Where do you guys stand on free will?

[Attorney General, Senator-Elect, & Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

My beliefs on free will are about as set in stone as Lincoln Chafee's party affiliation, but what I currently believe is:

- Yes, we have free will, and if we use that free will to make a genuine repentance of our sins, we are saved.

- God knows what choices we will make and what will happen in the future,  but if he wants to change that future because of our prayer, etc., he can do so.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

A useful illusion. Though I’m thinking scientifically, and not theologically, when I say this.

[TheSaint250]

I've actually been thinking a lot about free will.  I am of the belief that God knows everything that will happen and when it will happen.  We can do what we choose, yes, but God has essentially led us to do things a certain way. 

It's been leading me to think in a kind of existentialist way: Do we really having truly free will?

Could someone help make this a little clearer for me?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but as I understand your post, you think God determines our choices because He is omniscient and so created us knowing what choices we would make. At the same time, you seem to believe we do make genuine choices. It sounds to me like you're a compatibilist. Unless you want to claim the choices we make are not free.

I might push back on the first part though. I'm not sure if God's foreknowledge necessarily entails determinism, and if it's true that foreknowledge does not entail determinism, I suspect it would then be possible for God to have created free agents without determining their every decision–while at the same time knowing what said decisions would be.

Maybe in that case you could say God determines our behaviors in a negative sense by not interfering with our decisions to the point that he is the real decider. I guess that would be analogous to the distinction between His permissive will (as opposed to His active will).

This seems to clarify things.  Thank you.

I should really spend more time on this part of the forum.  It's a nice change from all of the bickering

[Small L]

I've actually been thinking a lot about free will.  I am of the belief that God knows everything that will happen and when it will happen.  We can do what we choose, yes, but God has essentially led us to do things a certain way. 

It's been leading me to think in a kind of existentialist way: Do we really having truly free will?

Could someone help make this a little clearer for me?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but as I understand your post, you think God determines our choices because He is omniscient and so created us knowing what choices we would make. At the same time, you seem to believe we do make genuine choices. It sounds to me like you're a compatibilist. Unless you want to claim the choices we make are not free.

I might push back on the first part though. I'm not sure if God's foreknowledge necessarily entails determinism, and if it's true that foreknowledge does not entail determinism, I suspect it would then be possible for God to have created free agents without determining their every decision–while at the same time knowing what said decisions would be.

Maybe in that case you could say God determines our behaviors in a negative sense by not interfering with our decisions to the point that he is the real decider. I guess that would be analogous to the distinction between His permissive will (as opposed to His active will).

This seems to clarify things.  Thank you.

I should really spend more time on this part of the forum.  It's a nice change from all of the bickering

Glad to be helpful! I hope you do spend more time here. I always like reading your posts.

[HillGoose]

I believe strongly in free will