Are we born with free will according to the bible?

Well then, pick one.

 

Well then, pick one. You have to go on a personal level, if you want to find answers about your free will and God's will.

 

Dont waste your time, he doesnt even believe in God, nor does he respect those of us that do. He out right mocks God, calls him insulting names, he has no respect which is a result of a godless life.

 

If the options are forced on you (either choose A or B - if you choose A, you'll live, if you choose B, you'll die - when there are still C's to Z's and still other options out there), is it free will?

Let's say for example somebody mugged an innocent-looking fellow in the street and he was made to choose: " give me your wallet or i'll shoot you right here", is there in reality any freedom of will? Would he really have wanted to give his wallet without the threat? Would he not be shot if he doesn't give the wallet? It's explicitly stated what his choices were. Whose will is in full reign here? Whose choices were predetermined for the victim? Does the innocent-looking man really have a choice in the real sense of the word?

Did adam and eve request that they be created? Did they ask God that the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil be placed in the garden of Eden? Or the tree of life?

Were they given the choice to eat from the tree of life after "they followed their will" (of eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil?) Why were they banished from the garden of eden? So they can't eat from the tree of life which will make "their being like God" full circle.

If freedom of will is really allowed, why then were they punished when they ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil? Isn't the knowledge of good and evil the first step in choicemaking? How can you choose when you don't have a full grasp of what you are choosing?

Isn't free will the freedom to choose options that aren't predetermined for you? Isn't free will the will to choose unencumbered by outside forces or threats or worse death? (and btw, who created our mind, our thought process, our very being? aren't the thought processes and the extenuating circumstances that will lead to our choice predetermined for us?)

There may be that will to choose as implied by various text references in the bible, but is the will to choose synonymous to 'free will"?

I probe not to prove anyone wrong. The truth is , in my heart I hope my didactic reasoning will be proven wrong (lest the foundations of my faith crumble).

I probe because I seek. I seek because I want to know the God whom I will obey not because I am afraid of the consequences of not doing so.

I want to be given a chance to really know him, and the choice to draw near after I get to know him (sans the threat of if you don't choose me after you get to know me, die!).

 

btw, Boron, thanks for the reply. I've been hearing and reading a lot about 'free will' since i was a kid but I want to understand whether it was men-wanting-to-have-a-semblance-of-free-will who got the idea going and cascaded it to our generation, or free will was really spelled out in the bible.

 

John Calvin or Jean Clain didn't believe about free will, because he believe that God ALREADY decided if that man will go to hell or not.
Already decided all our fate before we ever born.
Because God almighty... he know everything... even before we choose.

he know that we going to cross the road or not, even if we still thinking about it.

So, there is no such thing as free will, God already decided everything for us.

But than, other christian doesn't believe that, they choose to believe about free will.

From here

 

What are your C-Z ideas beyond A-good B-bad?

Good is not good enough for you?

You're digging through Bible to find a 'qoute' about free will. When you find it, you may say: 'I don't believe it.'

If God planned everything for us in advance, why would he bother to send his Son to teach us how to live? A bad joke from the God? You have any good personal experience about the God? It is not possible to make conclusions about the God without peace, joy, hope, you experience after making a good decision...

How do you know that God knows you will cross the road?
How do you know that God already decided everything for us?
Who told you that? (Wikipedia!?) That Calvin knows things better than God does? Why asking Calvin? Why not asking the God himself?

From Godf's perspective it is always 'now', not before or after. God does not decide what you will do, but he knows what you'll decide.

 

This is pretty much my belief as well

 

because the bible says so

(Isaiah 42:9) Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them.

Can God tell us of things before they spring forth? Any limits to it according to these verses?

(Isaiah 44:7) And who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it, and set it in order for me, since I appointed the ancient people? and the things that are coming, and shall come, let them shew unto them

 

He's on a mission to be critical and negative about anything.. The ignore button is good for posters like this.

 

Denial is a typical response from people like you.

