The Illusion of Free Will
Page 14
–Rom 9:11-13
Having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.
–Ephesians 1 5:6; 5 9 (NKJV)
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
–John 1:12-13; 12 NKJV
…and he spoke to Korah and all his company, saying, Tomorrow morning the Lord will show who is His and who is holy, and will cause him to come near to Him. That one whom He chooses He will cause to come near to Him.
– Numbers 16:5; 5
Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
–Matthew 10: 29-30 [NIV]
The Lord has made everything for it's own purpose even the wicked for the day of evil.
–Proverbs 16:4
Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not to thy own understanding".
–Proverbs 3:5*
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
–Isaiah 59: 8
Quotes against Predestination
Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
–Matthew 7:7
Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.
–James 5:14
But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.
–Genesis 2:17
And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.
–Genesis 6:6
Logical Fallacies
Here is a quick list of common logical fallacies that often will arise during a debate on free will.
Ad hominem means an attack of the person, instead of their position.
Affirming the consequence means reversing an argument, or putting the cart before the horse, reversing or confusing the general category with the specific/sub-category.
Argument from ignorance or non-testable hypothesis: this is the fallacy that that which has not been proven false must or is likely to be true; however, the fallacy usually applies to concepts that haven’t yet been adequately tested or are beyond the realm of proof. Our legal system protects us from this fallacy under the presumption of innocence guideline–“innocent until proven guilty”. Religious beliefs are founded on this "fallacy", but remember that a religious belief is, by definition, based on faith, rather than empirical proof or mathematical logic; that's why they call it a "leap of faith."
Band wagon effect is the basic fallacy of democracy and that popular ideas are necessarily right.
Begging the question is basically repeating the same argument over and over again. It is repeating the claim and never providing support for the premises. An example: wicked people do bad things; bad things are done by wicked people.
Either/Or, black/white fallacy paints an issue as one between two extremes with no possible room for middle ground or nuance or compromise
Occam’s razor is the scientific principle that the simplest of any given hypotheses is likely to be the right one.
Fallacy of exclusion is related to the hasty generalization, and refers to focusing attention on one group’s behavior and assuming that behavior is unique to that group; yet, in fact, the behavior is common to many groups.
Hasty generalization, misunderstanding statistics or a non-representative sample where one mistakes a small incidence for a larger trend.
Faulty analogy is common and useful to argue the validity of one point by comparing it to another, but often the comparison suggests that they are more alike than they really are. This is often used in terms of free will logical arguments. If atoms, which are deterministic, cannot be good or bad then a human, who is deterministic, cannot be good or bad.
Gamblers fallacy is when one imagines patterns in the occurrence of numbers in lotteries, roulette wheels, and dice.
Moral equivalency is where it’s implied that two moral issues carry the same weight or are essentially similar when they do not.
Non sequitur translates as “it does not follow” meaning that the conclusion does not follow the premises or that a totally unrelated point was just made.
Faulty causality confuses correlation for causation, or mistakenly claiming that one thing caused another to happen since they happen concurrently or in sequence.
Red herring is used to refer to something that misleads or distracts from the relevant or important issue.
Equivocation is using the inherent ambiguity of language to distract from the actual ideas or issues, or deliberately rephrasing the opposing argument incorrectly, and then addressing that rephrasing.
Slippery slope argument arguing from the perspective that one change inevitably will lead to another. This is often used in reference to same-sex marriage
Straw man argument is when a debater misrepresents the opponent’s position and then proceeds to attack it. It is an argument based on a distortion of the other party's position.
Weasel words such as “love” or “freedom” or “rights” or “patriotism” are so broadly defined that become essentially meaningless.
Survivor mentality is same as the survivor concept.
Tautologies
If you faith in God then you can move mountains; the mountain did not move; your faith was not strong enough.
God designed a way to distinguish between those who belong to Him and those who don’t, and it is called faith. The 5 billion who do not have faith in Jesus and Christianity do not belong to God. Why? Because God designed them that way. Those who have faith belong; those who do not have faith don't belong and go to hell.
I survived the plane crash, war, or disease because of my belief in God. God saved me because of my belief.
God knew what you were going to do before you did it but you did it on your own.
God has a plan for you, but you can pray and change his mind, or not depending on his plan for you, or what is best for you, or because God is mysterious–you cannot question the will the God. He made you and He can take you out!
I you believe the universe will act on your behalf; the universe did not act on your behalf because your belief was not strong enough (pure) (correct) (to the universe’s liking) (the wrong universe).
Tautologies are the best scam ever! If you want to control someone, dominant someone, manipulate them, get money from them, convince them they are evil, wicked, not deserving, or wrong–use a “blame the victim” strategy. It works!
