because he can do nothing to change the determined path of the universe, meaning evil can be viewed as a separate power that can’t control its own path, it just exists. I believe that free will and determinism can exist in the universe simultaneously (compatibilism), so the evils that humans create are of voluntary choice because that was what determinism planned for that person. The reasoning behind my belief that determinism and free will can exist in the same realm is I side with the voluntary choice option of free will. Voluntary choice states that you act freely if and only if you act voluntarily, without coercion or constraint. This allows determinism to coincide with voluntary choice; if the laws of nature fully determine every fact of the future, then the choices we make are choices we freely made. God knew that humans would be able to create evil because he gave us free will, but he can’t do anything about it because of determinism and the laws of nature, suggesting that humankind wouldn’t “exist” if evil didn’t exist,

For atheists, apologetics, and non-believers, a big topic of contention is the existence of evil in a world with God. This is known as the problem with evil. How does a God that is all knowing, all powerful, and perfectly good allow such atrocities to occur under his watch? It is this question that so many people have discussed. The argument centers on God being omnipotent, omniscient, and perfectly good (Mackie, 1955 p. 200). Omnipotent is to be all powerful. Omniscient is to be all knowing and to be perfectly good means that God would prevent a morally bad event from ever happening (Swinburne, 1998 p. 13). In the problem of evil, God’s powers are taken at face value, and applied to God’s inaction to evil on earth. People who argue against the topic of evil typically make generalizations on the attributes that God

Hard determinism claims all the actions of human beings or consequences of events are determined by external conditions, with such conditions satisfied there will be no choice of the results available any time. Spinoza, the philosopher who stood for Hard determinism was convinced that no free wills were available for anything in the universe. Those “Free will” existed in people’s mind were built on illusions, since they had ignored the actual causes to them. The hard determinism could apply to everything we neither might encountered in the past nor in present time. But I think the laws were found or formed by ourselves since the evolutions of the human societies in thousands years, it 's not correct to say that no choices are ever made by ourselves. And the key point is that most of the causal laws were found through scientific methods, but sciences has enhanced our power on predicting and even changing the progress that will result in a different end by discovering more causal laws as time passes.

Omniscient God only have the power, knowledge and control over human; to maintain that superiority God typically responds to human behavior with what they deserve. God blesses the righteous and punishes the evil man to remind their limitation and worship to the God.

The philosophical battle of free will and determinism has been present for centuries, bringing with it a host of moral and ethical implications. However, since scientist’s production of the first recombinant DNA and its hybridization in 1972 (genome.gov) genetic determinism has taken on a new set of circumstances. “Since the 1970s, numerous authors have examined …ethical issues raised by the genetic modification of human beings” (Resnik & Vorhaus, PMC), Octavia Butler being one of them. In her imaginative science-fiction novel, Dawn, she examines the idea of how genetic engineering

If God is both omnipotent and wholly good, then He would make men freely choose good on every occasion.

This is a great blow against classic theology that describes God as all-powerful, all-knowing, all-good, ect… However, the process theologians argue that God is the most-powerful being, the most-knowing being, and the most-good being that could exist. This slight change in thinking complete attacks the view of the classical theologian’s views in their perfect God. In process theology many arguments are made to fight the “all” standing of the classical Theologians. Arguments that point the inconsistency of an all-powerful and all-good God that allows evil to exist in the world. A popular response to the existence of evil is that God graced humanity with the gift of free will. However, the process theologians have asked how an all knowing God can allow free will, if he knows what everyone will choose. These two arguments against that “all” God have allowed the process to take a slightly weaker stance, the “most” God. This allows God to know the most possible, but not necessarily all future events. And therefore free will is plausible and evil can exist in a world where an extremely good and extremely powerful God also

How exactly can we know God’s will? In divine command theory, God’s will is the only thing that determines morality. Theists will first point to the religious scriptures...but which one? A Christian might think it is obviously the Bible, but an objective viewer will have to choose between the Bible, Quran, Vedas etc. You can not say look at which one has the better moral arguments, since you’re trying to derive morality from the book! Another common source for morality is through people who have spoke to God. But many people claim this, so how do we know who is right? Someone might say that God told him to destroy a village; does this mean he is right? The final option is that God gave us reason and knowledge, and so morality is instilled in our very nature. But then, what is the point of believing in certain religions if people are going to act the same anyway? And people don’t act the same, so does that mean God is responsible for

There is no guarantee that a free moral agent will never choose wrongly. For a person to say that God should not have created people with the ability to choose sin, is saying he should not have created people at all. J.L. Mackie contends that God could have indeed created beings that would act freely (but always right). If this had happened we would not be free, but more like robots. If God had created creatures of superior moral character but lacking the ability to choose, these creatures would not be what we call human beings.

All of this considered, how does this benefit God? If we make a chart with God at the top, and follow it down through all His creations capable of free will, then we would come to three different groupings capable of free will. These are the angels of heaven, the fallen angels, and humanity. God is the Father,