Do we have free will?
916546
Well that's a good Q, I'll try to answer that from Islamic background.\n---------------------------------\nMy answer short:\n1) There is nothing considered hidden or not known to ALLAH, ALLAH knows that even before the creation.\n2) we are not like Angles or animal world not given the choices to choose, and hence we are rewarded better.\n3) Now your self have the choice to embrace Islam as ALLAH says in the holly Quran, if you  believe in it you will go to heavens and if not you ( not you your self) will be in Hell.\nSo, it is your choice, your have enough time to pass???\nSo,what do you think???
1058461
Stupidity and Free will...
1014635
I don't personally believe that we have a free will, it certainly is not taught in the Bible. What is taught is that man has a depraved will, and only as God draws him does he have the ability to come to God.
392180
A combination of both.\n\n1. We are free to choose, at any given instance and depending on our degree of conscious awareness of our actions and overall motivations, any action possible.\n\n2. There are only a given number of possibilities. I am not able to pick up a cup - with my hand - that is 2000 miles away from me.  This is similar to the way that predestination works - God knows what I will do because he knows my heart, my potential, and my capabilities at any given instant.\n\n~ There is no discrepancy between the two if you realize that God operates outside our conventional viewpoint regarding time.  All things that have occured since the beginning of TIME until the end of TIME (the discussion of what this entails is quite complicated and another matter entirely) are within the scope of God's apprehension and understanding.
405656
I think you are on to something!\n\nYou will no doubt have those come in and sprat about "free will".. but if god knew everything and "has a plan".. then I am voting for YOUR thought here!
578892
The doctrine of free will is a lie.
306747
Interesting puzzle:\nfMRI studies have shown that neurons in the brain associated with a task begin to fire about 800 milliseconds before the person is even aware that they want to perform an action.\n\nDo we have no free will? \n\n\nMed Hypotheses. 2001 Mar;56(3):364-6.\nIf there were no free will: Fisher CM.\n\n\nElectrophysiological findings in humans who are performing voluntary acts, indicate that the intention to act, follows brain activity rather than preceding it. This has implications for voluntary behavior and the doctrine of free will. This essay reviews the fields of human behavior, including medicine, in which this new thesis might have far-reaching significance. Copyright 2001 Harcourt Publishers Ltd.\n\nAn extract:\n\n...it should be pointed out\nthat somewhat the same conclusion may be reached on\nthe basis of rather elementary observation. Every thought,\nfeeling, inclination, intention, desire, every mental\nimpression no matter how brief or faint, must be created\nby nervous system activity. How else could they arise? Ideas would have to arise without a physical basis.\nNervous system activity must always precede. Every\nnuance of thought and feeling arises in and must be preceded\nby its own specific electrical configuration in the\nbrain. If one has the experience of ‘willing’ the nervous\nsystem to do something, the impression of ‘willing’ must\nhave been preceded by nervous system activity.\nOtherwise there would be no source and we are in the\nrealm of the supernatural. Before I think of anything, it\nmust first have taken form in my nervous system.\n\n\nTherefore: answer to your question would be 'nervous system activity'
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.
352847
It is not sensible to believe that if you once recieved Christ and then want to back out that you can't.  Why anyone would want to, I don't know.  The very idea of free will must give us that option.  It is like saying that God will force you to go to heaven, when you have changed your mind..  I think he will send you where you want to go.
194391
Nobody really knows, but people theorize that if we have free will, then there must be many parallel universes; a new universe for every choice any one has ever made. If we don't have free will, then there is just one universe and we chose the choices we would have always chosen because of our upbringing and the way our brains have been wired through our life experiences.
1042716
God doesn't make mistakes lol! Think about this... would you want someone doing something for you or in your name if they didn't want to be doing it?? \nAlso, if we didn't have free will we would pretty much just be robots. Where is the beauty in that?
