Free Will and the Necessity of a Creator
We all live in our own Universe. If you were not ever born, you would have no awareness of the Universe and from that perspective there would be no existence for you as you would not perceive it. But you are alive and you do perceive it. But how do you know that what you experience and perceive is the same as others or entirely different. Can you define the color blue and describe it to someone else without using the word, blue? Even if you describe it in terms of wavelength or perhaps explain that mixing it with yellow will produce the color green, you do not know if the listener sees blue the same way you do. You do not know if a tree looks to me just as it looks to you. You do not know if the texture of smooth marble or the fur of a Bloodhound or the rough side of sandpaper feels to me as it does to you. You have your own Universe in which you live and no other human knows what it is like to be you. You did not know anything of existence until you were in your mother's womb (we can tell that infants in the womb respond to music and even dance, as well as other actions that tell us we are already aware of existence even before birth). You do not remember the Universe until you were a very small child.
So that first-perceived self-centered Universe that we first experience is probably why some of you think that when you die, your Universe will be gone. You think existence began when you began (for practical purposes) and ends when you take your last breath. For sure, when babies are born, their entire Universe centers around them. They are demanding and frustrated that we do not immediately understand and take care of their need. After all, in the womb you got what you needed at all times (assuming the mother was eating and drinking correctly). Over the years, you learn that you are one of billions of people and other organisms on a huge planet in a remarkably humongous Universe!
Psalms 19:1-2 (ESV) - The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
2 Day to day pours out speech,
and night to night reveals knowledge.
God has left us the Bible and in that Bible He tells us that people are made in His image and do not just disappear when they die. We are body and soul AND spirit and that spirit is made to live on forever even after the body and the breath of life is gone. This is standard Biblical teaching and I must expect that you are aware of this teaching, whether or not you accept it. After death, according to the Bible, then you who are born again by salvation offered by Jesus Christ will continue to live free of our fallible fallen bodies and natures with God OR will face judgment of God and be assigned to Hell to be eternally alone and tormented.
John 3:16-18 (ESV) - “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
God made man with free will. Mankind could choose to obey God or disobey. Adam and Eve sinned and brought sin into the world. Because man was ruler over the Earth, when he sinned then he also lost his right to rule and his sin passed down throughout his world, so that all animals would also have to suffer and strive to exist and die. Darwinists claim that life has been on Earth for millions of years, but it has actually only been around since about 7,000 years ago when God made all things and put mankind in charge. I have been posting evidence since 2004 to back up this assertion, that creation by God rather than *poof* by nothing is the logical First Cause of all.
Sam Harris claims there is no free will. God claims we DO have free will. Sure, if we evolved from totally random events (which is logically preposterous) then it might be possible to assert that we are simply the result of our evolved past and that all the things we feel and think and even seem to decide are simply evolved and determined events.
Dear Sam,
If you were right about free will, then you had no choice but to assert this and no one will be swayed by your arguments, because you had no choice but to speak them and we will not be moved by them in any case. There is no sense in asserting that we do not have free will if we do not have it, for we cannot respond to the argument anyway.
But God was and is wiser than mankind. He made it clear that He is far above mankind in wisdom and knowledge, but He also made creation to point mankind towards God. Whether we simply marvel at the beauty of the night sky or study the behavior of subatomic particles, we see God. While Einstein's famous quote that God "doesn't play dice" with the Universe, that does not really apply to the behavior of subatomic particles. How do you think that subatomic particles "know" that they are being observed and choose a location and spin when observed? I would assert that only because there is an Omnipotent and Omniscient God Who upholds the Universe and is aware of any observations of subatomic particles because He is aware of every observer's thoughts and actions can such a situation exist.
God tells us in the Book of Isaiah 55:8-9 (ESV) -
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Hebrews 1:1-4 (ESV) - Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.
There is free will. Darwinists are wrong. God created a world in which you make your own choices, compute the value of moral codes and the worldview you will use as your foundation. Every choice coming your way is yours to choose, right or wrong.
