Philosophy: God and Life Essay

Submitted By Bartlett2
Words: 1904
Pages: 8

Do we have Free Will?
After I looked at the various topics I decided to address the major question of whether or not a person has free will or not in this life. I believe that a person can judge what is right and wrong and in most cases make the right decision in their everyday life .So in this paper I will be looking at if there actually is free will or if someone bigger than all of us makes us do what we do and influences our actions on a daily basis. When I am feeling lost or lonely or when I am feeling like I’m not sure about why something’s happen in our life .As goes the saying that things happen for a reason. When all this doubt and wonder appears all I have to do is look into my children’s eyes and up at the sky to realize that there is something that is bigger than any of us here on earth and that he has everything to do with our life ,I believe that God predetermined our lives when we are born but it is up to our own free will to stay on the right path and make the right decisions in our lives which gives us our free will and the opportunity to live our lives to the fullest.
I truly think that D’Holbach is showing that every man is made up of “free will.” He states that humankind does not hold any control of their actions, whether it be part, being, personality, or will. It is believed that when a person is born into this world every part of that person’s life is predetermined. He says people have only adopted the views of religion and put their faith in supreme beings such as God. “I know however, that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand. So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all my wonders that I will perform in it; after that he will let you go,”. Afterward the Lord approaches Moses and Aaron and directs them and all the Hebrews to mark their doors with blood, “The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt” (Exodus 12:13). God once again demonstrates that he does not truly know everything; he requests some assistance from all his followers to help him identify who should be spared. We must first travel through a brief survey of the Adam’s fall. Any study into Christian anthropology rests not merely on the biblical account of creation, but also on the biblical account of the fall. I believe that Adam had what most people call a “free will” that is, he had the ability to sin, (as we do) and the ability NOT to sin, (as we don’t until salvation.) Gen. 1:26 tells of how Adam was made in the Image of God this is where we see that Adam had a “free will” at least in a sense. He was given just one commandment in (Gen. 2:17.) Notice that it says, “the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Now, physical death is a part of life because of the fall of Adam, but this did not occur the day that he ate of the fruit. So we must ask, “In what way did he die?” So this death that is spoken of here I believe is a spiritual death. (See Eph. 2:1) At this point the Image of Adam was forever changed. Then in Gen. 5:3 we see that Adams sons were not born in the Image of God, pure without hereditary guilt (or original sin) but in the “image of Adam.” (Rom. 5:12) I am not saying that people are not in the image of God any longer, just that we have fallen from the perfection of that image. What does this mean? Well, in Psalm 51:5, “behold I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin by mother conceived me.” You might be thinking, “Do you honestly believe that a child who is born is born in SIN. I will take it even a step further. A word used often in the Old Testament is iniquity. Iniquity literally means to miss the mark in reference to perfection like that of Christ. We are left to ask, “Is a child born hitting the mark?” Certainly not! And if he was, at what point does he start missing it?