329002
Interesting puzzle:\nfMRI studies have shown that neurons in the brain associated with a task begin to fire about 800 milliseconds before the person is even aware that they want to perform an action.\n\nIs this God? Do we have no free will? Is this our soul?\n\n\n                     Med Hypotheses. 2001 Mar;56(3):364-6. \n    If there were no free will: Fisher CM.\n\n\n    Electrophysiological findings in humans who are performing voluntary acts, indicate that the intention to act, follows brain activity rather than preceding it. This has implications for voluntary behavior and the doctrine of free will. This essay reviews the fields of human behavior, including medicine, in which this new thesis might have far-reaching significance. Copyright 2001 Harcourt Publishers Ltd.\n\nAn extract:\n\n...it should be pointed out\nthat somewhat the same conclusion may be reached on\nthe basis of rather elementary observation. Every thought,\nfeeling, inclination, intention, desire, every mental\nimpression no matter how brief or faint, must be created\nby nervous system activity. How else could they arise? Ideas would have to arise without a physical basis.\nNervous system activity must always precede. Every\nnuance of thought and feeling arises in and must be preceded\nby its own specific electrical configuration in the\nbrain. If one has the experience of ‘willing’ the nervous\nsystem to do something, the impression of ‘willing’ must\nhave been preceded by nervous system activity.\nOtherwise there would be no source and we are in the\nrealm of the supernatural. Before I think of anything, it\nmust first have taken form in my nervous system.\n\nAh yes, the nervous system... some may just call this the soul...\n\n\nEdit: in reference to the below answer, I've pulled out a (scientific) study that does not suggest that there is no soul.\n\n Hist Philos Life Sci. 2004;26(3-4):377-94. \n\n    'Show me your original face before you were born': the convergence of public fetuses and sacred DNA.\n\n    Gilbert SF, Howes-Mischel R.\n\n    Department of Biology, Swarthmore College, 500 College Avenue, Swarthmore, PA 19081, USA.\n\n    Embryology is an intensely visual field, and it has provided the public with images of human embryos and fetuses. The responses to these images can be extremely powerful and personal, and the images (as well as our reactions to them) are conditioned by social and political agendas. The image of the 'autonomous fetus' abstracts the fetus from the mother, the womb, and from all social contexts, thereby emphasizing 'individuality'. The image of 'sacred DNA' emphasizes DNA as the unmoved mover, the eidos, the soul of the human being. Since fertilization involves the forming of a new constellation of DNA in the zygote, the act of fertilization is being perceived as the secular and technical equivalent of ensoulment. This privileges fertilization above the other possible scientifically valued times when 'human life' begins.
951074
that is a very good point,, i have always  thought, if i "feel/think/see"   things a certain way,,, that i was made to be this way,,,, and how can i be faulted for being made the way i am,,,, by a creator, so yes, if God works within us, to determine our will,,, then is it really free will? how would we even know?  maybe God works with us,, in helping develop our will,,,,, in that if we desire something,, we find the things we need, the resources,  but where did that desire come from in the first place,  even if its something we feel we thought up,, most likely we were influenced  by our life/our contacts in life,,, what caused us to come across those certain expeirences?  and why did we react in the way we did??
879252
He knows what's going to happen no matter what we do. We have the free will to choose Him or to not, and to choose anything else or to not. He knows what we're going to choose or what we're going to do, but that doesn't stop us from being the ones who choose it. See? If He created humans without free will, then His reason behind the creation would be pointless. We'd just be like puppets on a string, running around doing what He wants. He doesn't want that. He didn't create us to be something to play with, He created us to have a relationship with us.
253179
Your question sounds very skeptical.  Free will means that you are able to choose if you want to do what is God's will or not.  The bible teaches that following God's guidance is for our benefit, it is not a burden.  When you get a through understanding of what is that God requires of you you find this to be true.  Unfortunately many religions put heavy weights or burdens on the arms of people because they do not teach using the bible as the basis for their teaching.  If you do not follow God's commandments then you are using your free will to disobey and therefore you are sinning.  As you see, free will is being able to make your own decision: "will I serve God or will I disobey him?". You will have to respond for your actions when judgment comes.
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)
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".