Can it be called "Free Will" if there is coercion?
813232
Im gonna try something and see if it makes sense:\n\nFirst on a lower scale:\n\nYou're saying that there is no free will because there is coercion.\n\nTherefore without coercion, we would have free will.\n\nNow if lets define coercion as "punishment"\n\nFree will is the ability to choose between "right" and "wrong"\n\nHowever, something is only "wrong" if there is some sort of negative consequence associated with it.  In most cases this would be a punishment in society (i.e. robbery leads to jail time, stealing a cookie leads to a slap on the wrist)\n\nSo without coercion, there is no "wrong" making "Free Will" a matter of "right" or "right."\nThis means we would have no distinction between choices and it would not be called "Free Will" because there is no choice to make.\n\nTherefore: coercion is essential in order to define "Free Will" because it makes a distinction between right and wrong.\nSo to answer your question free will only exists with coercion. yes.\n\n(if any of my high school logic makes sense)
598288
no .. you should just stay out of it.. no one takes anyone away, unless that person wants to go.. you have to remember we all have our own minds and free will..
1025188
I don't think that the idea that God is utilizing famine in Africa as population control can be applied to just that single case. What about the Holocaust or the famine under Stalin's rule? Wouldn't that also be the will of God? Would those events be categorized as 'population control,' too?\n\nAnd how is God all-knowing, if we are given free choice? Free choice means that you are free to do as you please, but doesn't God already know what you're going to do?
401705
It's that pesky free will issue again.
298463
Absolutely not, god gives us free will to make choices and if firmly believe that's where it ends and Thur those choices he knows what the outcome will be for us.  If you are not careful and participate in the things that could cause such a disease than you suffer a possible consequence.  Hope this was of some help to you.
1136370
Assuming for the sake of argument that the Christian mythology is true, of course it's not a fair judging. Just because God is more powerful than we are and made us doesn't automatically give him the right to tell me what to do. Granting us free will is philosophically identical to granting us control over our own being. It's irrelevant that he made us. It's just like the government, just because it's big and has all the guns doesn't give it any actual authority over us other than what it takes by force (in God's case, threats of hell).
1039411
"Look, Lord!", said the angel. "The humans have come up with the theory of libertarian free will.... just like You said they would."\n\nThink about it.\n\nA little deeper.
917231
Wow, talk about looking at yourself.  That was me not too long ago.  The problem is that God can only interfere on a limited basis with out obscuring "free will".  The hard truth is that rapists and murderers have free will also.  It's complicated, and hard to justify. but I guess the better questions would be, why didn't  we do something about it?
434239
If the destiny is already written then where is the free will.\n\nWe make our own destiny.
1115399
This is called fatalism, and is in logical error. Clearly everything is not predetermined. To your question I add another: did you type that question of your own accord, or was that predetermined too? Obviously, we have free will. Obviously, we have personal responsibility. God is sovereign, which means He has power of choice and consequence. We only have power of choice.
404028
I would rather not make a decision at all.  God gave us all free will and said to not judge others.  Therefore, I couldn't take way the free will of others or judge them and their mistakes by sending them back to start all over.
1070228
Free will... isn't an excuse to not take responsibility for your own actions.\nYou thoughts and actions ARE yours.  If you believe you are completely controlled by the universe, the universe would not have you ask this question as it would be useless.
1021098
It's not that He "can't", but that He won't.  It would defeat the purpose of His having given us a little thing called free will.  And no, we were not made to be perfect.  He knew, and knows, how everything is going to turn out.  He knew what was going to happen in the Garden of Eden too.
1067573
I am not exactly sure if the Bible says " you do or do not have freewill" specifically. But I believe that we do not have freewill, and the definition of freewill is "lack of internal compulsions". it talks in Romans nine how every intentional act is predestined to happen by God, and how even the evil doers, are used to accomplish his plan. this is why we "End up doing what God wants anyway." I believe that bad things happen for a reason as well and that they are Gods plan for our life. We may not be able to see the reason and we may never be able to, but that does not mean it was not his plan. And any suffering we endure is Gods will, and it may not seem fair or just to us, but Paul says in Romans who is the clay to question the potter, I fully agree with this, who are you and I to question the creator of the universe, and our heavenly father? I encourage you to read, "The Christian view of Man",  I cant remember the authors first name but his last name is Machen. Also Romans Chapter Nine, and parts of Hebrews.
843701
I would say yes\nBut God wants Free-Will of choice........so in turn you make up your own mind.
923387
So you seem to be arguing for a purely deterministic illusion of free will?  Free will as an emergent property of  a net mass of neurons?  Is this an argument about "nature vs. nurture"? \n\nI'm not sure what your argument or question is, actually.  But I would say that your initial question is false, or at least unsupported. If you are saying that my illusion of free will is god's gift or something, then I disagree.\n\nAtheists generally tend to be more rational about most things.
432729
"Free will" is a Freudian concept. It is the belief that every person has the ability to make a decision entirely independent of thought about consequence or prior experiences. Contrary to this is the theory of "Behavioral Conditioning".