Joshua 24:15 (ESV) - And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
So that first-perceived self-centered Universe that we first experience is probably why some of you think that when you die, your Universe will be gone. You think existence began when you began (for practical purposes) and ends when you take your last breath. For sure, when babies are born, their entire Universe centers around them. They are demanding and frustrated that we do not immediately understand and take care of their need. After all, in the womb you got what you needed at all times (assuming the mother was eating and drinking correctly). Over the years, you learn that you are one of billions of people and other organisms on a huge planet in a remarkably humongous Universe!
Psalms 19:1-2 (ESV) - The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
2 Day to day pours out speech,
and night to night reveals knowledge.
God has left us the Bible and in that Bible He tells us that people are made in His image and do not just disappear when they die. We are body and soul AND spirit and that spirit is made to live on forever even after the body and the breath of life is gone. This is standard Biblical teaching and I must expect that you are aware of this teaching, whether or not you accept it. After death, according to the Bible, then you who are born again by salvation offered by Jesus Christ will continue to live free of our fallible fallen bodies and natures with God OR will face judgment of God and be assigned to Hell to be eternally alone and tormented.
John 3:16-18 (ESV) - “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
God made man with free will. Mankind could choose to obey God or disobey. Adam and Eve sinned and brought sin into the world. Because man was ruler over the Earth, when he sinned then he also lost his right to rule and his sin passed down throughout his world, so that all animals would also have to suffer and strive to exist and die. Darwinists claim that life has been on Earth for millions of years, but it has actually only been around since about 7,000 years ago when God made all things and put mankind in charge. I have been posting evidence since 2004 to back up this assertion, that creation by God rather than *poof* by nothing is the logical First Cause of all.
Sam Harris claims there is no free will. God claims we DO have free will. Sure, if we evolved from totally random events (which is logically preposterous) then it might be possible to assert that we are simply the result of our evolved past and that all the things we feel and think and even seem to decide are simply evolved and determined events.
Dear Sam,
If you were right about free will, then you had no choice but to assert this and no one will be swayed by your arguments, because you had no choice but to speak them and we will not be moved by them in any case. There is no sense in asserting that we do not have free will if we do not have it, for we cannot respond to the argument anyway.
But God was and is wiser than mankind. He made it clear that He is far above mankind in wisdom and knowledge, but He also made creation to point mankind towards God. Whether we simply marvel at the beauty of the night sky or study the behavior of subatomic particles, we see God. While Einstein's famous quote that God "doesn't play dice" with the Universe, that does not really apply to the behavior of subatomic particles. How do you think that subatomic particles "know" that they are being observed and choose a location and spin when observed? I would assert that only because there is an Omnipotent and Omniscient God Who upholds the Universe and is aware of any observations of subatomic particles because He is aware of every observer's thoughts and actions can such a situation exist.
God tells us in the Book of Isaiah 55:8-9 (ESV) -
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
God is the Creator, of course He is superior to mankind. He also knows our thoughts, not simply our actions. Psalms 94:6-11 (ESV) -
A God who not only knows every thought and deed of every person but also is intentionally sustaining the Universe at all times. This explains why Quantum Mechanics has discovered what it has discovered. God displays his wonders in the majesty of the night sky and the miracles of the makeup of organisms, but the uncertainty at the micro level points to uncertainty at our level. We make the decisions. God keeps the world running for now, waiting until the time has come to end the world.
They kill the widow and the sojourner,
and murder the fatherless;
and they say, “The Lord does not see;
the God of Jacob does not perceive.”
and murder the fatherless;
and they say, “The Lord does not see;
the God of Jacob does not perceive.”
Understand, O dullest of the people!
Fools, when will you be wise? He who planted the ear, does he not hear?
He who formed the eye, does he not see?
He who disciplines the nations, does he not rebuke?
He who teaches man knowledge—
that they are but a breath.
Fools, when will you be wise? He who planted the ear, does he not hear?
He who formed the eye, does he not see?
He who disciplines the nations, does he not rebuke?
He who teaches man knowledge—
that they are but a breath.
Hebrews 1:1-4 (ESV) - Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.
There is free will. Darwinists are wrong. God created a world in which you make your own choices, compute the value of moral codes and the worldview you will use as your foundation. Every choice coming your way is yours to choose, right or wrong.
Joshua 24:15 (ESV) - And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”