Free will

Can evil co-exist with a perfect God? This question poses a difficult question for Theism because, when you talk about the definition of a theistic God is that he is all knowing, good and omnipotent. So he knows all, and he generally goes for the greater good for the human race. So, if he was all knowing, good and omnipotent, meaning he can do anything, why does he let suffering happen? It really is in direct contradiction about the definition of a theistic God because then if he is willing to…

and “On Free Choice of the Will” by Augustine we will find answers and examples to these questions. It is everyone’s purpose in life to live a happy life or a life that leads to happiness, but not all of us as humans can achieve this happiness. Through human action we can understand what needs to be done to achieve happiness. First we need to understand why anyone does anything at all.…

In this paper I will consider the atheistic point of view on the argument from evil, while addressing free will. This is one of the main arguments against the existence of an all-good and all-knowing God, which was discussed in class. Atheistic Argument From Evil If God exists, then He is omniscient, omnipotent, and perfectly good. If God were omniscient, omnipotent, and perfectly good, then the world would not contain evil. The world contains evil. Therefore, God does not exist. Beginning with…

Incompatibilism is the theory that we as human beings do not have Free Will. Every little thing that happens in our life is determined by other occurrences in our lives. In response the setting given, someone who is a firm believer would still believe that Free Will does not exist. I believe that might actually strengthen their argument. The fact that in this future setting, scientist have mapped out the entire brain to the point that we can know exactly how you as a person would react to every…

not exist Augustine is committed to the existence of God. Augustine disagrees with premises number two, he does not believe in the existence of evil, it is the actions followed by our free will that God gave us that can create evil. Augustine believes that God wanted to create the best possible world, a world with free will. In this world some people…

are a person’s thoughts and actions free from external constraints? This debate between determinism and free will has puzzled people since antiquity. Many philosophers have made attempts at solving this problem. Some have adopted the theory of hard determinism meaning that actions are completely determined by external sources3. Some feel freedom and determinism are compatible with things like the laws of nature being determined and as long as a person is free from external constraints the person…

Looking at number 2, would one consider it to be true? That God would not allow any type of evil to exist? God has given humans free will, and thus humans are highly likely to engage in acts of evil. If God completely prevented evil from this universe, then humans would have some part of their free will stripped away. This would be unacceptable to that God and thus would be the reason on why God allows evil to exist. Now comes the question, what is considered evil…

inertia, etc are natural laws that are to always be abided. A natural disaster is an effect of a natural cause. In this case, we cannot define this action as an evil that God creates or necessarily warrants. However, evil exists because humans have free will to choose cruelty over good. However, Mackie responds, “why could He not have made men such that they always freely choose the good?” [1;334]. Mill proposes that perhaps, God just didn’t know how. And for the same reasons, this is why God…

letting you know you’re fulfilling your destiny. Although, the last option assumes we all have a destiny to fulfill. Destiny is the belief your life has a certain path to it, no matter what; however, life is really made up of individual choices from free will. Destiny is defined as the predetermined, usually inevitable, course of events (Dictionary.com). Destiny plays a huge role in mythology, religion, and media. Greek heroes and demigod stories often included them fulfilling their destinies,…

East of Eden, John Steinbeck communicates the reliance of the human soul on free will to establish itself, which proves to be true to an extent, but, considering a Christian worldview, other variables such as God’s image, original sin, and forgiveness influence the human soul’s construction. Steinbeck attempts the challenging task of exploring the enigmatic basis of humanity, ultimately reasoning the human soul requires free will in order to exist. While I argue that Steinbeck does not succeed…