The Importance Of Determinism

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Register to read the introduction… I do not believe God determines everything in life or that I have no influence on the choices I make in my life. I feel God can influence peoples way of life, but not completely determine them. I believe people control their own actions and make choices with their own free will. “It is hard to see how, if the state of the world 1000 years ago fixes everything I do during my life, I can meaningfully say that I am a free agent, the author of my own actions, which I could have freely chosen to perform differently. After all, I have neither the power to change the laws of nature, nor to change the past,”(Hoefer). If determinism is correct then moral responsibility does not exist. If all of our actions are determined individuals do not have to take responsibility for their actions. “If (i) no one is morally responsible for having failed to perform any act, and (ii) no one is morally responsible for any event, and (iii) no one is morally responsible for any state of affairs, then there is no such thing as moral responsibility,”( Inwagen). If determinism is true then everyone who has every committed a crime should be found not guilty of their crime or crimes. That means every mass murder, rapist, drug dealer, and convicted felon could use determinism as a defense in their case. They could state they had no control over their actions and that they were pre determined. I would find that extremely hard to …show more content…
“The problem of evil is the problem of how all-good and all powerful god could allow evil to exist in the world, evil that includes the suffering of innocent,”(Alford, pg.5). Growing up with Christian beliefs I feel determinism is a contradiction to the Christian religion. I can not believe good determined thousands of years ago that certain people will do unexplainable evil things to innocent god-fearing people. That is like saying God determined the Sandy Hook shooter was going to go in and kill 25 people. Another example would be saying God determined the Boston bombings. Those people had alternative choices that they could have made that could have prevented those

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