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One thing I don't debate about is religion. I don't even want to talk too much about it here, because religion as a personal belief is something that can be hotly contested, with both sides believing that their faith (or the lack of faith with atheists) is right. I guess it's hard to deal if you somehow come to realize that everything you've ever believed in is wrong. That's a pretty scary thought. What if the God you're worshipping turns out to be nothing more than sticks and stones. Ugh.

Therefore, I won't talk about religion on my blog. Not because of any fear, but because I'm just not strong enough to argue about it. I know it sounds like I'm wimping out, and I probably am..... but it's my page, so nah nah.

However, I was having lunch with 4 other people who all had different religious backgrounds, and a question was posed thusly: If we believe in a God, and we believe that God is omniscient, does human free will exist?

What a seemingly simple question. It sounds like it should be a Yes or No. But I've been thinking about this question of "free will" ever since I was 12. I remember vividly struggling with the comprehension of free will, and to this day, I don't have a valid answer. I'm not saying my faith failed me, it's merely that I don't have a satisfying answer to make me feel at peace.

Unfortunately, ever the cynic, I don't believe in Free Will. There I said it. I believe that ultimately, we are destined to be who we are, and that's that. I don't even believe in the "going to work" theory. That is, you will eventually get to work, but you can choose by foot, bus, taxi, or bike. Another words, there's more than 1 way to reach a destination. I don't believe it. I think the path you "choose" is the chosen path, you just didn't know it yet.

Take for example a bunny in a cage. Think of the cage as being huge. Big enough that it is possible the rabbit will NEVER reach the fence, let alone see it. Now I ask, "Is the rabbit caged?" That to me is a very deep question. I'd have to answer yes. Just because the rabbit doesn't realize it's being boxed in, doesn't mean it isn't. Yes, it can poop where it wants to, it can eat or drink whenever it wants. Hence, a small bit of free will?

No. Because the rabbit cannot leave the cage. It cannot decide to roam free because the captor has decided that its freedom must be theoretically limited. Besides, who says that there was food/water in the cage if the captor hadn't decided to feed it? If I know that the rabbit from where it's at will never reach the spot where I've placed the food, then because I already knew the distance and endurance of the rabbit, it will die of starvation. So, its path is set. A path to death, yes. But a valid path. I may not know if the rabbit will attempt to reach the food (let's assume our rabbit has an acute sense of smell, and knows exactly the direction of the food), but then, I'm not God. I'm not "all knowing".

Now we think of our God, the one that knows all and sees all. If He knows that someone will win a car race, then nothing can change it. God has NOT interfered in any way to allow the racer to win. It is because He already knew it was going to happen, and therefore, cannot be wrong, because of the omniscient aspect of God. So, it's fore-ordained.

Let's look at the Old Testiment. For easyness sake, let's pick a familiar Bible story. The story of David & Goliath. For those who've never heard of this, it goes something like this: A shephard named David (who in the beginning is said to possess courage and a strong love for God), convinced King Saul to let him fight against the Philistine in the war. A champion warrior named Goliath was slaughtering the Isrealite army and demoralizing the troop. To make a long story short without taking things out of context, through faith in God, David used a slingshot and struck down Goliath with one stone.

Now, the moral of the story is that David's faith in God allowed the stone to strike the only place Goliath wasn't protected, in between the eyes. What I'm saying is that David was destined to have done this deed. A little sidetrack first. During lunch, we all agreed that God has indeed given us his words through books. Whether it was the Old and/or New Testiment, or the Koran or whatever, we didn't need to argue that such book exists. We also agreed (because I forced the issue) that these books were written for later generations (that's us) to read and glean wisdom from, because these were the words of God. Back to David & Goliath.

Remember what the moral of the story was. God needed an example of faith. What I'm asking is this: If David had true free will and decided not to fight Goliath one on one, could the story have been Frank and Goliath? How about David and Yeti? I mean, based on the "same destination, different route" theory, would there have been replacement characters if David and Goliath didn't pan out??

Too deep for me. Maybe I don't want to know.... whatever the case, it disturbs me.

So I'm saying this to someone, and they're like, "With this knowledge, do you stop planning your life and just drop dead?"

I reply: "I don't know. I certainly don't dwell on the fact of whether I have free will or not. I decide what I want to do, and if that's what God had plan for me all along, great. I believe that God doesn't interfere, but I believe that when the time is needed, He will make it very hard to change the course." Again, I point to the Old Testiment for support. Think of Jonah and the Great Fish. (The Bible never specified a whale) When God needed a servent to tell a city of people that they needed to change their wicked ways, Jonah bulked and ran. God sent a great fish which swallowed him for 3 days, and in that time, Jonah changed his mind and went on behalf of God. See, Jonah was destined to go, and I think the fish bit wasn't his choosing either. It wouldn't have been much of a story if it was "Jonah saying 'Yes' to God as soon as He asked...." Jonah thought he had a choice by running away, but he didn't. Not one bit.

"Hindsight is ever perfect" as the saying goes. And of course, with history, it is very easy to say "I told you so." I don't believe in free choice, but I believe in living as it comes. If what I chose really was what I was meant to choose all along, then so be it. Life is already interesting, and I'd like to enjoy the ride. I think of my life as being on a tour bus. I really don't have much say as to where it goes and how long it takes, but at least while the bus is moving, I can enjoy the scenery.

....see? This little losir has a brain afterall. One of the guys at the table (which I respect a lot) called me a philosopher. I like that.


posted by losir at 1:44 AM