| Free Will |
| Redwing's Response: I would have to say that yes, we do have free will. I do not believe that our actions are determined by fate or even by God. (I plan to talk about my thoughts on the existence of God elsewhere.) While I do believe that God exists, and that He is ultimately responsible for the existence of the Universe we live in, I do not believe that He controls what does and does not happen in this Universe, and I do not believe that he controls what we human beings do or do not do. This disagrees with the beliefs of a typical contemporary American Christian, I know, which is why it took me such a long time to come to this belief and to realize why it is so important. There are two main ways to look at this question, so I am going to try and present them one at a time. First, there is the idea of divine justice: here, we take certian religious beliefs for granted, and see where it leads us. Lets start with the rules: God gave us a good list of fairly strict commandments, which are listed in several locations in the Bible. These are all pretty common-sense rules that everyone can pretty much agree upon as a matter of course: thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, love thy neighbor as thyself, and so on. Civilized societies have used these rules for centuries and set guidelines for punishing those who fail to follow most of these rules. In fact, we believe that God has also made arrangements for the enforcement of these rules; we believe that either on the day of our death, or on a day in the far future when the souls of all the deceased are awakened, we will be judged for our actions. Those judged favorably will be rewarded, and those judged to have blatantly disobeyed the rules will be punished, and very severely punished at that. This means we are held responsible for our own actions. This is important. Think of our own American judicial system for a moment: we do not punish someone for a crime if there is reason to believe that they were not in control of their actions, or capable of understanding their actions. A child is not punished in the manner of an adult. A person who, regrettably, was suffering from a mental illness when they committed a crime is not punished the way we would punish someone who knew full well what he or she was doing and who was in control of his or her actions. We, the American people as represented by our judicial system, realize that this is only fair. We do not punish someone if they cannot be held responsible for their actions. Do you agree that this is just and fair? Now, back to God. If He controlled our every action, as it is sometimes believed, then why has He given us commandments? If He doesn't want us to do something, He just shouldn't have us do it. Above all, if He controlls all of our actions, then why does He say He will punish us for wrongdoing when we never really had the choice as to whether or not to obey His word? Why are we theoretically being punished for something we had no ultimate control over? Even our humble human sense of justice sees that this is possibly unfair, as we have just illustrated above. Therefore, I submit that if God is just, either we have free will (God does not control our actions), or we will not ultimately be judged for our conduct during our Earthly life. Now, I do not like the notion that we are not held responsible for our own actions, so I come to the conclusion that we have free will (I am not willing to believe that God is not just). I think it is much more fulfilling to believe that we have autonomy (self-government and self-control) and the responsibility that go with it than to believe that we are little more than puppets on a string (which seems to me to be the alternative). But, for someone who wants to try a different line of reasoning, please read on. A look at human suffering: We've just looked at free will from the top down, so to speak, starting with an observation about God, and using that to deduce something about Man. So now lets work in the opposite direction. Lets start with a human life: a typical human life is a mixture of hapiness and sadness, joy and suffering, and some of that suffering is extreme. Every day, human beings have to come to terms with terminal illness, and parents have to come to terms with the loss of a child. There is a lot of tragedy and a lot of pain, and it is not a pretty picture when you look at it this way. I think that this is one of the reasons that we turn to God for solace. We need to feel that we have a Freind who feels everything we feel and who stands with us through all of our trials and tribulations. We need to know that whatever else has gone wrong in our lives, there is something (or,more accurately, Someone) who will never forsake us. I think that this is a natural and healthy response to human suffering. A child who is hurt turns to his parents, and we the human race turn to our Parent in times of need. This parent-child analogy for the relationship of God and Man is really a pretty good one, I think, and it brings up several points. Very young chilren often think that their parents can do anything, that they are all-powerful. It is comforting to think that, no matter what the situation, the