Do you agree with my theory on Free-Will is an illusion?

Question

There are many evidence I can bring up but I can only bring up couple here on this site. First off, we're born here on this earth without our consent or choosing and then we are all programmed to leave this earth when we die. Second, we are born with the way we look, appearance wise, some are prettier and taller than others. Needless to say, gender is also given to us. So in summary, we've been given life, unique physical appearances and then die eventually all without our choosing. How about our personality? Obviously, we are all different in personality wise. It's been programmed as well. For example, the decision that we make in life, as simple as what to eat for breakfast, are all based on our personality. Even the identical twins are born with different personality, this is including the way they are raised by the same parents in the same household. So in summary, we are given life and then death. My point is, what makes you think that everything in between life and death is also not been programmed? I will read all of your answers and rebut if necessary.

If you are interested in my theory in more details then please purchase my book soon to be published.

Answer 1

Determinism is well documented in the bible. There is no such thing as free will....for believers and unbelievers alike. There is a great deal we cannot control, and our decisions are usually influenced by people/events around us.



In proverbs it states that EVERY decision is from the lord. Every is universal for ALL...which means they decide nothing.



Ephesians 1:11 “In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will.”



Lamentations 3:37-38 “Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come?”



James 4:13-15 “Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”



Psalm 139:16 “Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”



Matthew 10:29-30 “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.”



Proverbs 16:33 “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD.”

Answer 2

Fireball is into astrology? Thumbs up for that!



Anyway, to address your second point, free will has absolutely nothing to do with appearances. It has to do with choices. Also, sometimes what we choose is merely in the realm of possibility. I have no money to go out and buy McDonalds for breakfast, and the only thing that's available to east is old cereal. Looks like it's cereal for breakfast. Story of my life, by the way.



Nobody is born with a personality. Such a thing is shaped as the person grows up, due to whatever they're exposed to. My twin brother and I happened to be raised together doing everything the other does (in the same class, having to share a sandwich, having to share everything the other has), and today, we are almost exactly the same in personality. But we didn't have our current personality 15 years ago--things happened along the way that made us change. But that wasn't a choice.



Finally, you're just sticking conclusions onto facts that everybody knows. It's a non sequitur. Also, to have been programmed, you'd need a programmer. There is no such evidence of a being.



ADD: You're also using circular reasoning. You're using the statement that "personality that's been given to us" as the reasoning behind your evidence. You cannot use evidence whose support is the conclusion and the claim.



My personality was given to me? By who? Through what? And I stay as one personality my whole life?



ADD2: Free will not existing means life is meaningless? That's your personality coming through: you think you can jump into the heads of others just because you form a theory.



You have not demonstrated that free will is an illusion. You're using the conclusion (free will is an illusion) to support the claim (personality leads to free will), supported again by another claim (personality is given).



Your whole theory means nothing if it is grounded in fallacy. You'll need better reasoning than that.



ADD3: You're not addressing some extremely important factors in your explanations. First is the effect of upbringing--what effects families have on one's personality. Next is the effect of society. Finally is the effect of uncontrollable circumstances, such as getting into a car crash with a drunk driver. You're using an appeal to ignorance here.



ADD4: Don't quote my arguments out of context. On top of saying that nobody is born with a personality, I said that it changes as the person goes through their lives. The two statements go together but can easily be destroyed when separated, just as you did. Selecting one point and failing to address its follow-ups is a sign of weak argument.



ADD5: Personality is nowhere near genetic.



ADD6: Saying people are "meant" to run into each other due to some "chemical reaction of personality" is a whole other claim, and it needs its own set of evidence to back itself up. If your book is anything like what you're typing up, I suspect that your whole book is a ton of claims that support your first premise.



ADD7: "Whether you believe in God or not, somehow or another we've been given genes to look certain way and act certain way." Another claim. "Somehow or another" is NOT proof.



ADD8: Please address ADDs 1 and 7. Logical fallacies do not count as evidence, no matter how excited you may be about your discoveries.

Answer 3

I agree that your theory is an illusion.



In Christian theology, the term "free will" simply means that man has the intelligence to be able to include the moral consequences of his act into the equations when he is making a decisions.



Where he is born, what he looks like, what situation he is in, etc. is pointless in the debate. In fact, if he was not in a situation that required a decision, or did not have pressures coming against him, or had no influences on him, he would not need to make a decision. Thus he would not use his ability to think about morals when making decisions, and would never use "free will". All those things you listed are what make "free will" possible.



Nothing in the idea of "free will" suggest that our personality or our situation do not affect our decisions. Of course they do. But none of that means we can not (and do not) also consider the moral consequences of our decisions.

Answer 4

To answer this you have to employ the scientific method as usual. ask-->research-->hypothesis-->test-->a... You're at your hypothesis, However your hypothesis has too many holes, for example what if I asked you "Is there a hell?" you can go asking people around and get your answer that's all you can do, but you cannot TEST it. The same is true for your question. I'd recommend you post this in philosophy or a different subject, not here. To answer your question I think you're wrong. - For example last summer I went to the casino and won $170, however my brother lost $80, even though he knew betting money was not the better thing to do, he knew the odds and he knew he was going to lose. - Sometimes you allow other people to have the better end of the deal just to help them out, even though you know is not the best for you. - Countless times in your life you have done something against your will knowing is not the best for you, have you ever seen jackass? You want to sound smart, but you are not.

Answer 5

No, You are wrong. You are not born on this world without your consent, your soul essence desired to be here in this time frame for the experience of separation. Anyone can drag up 'evidence' to try and prove anything. I exercise my free will by answering your question. It is definitely not an illusion.

Answer 6

Hold you breath.......now chose when to breathe. This may be a cheesy thing, but that shows how God's sovereignty and your free will work. You will breathe when you pass out, but the choice to pass out is yours.



When God made you, you had not existed before that time and so your existence is in His hands, but your daily life is in yours. Read Joshua 24:15.

Answer 7

1 more addition to that, most people I have talked to have said God has a plan for each of us. So doesn't that mean we don't decide that either?

Answer 8

Well you could get plastic surgery and you can always kill yourself, so I think that kinda destroys your theory, sorry :(

Answer 9

no.....we are all different signs...like aries, pisces etc....365 days produces 365 diff kinds....WE DO MAKE OUR OWN decisions.