God and Freewill vs Determinism.

The one thing many religious people will state, is that God gave us free will. He gave us free will in order to live our lives freely, quite simply. It's the explanation for human suffering, it's the very reason that we live on earth, and not in heaven, thanks to the 'original humans' (I still find it fascinating that this was taught in schools.) But conversely, there is another explanation for why we do anything. Determinism. This big bad boy states that the things which we do are directly influenced by our surroundings, we really don't have much of a choice. A bit dank and depressing, but just watch the nature channel, that will cheer you up! (evil wolf, trying to kill that ox! it's good that you failed, you evi... oh no, no food for the babies!) But not only is this dank and depressing... It makes a whole lot of sense. To me, anyway. But onto my point, no dilly dallying around! (I can't believe dilly dally are real words...) God!

This essay is set about to prove or disprove the existence of God, using these psychological theories (and maybe some of their friends). I will begin by setting the premise of the question, and then work about giving the evidence (and counter-evidence, and some counter-counter...) of my chosen theory. It's pretty complicated and intelligent stuff, but I'm only as smart as you are, so if I can write it, you can read it!

Right, down to business.

Free will, a recognised fact since the very early early days, stating that we do what the fuck we want. By the theory of free will, we don't have to listen to any laws, they just have to exist, to 'help' us make a choice. This of course, is essential to defining whether or not someone has commited a crime, without free will, then the choice made is incredibly diminished. Scary thought. With free will, we are not controlled by the media, we are not influenced by computer games, we are not hypnotised, it's our choice to be hypnotised, anyone who's ever been hypnotised has been lying. Psychological addiction could also be technically nullified, since this means it's not our choice to be mental connected to something.

Determinism is a theory which follows like the universe. She is controlled by a set of laws, which act and react on one another in a particular fashion, and human action is the same. By the logic of determinism, if we know the history of a person, and the current stimulus is all known, then we can confidently predict how an individual will react. Behaviourists also agree with this, B. F. Skinner argues that 'All behaviour is determined by environmental events and that humans tend to repeat behaviours that are rewarded'. He also states that free will is an illusion. < br/>
Ever heard of a Freudian slip? I'm sure you have, if not, then allow me to enlighten you; It is a seemingly random action where we say not what we intend, but what we wished to have, such as saying someone else's name. freewill would decide that this is a purely accidental thing, with no real relevance, because it's entirely un-controlled by other stimulus, but determinism actually believes that these are motivated errors, and they actually 'reveal a persons true desires'

I think that's enough of an introduction. To the matter at hand!

In order for God to still supply us with freewill, He would need to never expect us to do as he tells us. If he does, then this is determinism. But how are you to know he doesn't? Original sin. Then again, this could have existed before freewill (it wasn't, it was pretty explicitly explained that they could do whatever they wanted in the garden of Eden, so long as they didn't eat from the tree of knowledge, I'm just humouring a possibility) But then why the promise of heaven for good people, and the promise of hell for bad? This, once again, is not freewill, but determinism.

So what? What difference does that make? Well, I know you didn't really ask that, I'm just doing this for dramatic effect, after all, we, as humans, crave drama! SO MANY COMMAS! This means that God either a) Lied to us, or b) Doesn't understand that which he created. This, or he's really shit at explaining things. If so, then he can't be perfect. He knows we aren't perfect. That's why he gave us such a long, and boring, manual. So, if he lied to us, then how can he preach to us not to lie? If he doesn't understand that which he as created, then he, once again, isn't perfect.

So let's say, for arguments sake, that he isn't perfect (there's a lot of evidence for this, look at the contradictions all through the bible, I won't cite them here, I'm already bored of writing this much) and he didn't explain what he meant by freewill, and actually meant determinism. What implication would this make? Again, I'm glad I asked for you.

If God was to have created determinism as freewill, everything he would do would govern what He we do (As you can see, I'm dropping capitals. I don't really see the point in capitalising the h every time I write He or Him. It's pedantic, and I'm sure he doesn't care too much. If he does, he should strike me down before I'm finished writing this). This means, that he couldn't send his son down to relieve us of our sins, he couldn't tempt us with heaven, or threaten us with hell. In fact, he would not even be able to exist to avoid controlling our freewill. If God was to exist, then people are going to start to do what he tells them to, be it truth that people can be spoken to by God, or be it false, and they are just doing it to give a reason for their despicable and inhumane actions.

So, without further ado, I bring you my closing statement.

Determinism is highly likely (though not officially) freewill, as we know it. Rather than being entirely free to make our own choices, we are governed by our environment, as in, we have the freewill to not take a coat when we go outside, but it's raining, that would be daft (another circumstance changing eventuality). Since this is the case, and God, being the all-knowing all creating creator of everything, even... himself... He would know this, also, and be unable to exist in order to avoid affecting our freewill. As confusing as this is, is how paradoxical it truly is. Of course, if I am wrong, and freewill DOES exist, then, as has been said before by greater and mightier minds than myself, he cannot hold us responsible for his own misjudgment of our ability of reasoning that he didn't really give us all too well. That's to say how can he hold US responsible for tempting us into sin, with his own creations? Perhaps I'll go more into the story of Adam and Eve story another time, as this is a big massive contradiction in itself. Right now, I'm just happy I managed to finish this.

Anyway, I hope this has given you something to think about at the very least, I'm not aiming to give facts or solutions, but rather asking you to not be afraid of thinking. It's a scary thing, but only because God doesn't want you to, He wants you to do what ever you want to so long as it's not what he wants you to not do... It's just too much!

Quick update: I've done nothing for a while, I know. I'm working on it. Got a couple things in the works, things always being born, things always being thought about... There is too much in my mind even for this blog. So be patient. My next update is to be on the subject of freewill. It's a pretty exciting piece of writing for me, I feel like such an Ancient Greek Philosopher! Stay tuned lovely povelies.