parent is completely in control, able to shape the outcome of all things. We seem to do something similar with our heavenly Parent. We want to believe that He conrols everything that happens, and that He even controlls us, for our own safety. But how many things have we done that we are embarrased about, or ashamed of? How many times has something happened to us that causes us suffering or pain, or causes someone we care about to suffer? Is this really a safe world? Ah, but the parent-child analogy is still in effect. The parent's goal is not necessarily to protect a child from all pain. From most pain, yes, but not necessarily all, someone might argue. A parent must not be over-protective. A parent must sometimes discipline a child. Point conceded. Pain can sometimes be constructive. But only sometimes. Pain can be an effective teacher, but a lesson that kills is no lesson. The surgery that heals a man may cause pain, but so might the disease. A parent, if he or she had the power, would want to protect their child from any and all unneccesary pain. God has that power, or so many believe. But look at our world, at what is right in front of us every day. Events that cause suffering might be thought of as God dispensing discipline to unruly children. But how many tragedies happen to people who don't seem to deserve them? In an accident involving a drunken driver, it is not always the drunken driver who is injured, and the sober driver who walks away unscathed. A young couple's child is born with severe birth defects. Was this event planned to teach the parents a lesson? Maybe, but why will it cost the child so much? Surely the child did nothing to merit punishment, unless we presuppose reincarnation. My friends, the idea that all suffering is God's discipline, or God's way of teaching us does not seem to make any sense when the evidence is examined. So we do the only rational thing: we disgard it and move on. When we move on, we encounter the next possible explanation for why there is so much suffering in a world that God supposedly controls: God is working on a Plan, a Divne Plan which we humans are not capable of understanding. I have several problems with this idea, so I'll go ahead and get them off my chest. Problem One: this seems a little patronizing. I mean, this basically says "It's okay, Sallie, don't worry your pretty little head about it. Everything's just fine. You're just a poor little human, so you can't understand it right now, but we'l tell you all about it some day." Follow up with a sappy smile and a pat on the head. Send child to bed with a cup of warm milk. This is the kind of answer a parent gives their child when they don't want to tell them the real reason for something. It's evasive. Why the evasion? This respose seems distant, and even a little arrogant, and that is not a good sign. A parent who cares about their child will explain to them as much as is possible when that child asks a pressing question. Well, we are that child and we are asking our Parent why there is so much suffering. This is not a satisfactory answer. Second Problem: This proposal still does not form an adequate exuse for God causing human beings to suffer. If He is in control of everything, then anything that happens happens either because He caused it, or because He allowed it to happen. That's just logic. Therefore, if a human being suffers, He is ultimately responsible for it. Naturally, this is where we want to ask "why"? And we are told that we're just humans so we couldn't possibly unerstand so please stop asking so many questions, thank you and come back next week. Hum. (Yes, I am about to start ranting and raving. Please bear with me. See? Philosophy can be great fun....) Sometimes a human comes up with some big "plan" that causes other human beings (or other creatures) to suffer--and we do not applaud this. No matter how grandiose the plan or how possibly beneficial the results, we reject it. Science sometimes does research involving animals, for the improvement of the human condition, but this is done under very strict guidelines, designed to protet the animals. Even then, a significant portion of the human popultaion questions the ethics of this use of animals, and they raise a point that is not easily ignored. It is not right for one group to better itself at the expense of the welfare of others. A human plan that causes suffering is not long tolerated, but suddenly we have God and His Plan, and this is all right. Because...well...He's God. Try telling this to people who have suffered, and see how they respond. Their pain is very real, and it is not to be so easily dismissed. Ever since the founding of the United States, we the People have held firlmy to the belief that a ruler is not above the law. The same moral, ethial, and legal strictures that bind the subjects bind the rulers, and perhaps even more than they bind the subjects. So why do we change this principle when we are cosidering God? Is it because we name him our Creator? That may be the reason why we suspend the rules for Him, but I think suspending the rules is still an error. It can be argued that parents "create" their chilren: it was an act of the parents that caused the children to be