Monotheism and Free Will
God, Determinism and Fate

https://www.humanreligions.info/freewill.html

By Vexen Crabtree 2002

#free_will #free_will_and_god #free_will_and_god.omniscience #god #properties_of_god #religion #theism #theology

There are four philosophically strong arguments that God cannot have free will. (1) If God is perfect, then, it always follows the best course of action and therefore never has a choice. Likewise, (2) a benevolent God always chooses the path that causes most good, so, never has a choice. (3) An all-knowing god knows with certainty all of its future actions. As its knowledge cannot be wrong, then, it must follow this instantaneously predetermined path, and has never had a moment of existence in which this wasn't the case. (4) A perfect being that created time never changes (any new state implies that the previous state was less good); a being that never changes isn't making choices. This makes sense for a being that is outside of space-time. Without free will, God cannot be moral, and must be neutral (amoral).

The existence of a creator God also prevents the free will of other beings. God knows what all the causal factors are that lead any being to make a certain choice, but, it also created the entire chain of cause and effect which leads to those choices. Our personalities, emotions, desires and choices are all the direct result of God's mechanism of reality. There is no point at which beings steer their own destiny.

The free will of god is important for resolving the ancient theological 'problem of evil'. If God has free will, but never chooses evil, then it could have created life in the same way: With free will, but also never choosing evil. If God has no free will but is still good then there was no point creating evil to grant humans free will as it is possible to be good with no free will. If God, angels and other beings in heaven have free will where there is no evil or suffering, then it cannot be true that god lets evil exist because it is a required side-effect of free will. The only logical conclusion is that given the existence of suffering in the world, it cannot be the case that good is both good and has free will.

1. God Has No Free Will

Arguments were presented in the introduction above; read more on these on their own specific webpage:

2. The Existence of an All-Knowing God is Incompatible With Others' Free Will

An omnipotent, omniscient creator would know every consequence of the universe's initial conditions. By choosing those conditions, it would also be choosing every causal chain that follows from them. There is no element of reality which doesn't flow from God's initial, perfect and infallible plan. A person's character, memories, perceptions, emotions, and sense of right and wrong all arise from that ticking clockwork, in a manner known precisely by God, and progressing exactly according to cause-and-effect initiated from the creation of the entire Universe.

A creator-god determines which choice occurs simply by selecting one micro-configuration of the universe rather than another. If an omnipotent, omniscient being created life, then every decision results from the act of creation; true free will has never existed for any being.

It's simply not the case that "God knows what choice someone will make, but leaves it up to the person to make it" - because every atom, molecule, experience, personality trait and factor that influences their choice is in fact setup by God, and the person duly makes the choice they were always destined to make.

God's omnipotent sovereignty contradicts the free will of every being. There is no ultimate moral choice that wasn't made by God: the person's very perception of right and wrong is a result of the circumstances already projected by the creator-god. If It percolated the Universe in a slightly different way, some beings make correct choices, other ones make incorrect ones. But it's down to the plan, not to the individuals.

3. Spinoza: Because God's Plan is Perfect, Nothing is Truly Bad - and Nietzsche

#Nietzsche

These contradictions between the properties of the divine and free will are ancient, debated by classical philosophers and many before them.

Some scholars in history have preferred to justify evil by saying that it serves God's purpose (not the Devil's, but God's). Spinoza provides an example of the style of argumentation from the point of view of a theist who believes that God is good, that evil exists, and that there is no free will:

“Everything, according to Spinoza, is ruled by an absolute logical necessity. There is no such thing as free will in the mental sphere or chance in the physical world. Everything that happens is a manifestation of God's inscrutable nature, and it is logically impossible that events should be other than they are. This leads to difficulties in regard to sin, which critics were not slow to point out. One of them, observing that, according to Spinoza, everything is decreed by God and is therefore good, asks indignantly: Was it good that Nero should kill his mother? Was it good that Adam ate the apple? Spinoza answers that what was positive in these acts was good, and only what was negative was bad; but negation exists only from the point of view of finite creatures. In God, who alone is completely real, there is no negation, and therefore the evil in what to us seem sins does not exist when they are viewed as parts of the whole.”
"History of Western Philosophy" by Bertrand Russell (1946)₁

In 1916, theologian Peter Forsyth writes quite plainly that "many systems try to explain how human freedom and human action are consistent with God´s omnipotence and omniscience. None succeed"₂. He still concludes that God and free will are compatible because the ramifications are too great for him to shoulder: such is the difficulty of arguing a point of truth on a subject where our instincts do not lead us in the correct direction, and the necessary conclusion is counter to what we want to believe.

