What is "Free Will"?
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StillLearning
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What is "Free Will"?
Post #1What is your own definition of "Free Will" and state why you believe "Free Will" is important in God's plan for all of us?
Live strong, LOVE well! 
What is "Free Will"
Post #2The freedom for humans to do what they want to do! That is the definition of "Free Will", but, human nature will only want to do that which is contrary to the will of God,
"Rom 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwells no good thing. For to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I do not find.
Rom 7:19 For I do not do the good that I desire; but the evil which I do not will, that I do.
Rom 7:20 But if I do what I do not desire, it is no more I working it out, but sin dwelling in me.
Rom 7:21 I find then a law: when I will to do the right, evil is present with me.
Rom 7:22 For I delight in the Law of God according to the inward man;
Rom 7:23 but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin being in my members.
Rom 7:24 O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Rom 7:25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then with the mind I myself serve the Law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.
A little complicated at first, but Pauk describes the human will in bondage to sin. By the mercy of God and His working in us by the Holy Spirit, He changes us, giving us a new nature, new birth, a will to serve God. This is an important teaching as it gives the Lord His sovereignty, that salvation is not merely man choosing God out side of Gods control, but, despite a fallen human nature, God is the one who saves us!
"Rom 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwells no good thing. For to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I do not find.
Rom 7:19 For I do not do the good that I desire; but the evil which I do not will, that I do.
Rom 7:20 But if I do what I do not desire, it is no more I working it out, but sin dwelling in me.
Rom 7:21 I find then a law: when I will to do the right, evil is present with me.
Rom 7:22 For I delight in the Law of God according to the inward man;
Rom 7:23 but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin being in my members.
Rom 7:24 O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Rom 7:25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then with the mind I myself serve the Law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.
A little complicated at first, but Pauk describes the human will in bondage to sin. By the mercy of God and His working in us by the Holy Spirit, He changes us, giving us a new nature, new birth, a will to serve God. This is an important teaching as it gives the Lord His sovereignty, that salvation is not merely man choosing God out side of Gods control, but, despite a fallen human nature, God is the one who saves us!
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McCulloch
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More questions than answers ... Sorry
Post #3The idea of free will can be addresses outside of the arena of god's plan.
If a particular being has free will, that means that that creature can act in a non-determined but not random way. So, rocks and trees do not have free will since their actions are easily demonstratably completely determined by their environment. Quantum particles do not have free will, because their actions while apparently non-determined are random.
Do humans have free will? There is no debate as to whether genetics, environment and life experience have an effect on how humans develop and what choices we make. The unanswered question is, "Is there something else?". Do we have a will? Can we make decisions and think thoughts, completely independently from our genes and environment? We really would like to think that we can. But there seems to be no scientific basis for this conclusion. Is our alleged free will a product of our brain? But our brain is only atoms, molecules and cells acting together. Can you take a bunch of things that themselves have no free will and combine them in a way that has free will? Or is our free will a product of some essential thing that is our being? Our spirit? Our soul? Is there any objective evidence that such a thing exists? Can such a thing be defined without a circular definition? "Our spirit gives us free will." "We know we have a spirit because we have free will."
If we do not have free will, then can anyone be held accountable? Strangely enough the answer is "Yes". Whether or not we have free will, we are who we are and our decisions, whether determined or free, affect who we become. Individuals and society must act in such a way to effect positive influences on the decisions that we all make.
If a particular being has free will, that means that that creature can act in a non-determined but not random way. So, rocks and trees do not have free will since their actions are easily demonstratably completely determined by their environment. Quantum particles do not have free will, because their actions while apparently non-determined are random.
Do humans have free will? There is no debate as to whether genetics, environment and life experience have an effect on how humans develop and what choices we make. The unanswered question is, "Is there something else?". Do we have a will? Can we make decisions and think thoughts, completely independently from our genes and environment? We really would like to think that we can. But there seems to be no scientific basis for this conclusion. Is our alleged free will a product of our brain? But our brain is only atoms, molecules and cells acting together. Can you take a bunch of things that themselves have no free will and combine them in a way that has free will? Or is our free will a product of some essential thing that is our being? Our spirit? Our soul? Is there any objective evidence that such a thing exists? Can such a thing be defined without a circular definition? "Our spirit gives us free will." "We know we have a spirit because we have free will."
If we do not have free will, then can anyone be held accountable? Strangely enough the answer is "Yes". Whether or not we have free will, we are who we are and our decisions, whether determined or free, affect who we become. Individuals and society must act in such a way to effect positive influences on the decisions that we all make.
Post #4
I thought that the concept of "free will" was an obvious fudge to account for why evil exists in the world. With researchers finding out that genetics play a role in behavior it becomes an ever more meaningless term.