born. Therefore, we recognize the parents as the childrens' guardians, but this does not mean that a parent has unlimited control over their chilren. When a child reaches the age of majority, he or she is considered independent of his or her parents. Parents need to discipline their children, but child abuse is not tolerated. In other words, that child is a meaningful individual in his own right, and with his own rights. I do not buy the line that "He made us, so He can do whatever He wants with us". Hey, we may be small compared to Him, but we're here too, darn it! If God is controlling everything and causing suffering to further his Plan, then He is in the wrong. And yes, I have now trod upon more than a few toes. Maybe very big ones. Our poor viewers are probably quite upset right now...but please do keep this in mind: I don't believe that God is controlling everything, therefore I do not actually hold Him in reproach. What I am doing is taking a starting assumption--that God is controlling events in the universe for the fulfilment of a Plan--and following it through to all of its implications. I am trying to see what is true if that starting assumption is true, and this is what must be done in order to really understand the full meaning of any idea. I am doing this,and what I am getting is not pleasant. But it is there. All it asks is that you think about it. Time to move on. Third Problem (almost done): This whole proposal would make God ultimately selfish. He is using us to achive His own ends in this "Divine Plan". This does not necessarily mean that He is actively attempting to cause us harm, but it does mean that He may not actively help us when we need it, if it conflicts with His aim. But we depend on being able to turn to Him, to seek His comfort when we are hurt because He is divine Father to us. We depend on His steadfast love. Love, no matter what love is, is not selfish. Certainly not perfect love, and I don't think that God would be capable of, or justified in, having selfish love. Well, God is supposedly capable of anything, but being an entitiy of pure Good precludes (does not allow for) certain activities. We've maybe experienced or read about parents who control their childrens' lives ("son, you're going to grow up and be a doctor, just like me...") and for those of us who have escaped this, our first thought is probably "I'm just so glad those aren't my parents!" That is not a pleasant quality in human parents and nor, do I think, would it be pleasant in a divine Parent. A loving parent gives up some of his own wishes in favor of his childrens' wishes, and a loyal child will probably someday reciprocate (do the same for his parent), and this is a far healthier family relationship. I think that God is wise enough to see this, and I think that He loves us and respects us enough to give us autonomy. Maybe He is omnipotent, capable of doing all things, but perhaps He has relinquished some of His power over this Universe. It's a version of the old connundrum "If God is all-powerful, can He therefore create a stone that is too heavy for Him to lift?" Can He create a Universe that is outside of His own control? It is possible. Surely it is lonely being the master of all...like many parents, He could ultimately wish for children capable of standing on their own and who will someday be capable of relating to their parents as equals (if not equals, at least as some form of junior partner). The mark of a good parent is how capable and independent a child they raise. I think God is the perfect parent, and so I believe that He has given us freedom. It may be disquieting to think that hte Universe does not function under someones's control (it is always hard for a child to learn that their parent can't do everything) but that doesn't mean that there isn't an underlying order in the Universe (which is something that scientists, who are stereotypically atheist, have depended on for centuries). I think it is far more disquieting to think that we are walled in by fate and that God is an unjust or selfish parent. The "comfort" of the idea that God is in control is really a very empty comfort, and when people suffer this idea causes more pain than it heals. (Note: many of the ideas experssed in the above paragraphs come from the book "When Bad Thomgs Happen to Good People" by Harold S. Kushner. I highly recommend this book--it is certainly able to do more than I can do here!) The question whether or not we have free will doesn't just tell us whether or not we are controlled by fate or by God, it tells us whether or not we are responsible for ourselves and for each other, and this question raises important issues about our relationship with God: are we His children, or are we His tools and little else? That is why the question of free will is so important. Our personal answers to this question can bind us or set us free, and that is no small thing, and this is a very good example of why it is so vital to reflect on our beliefs, and to think all of our ideas through thoroughly. But, enough of me lecturing. What do you think? Send feedback: Email Redwing Back to Philosophy Homepage Back to Exploration Homepage |
| Does man have free will, or is his fate predetermined?� Why? |