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Posts Tagged ‘christianity’

Do you have free will?

June 24th, 2008

Do you have free will? Better yet.. Do you know what free will really means?

The question of free will is whether, and in what sense, rational agents exercise control over their actions and decisions. Addressing this question requires understanding the relationship between freedom and cause, and determining whether the laws of nature are causally deterministic. -Wikipedia

There are a lot of different takes on free will and what it means. The most simplistic way to understand free will is by relating it to freedom. Although it can have its limitations, so can anything. You being able to get in your car and make the decision to drive to your job every morning is free will. You going to the mall to grab a new shirt is free will.

Some religions, mainly christianity believe that free will was instilled in everyone by God and that we make every decision in our life. Many christians also believe that everything happens for a reason.. I was watching the discovery channel the other day and this kids town got destroyed by a tornado. He said that his grandparents got stuck under their house and 12 “men of God” came and rescued them. Don’t you think this is a bit irrational? If “everything” happens for a reason then God is the one who sent the tornado in the first place. Is that not a sign that it was their time to go? They can thank innovation for a nice house to collapse on them and save them.

If God sent these 12 men to save them, was it really meant to happen? If we all have free will, then they decided to help out and look for survivors; not God. So how does free will make sense if you believe that God has a plan for each and every one of us? How do you explain the fine line between free will and devotion to your God? If God does in fact have a plan for each and every one of us and he just failed miserably at killing this kids grandparents, doesn’t that make them unloyal servants? An all loving God..?

If you have free will then God has no plan for you. You chose your course of action and plot your life, not him. Many people just can’t seem to wrap their heads around logical thinking. If you believe in free will, you can not believe that everything happens for a reason. If you believe that everything happens for a reason, you can not believe in free will. Simple?

But, Scott.. You’re the one being irrational. You are making too much sense to be right.. Right?

You tell me..

Genesis 2:6-7 “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed the fig leaves together, and made them selves aprons.”

If God put the tree out in the middle of the garden without anything protecting it than yes, he is giving us all free will.. Now here is where “everything happens for a reason” gets put to shame..

Genesis 2:10-13 “And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
And he said, who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, where of I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
And the Lord God said unto the woman, what is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.”

Right here, God explains that he didn’t know what would happen. God clearly asks them what they did. I mean, he didn’t even use common sense. If he just created man and female and knew they were both idiots; then they magically started dressing themselves because they were naked, is that not a tell tail sign that they ate from this oh-so-delicious tree of knowledge? ..We can’t learn anything without working to obtain knowledge.

Do you have free will?

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How did God create light before creating the sun?

June 23rd, 2008

Our Sun

1:1-3 “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light”

So this has been on my heart a lot recently and I have yet to come to a conclusion so what better way to get answers than to throw myself out there and open this topic up for discussion? I am not in any way shape or form trying to offend anyone; so if you are stuck up and easily offended when someone is being open about the bible, I strongly advise you to close your browser now.

Now before I start, I want you all to know that I am not a scientist. I might sound a bit contradictive but I am looking for answers to questions I find impossible to answer within the bible. I claim no religion, I also do not claim to be agnostic or atheist. I am who I am and I do not believe that you should judge someone based off of “titles” when you can develop a greater understanding through their intelligence.

If you read through this post and say “oo, I know the answer! I am going to tell him ‘Well, This question is not meant to be understood.’ then please, hold it in. Sure, some things in the Bible we will never understand, but why would we be led into a lie from the very first verse in the very first chapter of the Bible, the book which we are to hold onto, study, learn and grow from? It just doesn’t make sense to me.

1:4 ”And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.”

So our God, a spiritual being, said ok; let’s create Earth. I will take this black, empty, dark space and throw planet Earth, hmm, here. So bam, there’s Earth. Sitting in the middle of this “blank space” (I hope I’ve got your mind drawing an image right now.) Now remember, as stated above.. God created the heaven at the same time that he created the Earth. Now if you believe every single word in the Bible then ask yourself this: Where did the universe come from? Or.. better yet… Does the universe exist? Because if it does, it wasn’t mentioned as being created by God. Maybe God is in fact the universe?

Back on topic. The Earth is sitting there in the middle of this blank space. And then God realizes that the darkness consuming the earth is bad and to correct this he created light. Light was created on the 1st day. Without light, we simply could not exist. So let’s stop here and discuss this for a minute. God created the earth and the heavens and light on the first day. We have no idea if God created a universe. All we know is, somehow, the Earth is sitting out in this dark blank space all alone, glowing with light (in the day of course).

The Bible then talks about God naming night and day. God then creates grass, fruits, etc. Then, On the 4th day:

1:14-15 “And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.”

God then creates the sun and the stars. The Bible is telling us that God placed the earth in the middle of space without a sun, without stars, without any other planets. Just earth. Then on the 4th day he finally adds the sun and other planets/stars into this blank space. My question is this: How did God create light before he created the sun? And even then.. How did God keep the earth from falling through space without a sun to hold us up? Lets say the sun just ran out of juice one day and stopped shining. According to the Bible; Well, since God created light before he created the sun and since the sun is to divide the day from the night then we would still have light without the sun because God created light before creating the sun and does not state anywhere in the Bible that the sun is our primary source of light.

How is this true? Our day and our night is not determined simply by the sun but by our moon also, right? How is all this so? How did God create the earth, with fruits and grass and water without having the sun to keep it in our solar system? How did these fruits grow without a source of heat? Wouldn’t the world basically be a frozen sphere? It’s not physically possible.

1:16-17 “And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,”

So now, after creating light.. Then creating the stars and the sun and the moons and planets.. God made “two great lights”? These two great lights referring to the sun and the moon, correct? But the moon isn’t a light, its more like a mirror or a shield that is reflecting the suns light onto the earth. So in turn; there is only one light that he created, not two. Now wait, start thinking hard. Remember at the beginning.. God created light on the 1st day. So is this referring to this 2nd light? The light that will still exist if the sun goes away? If not, then what does this mean? Once again, it makes no sense at all.

Is the Bible basically telling us from the start not to believe everything in it? Is this a sign or maybe this is just a test of faith and a test of beliefs? There has to be answer out there for this. If I have said anything that is inaccurate in your mind then please tell me. Lets throw everything else aside for this split moment besides this and have a serious discussion. How did God create light before creating the sun? How did God create the earth, with fruits and grass without creating the sun first?

 

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