If you pay tribute to the king he would take care of you. Your tribute was not good enough so he is punishing you.
The universe loves you, but only if you love it back
God loves you, but only if you love him back (and believe in his son–or believe there is but one God and not three).
Compassion in Wild Animals
Leopard Nurtures Baby Baboon after Killing It's Mother
This is an amazing video showing the natural disposition of all creatures having mercy. The leopard kills the baboon as prey, and then cares for the baby. [YouTube Link]
However, in this video a lion kills the jackal cubs without mercy. Lions and jackals have been enemies for millions of years (the first lion evolved approximately 10 million years ago; jackals about 2 million).
Male lion digs up Hyena den and kills cubs. [YouTube Link]
Also lions will often kill the cubs that are not their own when they take over a pride of females.
Free Will and God
Anyone who says that God has a plan for us, the reason why we are thrown f
rom one path to the next, even if it hurts us badly and we didn't want to leave that path, would then suggest that we do not have free will whatsoever.
If we accept the old clichés "If it was meant to be, it was meant to be" then where did free will go?
Was Eve meant to eat the apple? Oh not that, but many other things "are meant to be."
"Things happen for a reason"
This reason is some sort of supernatural interference by a deity with the laws of physics and nature for unknown and unfathomable reasons.
God is testing us.
God is making us a better person.
God has a plan we cannot fathom.
God is mysterious.
What happened to free will? I don’t see this logical contradiction and even if it was understandable, God is not a very nice or competent deity. I can think of a better one!
This is a repeat of my deterministic call to action I listed earlier.
Don’t be a victim.
Be a positive causal ramjet.
Don’t make excuses, act today.
Don’t live with blame, regret, jealousy, envy, or pride. Technically, events unfold so these feelings are useless.
Don’t blame yourself for what you did ten years, yesterday or a minute ago–it is over and you could not have acted differently.
Even in a determinist world, what you do matters.
Be a positive causal ramjet!
The End
Other publications by I. M. Probulos
If you enjoy this publication, please leave a comment; you may also enjoy the author’s other publications below and help support the mission of I. M. Probulos to promote reason, science and rationality.
Click here for a list of all books currently available on Amazon by I. M. Probulos.
Original Non-Fiction Books:
The 12 Unthinkable Horrors of Human Existence: A Manual for Atheists, Agnostics and Secular Humanists [Amazon Link]
The Statistical Theory of Everything: It Explains Everything and is Never Wrong [Amazon Link]
101 Lists for Atheists, Agnostics and Secular Humanists: The Little Book [Amazon Link]
The Big Book of Lists for Atheists, Agnostics, and Secular Humanists [Amazon Link]
Mind Mapping for Atheists, Agnostics, and Secular Humanists [Amazon Link]
How to Speak Fluent Atheist, Agnostic, and Secular Humanist [Amazon Link]
Quote Books:
The Big Book of Quotations for Atheists Agnostics and Secular Humanists [Amazon Link ]
Over 365 Quotations for Atheists Agnostics and Secular Humanists [Amazon Link ]
365 Additional Quotations for Atheists Agnostics and Secular Humanists [Amazon Link ]
Humorous Quotations and Jokes for Atheists Agnostics and Secular Humanists [Amazon Link ]
Positive Affirmations for Atheists, Agnostics, and Secular Humanists [Amazon Link]
Original Novellas
The Balance of Nature, a Novella [Amazon Link $.99] (first written, 1986)
A Hole in the Sand, a Novella [Amazon Link $.99] (first written, 2006)
The Other God's Earth: No Sin, No Death, No Evil: Part One: Introduction [Amazon Link $.99]
Adam and Eve Revisited: A Free Will Story [Amazon Link $.99]
When All is Lost [Amazon Link $.99]
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[i] Barbara Bradley Hagerty, A Neuroscientist Uncovers A Dark Secret, NPR.org, http: //www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127888976
[ii] I. J. Mitchell, D.Phil.; H. Heims, B.Sc.; E. A. Neville, B.Sc.; H. Rickards, M.D.,“Huntington’s Disease Patients Show Impaired Perception of Disgust in the Gustatory, and Olfactory Modalities”, The Journal of Neuropsychiatry, and Clinical Neurosciences 2005;17: 119-121.
[iii] Katherine Stone, How Many Women Get Postpartum Depression? The Statistics on PPD, Postpartum Progress, (Oct 8 2010) http: //www.postpartumprogress.com/how-many-women-get-postpartum-depression-the-statistics-on-ppd
[iv] .[a b Washington Post (2006-02-21). "Mother Says God Told Her to Cut Baby.” The Washington Post.] http: //www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/20/AR2006022001197.html. Retrieved 2007-03-19