James W. Lichtenberg says “There are two views on human behaviour… either human behaviour is caused from without or it is caused from within” ( Throughout history free will has been debated by average people, Christians, non Christians and philosophers. There are conflicting views on the matter of free will some say free will does not exist because our life has been predetermined while others believe free will does exist and we are able to be in control over our decisions and actions. There is both a libertarian view and a compatibilist view. In this essay I will look at the question “Should Christians think humans have free will or not?” I will argue Christians do have free will because humans have the ability to make there own choices, the
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Calvin proposed two different forms of describing the human will (both of them considered to be self-determined). They are the libertarian free will and the predetermined will. A libertarian free will “which is self determined implies the real existence of an unlimited range of possibilities or an action (either in positive or negative terms)” (Mattei p.125). Libertarianism holds to a concept of “free will” that requires the individual to be able to take more than one possible course of action under a given set of circumstances. Furthermore, libertarianism argues that free will is logically opposed with a deterministic view of the world and that humans must have free will in order to be responsible for their actions. The view of a predetermined free will arms the existence of an entity called human will, but denies that it is “free” in the sense that it has an unlimited range of …show more content…
Our fate, or the way our life turns out, is the outcome of which ones we make. J. L. Schellenberg writes about Christians differing views on the matter of free will and says
“If finite persons lacked free will, their responses to God would be 'fixed' in advance, and thus mechanical and lacking in spontaneity. Indeed, the relationship between themselves and God would be like that between a hypnotized patient and the hypnotist, or between a puppet and the puppeteer, or between a robot and its designer - which is to say grounded in one-sided manipulation and control, and so not authentic or truly person”
I agree with the libertarian view of free will. I do not believe God put us on earth to just control our every move humans make. God was and is not a puppet master. I believe we were put on earth to make our own choices on whether or not to follow God. I believe God knows in the end what we choose but I do not believe he makes that choice for us. I believe that because humans and Christians have free will we are able to be in control of our actions. We sin because we have the ability to perform actions God does not approve of. Therefore humans choices and actions can not be
Calvin proposed two different forms of describing the human will (both of them considered to be self-determined). They are the libertarian free will and the predetermined will. A libertarian free will “which is self determined implies the real existence of an unlimited range of possibilities or an action (either in positive or negative terms)” (Mattei p.125). Libertarianism holds to a concept of “free will” that requires the individual to be able to take more than one possible course of action under a given set of circumstances. Furthermore, libertarianism argues that free will is logically opposed with a deterministic view of the world and that humans must have free will in order to be responsible for their actions. The view of a predetermined free will arms the existence of an entity called human will, but denies that it is “free” in the sense that it has an unlimited range of …show more content…
Our fate, or the way our life turns out, is the outcome of which ones we make. J. L. Schellenberg writes about Christians differing views on the matter of free will and says
“If finite persons lacked free will, their responses to God would be 'fixed' in advance, and thus mechanical and lacking in spontaneity. Indeed, the relationship between themselves and God would be like that between a hypnotized patient and the hypnotist, or between a puppet and the puppeteer, or between a robot and its designer - which is to say grounded in one-sided manipulation and control, and so not authentic or truly person”
I agree with the libertarian view of free will. I do not believe God put us on earth to just control our every move humans make. God was and is not a puppet master. I believe we were put on earth to make our own choices on whether or not to follow God. I believe God knows in the end what we choose but I do not believe he makes that choice for us. I believe that because humans and Christians have free will we are able to be in control of our actions. We sin because we have the ability to perform actions God does not approve of. Therefore humans choices and actions can not be