God's Will and Human Freedom
I am sure that most of you, weather you be Atheists of Theists have heard a whole lot about God's Will. This is thrown out like verbal diarrhea every time that someone dies or a natural disaster occurs. I have often questioned why people are so quick to say that a kid that gets caught in the crossfire of a gang shooting received a "gift" and that it was God's Will that she get shot and killed in a park. How is that a gift? What proof is there that she is in a better place? Who are you to make such claims? It may sound nice and comforting at the time, but it is not all that it is cracked up to be. As the title of this post implies, I am going to be talking about God's will and our own freedom. Does God's Will take away our freedom?
To start let us look at the Frankfurt Cases. This is a thought experiment that involves two cases that are identical, except for one part.
Case 1
There are two men: Smith and Jones. Smith is pointing a gun at Jones and is deciding whether or not to shoot him. There is also an evil demon that COULD control the outcome. In this case Jones decides not to shoot Jones, however the evil demon forces Smith to pull the trigger and kill Jones.
Case 2
There are two men: Smith and Jones. Smith is pointing a gun at Jones and is deciding whether or not to shoot him. There is also an evil demon that COULD control the outcome. In this case Smith decides to shoot Jones with his own free will, and the evil demon does nothing.
Take a good look at these cases. What do you notice? First off, they are identical except for one part, which is where the evil demon comes in. The other thing is that the outcome was the same, but the method of getting to that outcome was different. If it was Smith's choice to shoot Jones or if the evil demon commanded him to, the result was the exact same. So, my question is, if "God's Will be done" then the end result will always be the same. So are we really free to make our own decision? If we are, what is the point of making them if it is just going to achieve God's Will in the end?
Another thing that I question is how a person would know what God's Will is. I really don't have a concrete answer for how one would definitively know what God's Will is, but I can speculate as to why it would be appealing to chalk up the bad things in life it "it was God's Will".
The same sort of thing happens (in someone's mind) when there is a conspiracy about something like 9/11. Sometimes when something horrible happens it scares people, which is normal. However, being humans it is in our nature to want an explanation of why something happened. In the case of conspiracy theories Jodi Dean says,
People hate thinking about, in the flash on an eye terrorist bomber...
I think that the same thing happens in the minds of Theists when a natural disaster, like Hurricane Katrina, occurs. It is much more comforting to think that there is a plan in place. People don't like to think that bad things can just happen, they would rather be optimistic about some plan that would take them to a better place (heaven supposedly, but I'll save that for another post). Michael Martin said it best in his book Atheism: A Philosophical Justification -
If pessimism is justified by the evidence, then we must be pessimistic. If we are optimistic when pessimism is justified, we are irrational.
If you are a Theist or an Atheist, please leave your comments and opinions, I would love to know more about the topic from all perspectives. Bear in mind, however, I will research what you say if I think that you haven't done your research.
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Comment by archaeopteryx on March 21, 2013 at 10:38pm -
@Unseen, with all of the girls gushing, would it help if I said I like your pussy too?
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Comment by Strega on March 21, 2013 at 10:43pm -
No, Arch, that doesn't help me at all
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Comment by Angela Evangelia on March 21, 2013 at 10:52pm
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Unseen - I tried to post a piccy of my cat that day but i had some problems with my camera - (I couldnt work it out) so it put me off.
Ill try it again.
@achaeopteryx - I can almost spell your name without looking.
My cats says - puuuurrrr pppuuurrrr ... rowl ... hissssss and he makes this other sound that I dont know how to describe.
Why do you buy food for the feral cat?
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Comment by archaeopteryx on March 21, 2013 at 11:05pm
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RE: "@achaeopteryx - I can almost spell your name without looking." - that's OK, I don't expect all that much from someone who can't even spell, "I'll" --
RE: "Why do you buy food for the feral cat?" - because it's hungry.
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@ahkayoptricks - that's OK, I don't expect .......
Oh Get Fucked!!!!!!
lolz
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Comment by archaeopteryx on March 21, 2013 at 11:10pm
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Oops, I had a Rick Perry moment - I saw the name, "Unseen," and after an involuntary shudder, thought the previous post was from the Un-1 to me, but it was in fact, from Angela. Once in a great, great while, I'm not entirely correct --
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Comment by Strega on March 21, 2013 at 11:32pm
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Ooh look - it's almost an apology! not quite, of course, but there is a definite similarity....
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Comment by archaeopteryx on March 21, 2013 at 11:58pm
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@Angela - promises, promises --
BTW - Sober up, if i can do it, so can you.
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Comment by Unseen on March 22, 2013 at 12:29am -
@ahkayoptricks - that's OK, I don't expect .......
Oh Get Fucked!!!!!!
It might be good to remind archy what a fuck is. The last time he had one Reagan was probably President. ;)
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Comment by archaeopteryx on March 22, 2013 at 12:53am
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@UN-1 - If you truly believe that Regan was President last week, then I must seriously question your sanity, which would not be a new thing --
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