 

STOX, YOU SEEM SO ANGRY, IS YOUR ATHEISTIC LIFE NOT FRUITFUL TO YOU? PERHAPS YOU SHOULD STOP LISTENING TO SATAN. HE'S THAT LITTLE GUY WHISPERING IN YOUR EAR, HELPING YOU FIND WAYS TO BLASPHEME THE LORD. STOX, GOD IS REAL. JUST ACCEPT IT

 

I'm angry, says the guy mashing away at his keyboard with the caps lock on.

There is only one group of people who claim to hear voices (besides schizophrenics), and that is the religious.

God is a figment of your primate imagination. Accept it.

 

I don't hear voices. What do you base your false and erroneous statement on?

 

not hearing voices makes your conversations with god even stranger. Who sits there talking to a figment of their imagination when that figment of their imagination doesn't even have the courtesy to reply? At least if you heard the voices (were schizophrenic) you would have an excuse.

 

Ahem...you total view of God is strange. How is this any different?

Replies do not have to be heard to be recognized. But I guess you need to be a believer to recognize the reply huh? If one keeps the blinkers on one will never recognize them.

 

You mean the infallible "yes, no , maybe" combination. pray to a teapot and have the same criteria.. the tea pot never fails to answer!

 

Your the one denying God, not I...

 

The 'C-Z ideas' are used in this context 'If the options are forced on you (either choose A or B - if you choose A, you'll live, if you choose B, you'll die - when there are still C's to Z's and still other options out there), is it free will?'
but since you brought up a question (albeit its being a bit off-tangent), I will answer it.

Yes, good is not good enough for me. Because your good and bad may be different from mine, the muslims' good and bad may be different from mine, or yours, and definitely God's good and bad is still a bundle of interpretations yet unresolved for us all (unless you think we can all fathom God's infinite wisdom?)

I do not want to be too presumptuous so as to think that my idea of good and bad is the ultimate interpretation of God's own good-and-bad-dialectic. I do not want to fall prey to religious pride (although I believe we're all bound to be caught aware or unaware by it) that's why I make a conscious effort to check my intentions when I post. I have read your post days hence and I wanted to post an answer right away but I decided against it because if I did, I would be caught in the trappings of a debate - me standing firm on my contention, you standing firm on yours.

The initial reaction has faded and the intention to seek prevails.

As I've mentioned, I am not here to prove anyone wrong. I raise questions because who knows, nobody may have the exact answer but somebody may share a viewpoint that may nudge me some steps further to the journey I'm taking. I ask because I seek answers.... and if i don't get answers from people, in a way that may be God's answer for me.


Yes, I am digging through the bible to find a 'quote' about free will. I am doing so because I have been given an avalanche of biblical 'quotes' that have been expected to be my guidelines and tenets for living from the time I got to know about God, so why would my seeking the guidelines for 'free will' be any different?

Should I just bank on the dictum of 'free will' without me even knowing whether God explicitly stated that he gave it to us? Should i not determine whether it was just the religious leaders of yore who coined the term 'free will' and pased their own interpretation up to this generation?

Should I not ask so somebody who must have read the bible a dozen times can point me to the exact verse that 'quotes' free will from God himelf? I ask because I may have a dearth of information. I ask because I wanna know (I have not completed reading the whole bible yet and I have already started. I am just curious as to where 'free will' was explicitly stated because I have not reached the verse that encapsulates such a statement as of yet.)

When I find it, I may say 'I don't believe it', yes. But I MAY also say 'I believe it.' That's the purpose of seeking. That's the purpose of wanting to know God more. And whatever I may say when I find it (If I find it - coz you didn't give me a definite verse yet ), don't worry, God's always there to guide me. Don't fail to trust His sovereignty.

 

Yes, we have our free will. I can choose to pick my nose right now...or I can wait for 5 minutes.

Sorry, I didn't read the entire question. If we don't freedom we don't have life and if we don't have life we're dead. So, yes, we have a free will according to the Bible(as long as we're alive...).