Free Will, Determinism and Predestination (paper 1 - 1.4) Flashcards
(14 cards)
What do Christians believe about Free Will (include Augustine and Aquinas)
- Aquinas said that god created human beings with knowledge of good and evil + reason to guide our decision making
- we are born sinful
- Augustine — still have a tendency to sin, the soul is divided and even though it knows what is morally good it is weakened by the desires of the body and chooses to sin
What are Christian teachings about Free Will
- evil and suffering entered the world because God gave Adam and Eve free will and they ate from the tree of knowledge
- Aquinas said that god created humans with the knowledge of good and evil and freedom over their actions. He said that god gave them reason and revelation (guidance from the church, bible, prayer) to choose wisely
What are the problems with omniscience
Omniscience - all knowing
+ God knows what we will choose however we still have responsibility over our choices + we are free to choose differently
- If God knows what will happen then this means that any other outcome is impossible – we don’t have any real choice + therefore shouldn’t be held responsible
+ God knows all possible outcomes but not the one we will choose
- This is not real knowledge
What are some Non - Christian views on Free Will
Free will - (the belief that) the human will is so free that human beings have been given the right to exercise control over other living things
- some people argue that we are completely free to make our own choices in life. They say that this is important in order for us to have responsibility for our actions –Libertarianism
- Some people argue that even though our choices in the past and our personality does limit our choice to a certain extent, we are still responsible for our actions because we are not fully controlled by them
What are the Christian views on predestination (John Calvin)
- Protestant John Calvin argued that since the fall people are inherently sinful and nobody can be good enough to earn their way into heaven
- This means that salvation must be a gift from God. It is not based on how we act
- Calvin argued that God chose who to give the gift of salvation to before they are born. those who are given the gift are called the elect. those who aren’t are called the reprobate and are naturally sinful and destined for hell
- Calvin thought that the Holy Spirit would be active in the lives of the elect which would enable them to do good deeds. the reprobate would not have the Holy Spirit helping them so they would naturally give into sinful nature. therefore good people (the elect) are doing good because god is helping them and bad people have no choice but to do bad because it is natural human nature. this means we are predestined and not free
What problems could be raised about Calvin’s views on predestination
- why would an omnibenevolent God create the reprobate and not give everyone a chance of getting into heaven?
- an important Christian idea is that humans have free will to obey or disobey God and choose good or evil. We are then judged by God at the end of our lives. if predestination is true then judgment is pointless
- if true then we have no responsibility over out actions
- many Christians believe that God wants all people to be saved. it says in the bible that Christ died for the sins of all the people “for god so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life”
why would someone be in support of predestination
- makes sense if put in context, Calvin was writing during the protestant reformation and one of the criticisms that the reformers had of the roman catholic church was that it was claiming to have control who could get into heaven
- Priests told the people that they couldn’t get into heaven without the sacraments and this meant that excommunication was seen as sentencing a person to hell. the church also offered ‘indulgences’ which were prayers which promised a person purgatory so they could go more quickly into heaven. Calvin wanted to emphasize that who went to hell and heaven was entirely up to god and not down to what the roman catholic hierarchy said
Why do some religious people believe that god decides their fate and others don’t (yes and no)
YES:
- some Christians believe in John Calvin’s view of predestination and therefore believe that god decides their fate
- some Christians believe this because they believe that you can’t earn your way, but that god is omniscient and knows who will go heaven and who will go to hell.
NO:
- some Christians believe this because humans have freewill to obey or disobey god and choose good or evil. we are then judged by god at the end of our lives. if predestination is true then judgment is pointless
- an important Christian belief is that human choice whether or not to believe in Christ. Christians believe Christ died so that all people had the possibility to go into heaven
Reasons to believe we have free will
- Some people argue that we are completely free to make our own choices in life. They say that this is important in order for us to have responsibility for our actions. This position is known as ‘libertarianism’.
- Examples that show that humans do have freewill include where people who grow up in environments where gangs, drugs and crime are normal, make the choice to not lead this life when they grow up.
- Some people argue that, even though our past choices and our personality does limit our choice to a certain extent, we are still responsible for our actions because we are not fully controlled by them.
Reasons to believe our choices/actions are determined (non-religious)
- All our choices are the result of prior choices and actions
- A person’s choices and actions are a result of social conditioning
- Freud said that our choices and actions are greatly influenced by your parents or other authority figures in your childhood
- Our genetics play a large part in determining our choices and actions
- Our experiences play a large part in determining our choices and actions
Q - why some religious people believe that human beings should be held responsible for their actions
- Christians believe that all people are born with freewill and therefore they have freedom over their actions and should be held responsible for them.
- Christians believe that when a person dies they will be judged by God on how they have lived. This means that God sees all people as responsible for their actions.
- Christians believe that people are responsible for their actions because they always have the opportunity to say sorry for their sins and seek the forgiveness of Christ.
- We should be held responsible for our actions because Aquinas taught that God created us to ‘do good and avoid evil’. He said that we should use reason, the Bible, prayer and the church to know what is right from wrong
Q - why some non-religious people believe that human beings should not be held responsible for their actions
- Some people believe that we should not be held responsible for our actions because our actions are a result of social conditioning, e.g. the reward and punishment of society influences the way we act.
- Freud also taught that a part of the psyche called the Super Ego is the influence of our parents on our actions. A person may argue that we therefore don’t have full responsibility over our actions.
- Our genetics determine our actions, e.g. if we are born with a lack of empathy then we might not be fully responsible for our actions.
- Our experiences determine our actions, meaning we should not be held responsible for them, e.g. if we are abused as a child we might be more likely to commit a crime.
Q - why some religious people believe that human beings should not be held responsible for their actions
- Some Christians believe in predestination. This is the belief that the elect have been chosen by God before they are born to go to Heaven. Their actions are guided by the Holy Spirit so that are not directly responsible for them.
- These Christians also believe that the reprobate are destined for hell because they do not have the guidance of the holy spirit and give in to their sinful natures. They are therefore not fully responsible.
- Other Christians might believe that we are not fully responsible for our actions because we do not have freewill. This is because God is omniscient and therefore knows what we are going to do before we do it.
Q -why some non-religious people believe that human beings should be held responsible for their actions
- Some people argue that we are completely free to make our own choices in life, therefore we have total responsibility for our actions. This position is known as ‘libertarianism’.
- Some people argue that, even though our past choices and our personality limit our choice to a certain extent, we are still responsible for our actions because we are not fully controlled by them. We should therefore be punished if we do things wrong.
- Examples that show that humans do have freewill, and therefore responsibility for our actions, include where people who grow up in environments where gangs, drugs and crime are normal, make the choice to not lead this life when they grow up. If they do these things, they should therefore be punished.
- Sartre argued that we have total responsibility for our actions because we are the choices that we make; ‘existence proceeds essence’. We have total freedom over our choices, so we should be punished for the things we do wrong.
