# Free will - looking for explanation **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 31, 2005, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-will-looking-for-explanation/287508 "2005-01-31T01:46:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![monavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@monavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monavis)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2005, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-will-looking-for-explanation/287508/61 "2005-02-05T12:56:58Z")
> [@EvanS](#): > > Yeah, but God wants us to have, and use, free will! If this is true;why are people punished if they do differently than God’s will? If He wants us to do His will, but lets us guess what it is doesn’t make sense to me. Osama Bin laden and George Bus both think they are doing God’s will. If people pray and do not get what they want, they say it was not in God’s will. But if 2 people pray for the same thing, then God is chosing sides( if one is answered to it’s satisfaction). The Bible says God has no favorites. Since God is supposed to know all things then we should just let him read our hearts and minds and accept that all that happens, both good and bad, are God’s will. Monavis ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2005, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-will-looking-for-explanation/287508/62 "2005-02-05T13:03:20Z")
> [@monavis](#): > > If this is true;why are people punished if they do differently than God’s will? If He wants us to do His will, but lets us guess what it is doesn’t make sense to me. Again, a false dichotomy. Free will doesn’t mean that he wants you to _guess_ at the right answer. It simply means that he wants you to have the freedom to choose between right and wrong. “Guessing” doesn’t come into the equation at all. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2005, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-will-looking-for-explanation/287508/63 "2005-02-05T15:29:45Z")
> [@monavis](#): > > Moral or Materailistic,If we choose differently than What God wills there is a punishment for not following what is believed to be God’s will. So, the only choice we have, would be to do what God wants us to do, or suffer the consequences! > > Monavis No no no. There can’t be both only one choice and two choices. Check out your own disjunctive clauses. You have subsumed that because one choice is less attractive than the other (to some people), the less attractive choice does not exist. ---
**Author:** ![monavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@monavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monavis)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2005, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-will-looking-for-explanation/287508/64 "2005-02-05T16:32:00Z")
> [@JThunder](#): > > Again, a false dichotomy. Free will doesn’t mean that he wants you to _guess_ at the right answer. It simply means that he wants you to have the freedom to choose between right and wrong. “Guessing” doesn’t come into the equation at all. To some people right and wrong are different things, just as different religions have a different moral code. So to some people it is morally wrong to get a divorce, some it is not. Some would consider birth control wrong, others a good thing. So right and wrong become a matter of belief. Just as many people find different meanings to the Bible…hence the many versions of Christanity. Monavis ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2005, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-will-looking-for-explanation/287508/65 "2005-02-05T17:07:15Z")
Perhaps, **monavis** , but that’s irrelevant to the topic at hand. Your claim was that “free will” means “God makes us guess at what right and wrong is.” As I emphasized, that blatantly misrepresents the nature of free will. Now, it is true that people can disagree on moral issues; however, that problem lies in the definition and/or perception of right and wrong. It has no bearing on the nature of free will itself. ---
**Author:** ![monavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@monavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monavis)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2005, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-will-looking-for-explanation/287508/66 "2005-02-06T11:49:30Z")
> [@JThunder](#): > > Perhaps, **monavis** , but that’s irrelevant to the topic at hand. Your claim was that “free will” means “God makes us guess at what right and wrong is.” As I emphasized, that blatantly misrepresents the nature of free will. > > Now, it is true that people can disagree on moral issues; however, that problem lies in the definition and/or perception of right and wrong. It has no bearing on the nature of free will itself. My contention was not that God made us guess, but since we cannot know for certain what God’s will is but can only suppose or listen to some one else’s interpetation of what His will is, we can think we are doing what God wills, for instance a Person that chooses to practice birth control would be sinning in some religions and doing what is right in another(Not having a child they couldn’t give proper care to), So doing our will, which would be choosing our free will as some see it, could bring us punishment from God. Monavis ---
**Author:** ![prisoner6655321](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f8ce5/32.png) [@prisoner6655321](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/prisoner6655321)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2005, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-will-looking-for-explanation/287508/67 "2005-02-06T17:29:46Z")
That’s why **monavis** we need to study the Bible and come to the interpretation that \*we \* feel is correct. I believe that everybody’s interpretation is special. I think the interpretation, if truly studied, is a communication from God to the person. I think that God \*intends \* different people to interpret it differently, because each of our lives and experiences are different. So for some people who come to the belief that birth control is wrong, without counting on doctrine, that is correct for them. But to others, they may interpret the Bible differently. And whatever the various interpretations of _The Law_ of the Bible, all that REALLY matters is that one Loves God #1, and all mankind #2. This is called “The Greatest Commandment.” All other commandments come after those. If you do this, you WILL be saved. That’s all that is necessary. Well, that’s my interpretation anyway. ---
**Author:** ![EvanS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/59ef9b/32.png) [@EvanS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvanS)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2005, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-will-looking-for-explanation/287508/68 "2005-02-06T23:00:36Z")
> [@](#): > > Yeah, but God wants us to have, and use, free will! > [@monavis](#): > > If this is true;why are people punished if they do differently than God’s will? Like who? I mean in modern times… You’re saying that if people aren’t punished they are doing god’s will? George Bush? Osama Bin Laden? Both unpunished… > [@monavis](#): > > Since God is supposed to know all things then we should just let him read our hearts and minds and accept that all that happens, both good and bad, are God’s will. Maybe ALL is god’s will. Maybe nothing is god’s will. There’s no way to tell – it’s all speculation. ---
**Author:** ![monavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@monavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monavis)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2005, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-will-looking-for-explanation/287508/69 "2005-02-07T11:39:50Z")
> [@EvanS](#): > > Like who? I mean in modern times… > You’re saying that if people aren’t punished they are doing god’s will? > George Bush? Osama Bin Laden? Both unpunished… > Maybe ALL is god’s will. > Maybe nothing is god’s will. > There’s no way to tell – it’s all speculation. That is the point exactly. We only have the word of other humans as to what God wants, the Bible was written by humans, called the word of God, by humans, called inspired by humans. so in reality we are going strictly by human thought etc. We want there to be a God who tells us what to do, how to act etc. The many interpetations of what is in the Bible can determine how a person acts. Those who do not except the Bible as God’s word use the Koran etc. Jewish people do not accept the new testement. Athiests do not accept either. and maybe God is not a separate being. Monavis [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-will-looking-for-explanation/287508.md?page=3)