Nietzsche argued that Christian moralists (and other religionists) intentionally created the Western view of free will in order to judge people. He argues in "Twilight of the Idols" (1888)₃ in aphorisms 7 and 8 that free will is a trick, invented so that priests and clergy could declare people guilty, and rule the world by offering remedies, and punishments. He argues that the true state of affairs is that human behaviour is the expression of physiology, instinct, and innate drives, that neither constitute free will, but also, are also best not considered deterministic.

4. Monotheistic Religions' Holy Books are Determinist

4.1. Christianity

#christianity #determinism #free_will #free_will_and_god #philosophy #religion

The Bible teaches that there is no free will. Examining Exodus, Ecclesiastes 7, Ephesians 1, Ephesians 2, Matthew 5:45, Acts 13, Romans 8, Roman 9, 2 Timothy, 2 Thessalonians, Titus 3:4-5 and Revelations, we see that God's plan overrides our free will; those that do good do the specific good that God predestined them to do, and all others are ruled by Satan because God sends "powerful delusions" to them. The Christian Bible frequently states that God creates our future and decides our fates, no matter what our own will is. It constantly denies that we have free will. Some of the foremost Christians in history have taught that there is no free will, including St. Augustine₄ (one of the founders of Western Christianity), Martin Luther (founder of Protestantism) and John Calvin (founder of Calvinism).

For more, see:

"Biblical Christianity Denies Free Will" by Vexen Crabtree (2005).

4.2. Islam₅

#islam

The first century of Islam saw a rationalist school of thought arise which held that as mankind had free will (qadar), there was no such thing as determined fate for men. People deserved what they got. These were the Mutazilites. They included "Mabad al-Juhni (d.702 CE); al-Ju'd ibn Drhim (d.721), the Damascene Ghaylan (d.743), and Jahm ibn Safwan (d.745)"₆. Unfortunately all these men were executed because their belief in free will contradicted Islamic dogma, which upheld the supremacy of God's jabr (initiative - God's plan). Determinists such as the Sunni Ash'ari school₇, use the following verses from the Qur'an to back their position:

God Guides Some, But, Makes Everyone Else Blind. God bestows abundance on those who he guides, and, blinds those others so they don't, and can't, believe. God has set veils on unbeliever's hearts so that they don't understand signs and proofs, it "closes their hearts, eyes and ears" and leads them astray so that even "if they see every one of the Ayat (proofs, evidence, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.) they will not believe therein". If God wanted, it could open their eyes and then they would believe. God could have guided all of mankind if it wanted (Qur'an 13:31). These themes are seen time and time again in the Qur'an. See Qur'an 2:213, 3:74, 4:88,143, 5:54,67, 6:25,35,39,111,126, 7:178-179,186, 10:99-101, 13:31, 14:4, 16:9,37, 17:45-46, 18:57 and 24:35. Whether you believe or not is not an issue of free will or personal choice, and any punishments based on belief or lack of belief is therefore arbitrary and without justice especially as Allah has the responsibility to guide people to the right path (16:9).
But this vast array of verses is contradicted in places by the occasional comment that says otherwise. Qur'an 8:38 instructs people to talk to those who have disbelieved in order to encourage them to change. 57:17,25 says "We have made the communications clear to you that you may understand" and 18:54-55 says that "nothing prevents men from believing". Although shortly after that, 18:57 returns to the old story, saying "Who does more wrong than he who turns away from [proofs, evidence, verses, lessons, signs, revelations] [...]. Truly, We have set veils over their hearts lest they should understand, and in their ears, deafness. And if you (Muhammad) call them to guidance, even then they will never be guided".
Human actions cannot change who believes, and who is saved. Allah "bestows His abundance" and purifies "whom He will" (Qur'an 2:212, 4:49, 30:37). Qur'an 2:286 says that "God does not charge a soul beyond what is in its capacity" - if you're not capable of understanding something (because God made you that way), then, God will not then make you capable. You will remain hindered forever. And in Qur'an 5:42 it says "To everyone We have appointed a way and a course to follow". Sura 57 concludes by stating that even the followers of Islam cannot control who receives the grace of God as it gives it to whomever it pleases.
God ordains everything, in a book written before time. "Nothing shall ever happen to us except what God has ordained for us" (Qur'an 9:51) and this includes all misfortune which befalls people (Qur'an 57:22) and their lifespans (3:154, 35:11). When the Qur'an is so clear on a point there is no need to look to the Hadiths for further comments, however, there is every indication that the Hadiths are just as clear: "One was the report that the Prophet had said, 'The first thing God created was the pen; then he said to it, "Write all that will happen until the Last Day'"₈.