Friday, March 22, 2019

61. THE FIRST QUESTION ON RELIGION(S) FREE WILL ...2



ஏனைய பதிவுகள்:






THE FIRST QUESTION ON  RELIGION(S)

LINKS TO  POSTS ON - MY RELIGIOUS TURNING POINT




I was a very "regular"christian. From childhood I was brought up in that environment. I never missed Sunday masses. As a catholic quite fervently attended novena. Attending novena for Mary of Perpetual Help on Saturday evenings was so regular for years in my twenties. Wearing my religion on  my sleeve was then a pride. I defended Christianity and its principles and dogmas even with those who could have their negative weight on my life. My god was my first. That gave me that much audacity. I felt that i should defend Him. I thought it was my birthright as a christian. Regular to the weekly confessionals till my late thirties. There used to be some questions, now and then, but immediately threw them off. Because, i thought, while so many learned people were deep believers how could be a half-baked guy like me could raise questions on religion. Still the number of questions started to grow more and more. So i started to pray. "God! Give me the answers or at least spare me from such questions". God never heeded. So my mind started taking a different route. It all started in my early forties.

Though it started so explicitly at such an 'old' age, 'the beginning' of questions was from very early age too. In our childhood catechism classes, we were always discouraged to poke our noses to find answers or explanations on some of the religious dogmas and faiths. Any normal thinking person would have some questions raised in his mind when he is taught one of the very important - and very elusive - dogmas, the Holy Trinity. I too had it my early days. The list of course grew longer as time went by. The list has:

·         Holy Trinity
·         Resurrection
·         Who is the Christian god - the Father or Jesus, his only begotten son?
·         Parthenogenetic birth of Jesus
·         Communion becoming the Flesh of Jesus during a mass
·         How come a merciful god could create an eternal Hell, to punish sinful souls?
·         Human sacrifice Father wanted from Abraham.
·         Story of Abraham and his wife, Sara.
·         Some interesting and some "nasty" stories in OT.
·         The fearful, vengeful, jealousy and tooth-for-tooth God of OT.
·         Is there anything like fate?
·         The forbidden fruit of Eden.
                                            And lastly ...

QUESTIONS ON
FREE  WILL OF MAN
&
OMNISCIENCE OF GOD

Anybody who questions any of the above is always looked down by theists. Probably the only reason for their ire could be the uneasiness we put them in. Though Islamists say that they have answers for all questions from their Holy book they would be evasive if we ask them about 'fate'. Their answer usually is fate is Allah's matter or Allah's concern. Christianity goes against very heavily on such non-believers who raise such questions. “The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:4). That is the punishment (?!) for the unbelievers in Christianity.


FREE WILL

Matthew 10:30   And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 

Luke 12:7   Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
The two quotes are from the New Testament. So according to Christianity God is an all-knowing entity: that is omnipresent and omnipotent.  Omniscient in toto.

Usually this is followed with a simple question. God ordered Adam that the fruit of knowledge should not be eaten. Adam ate it. He had sinned. God became furious but did not know (!) where Adam was. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you? (Gen 3 : 7) ....   He (God) said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”  (Gen 3: 11)] 

The questions:
·         Did God know that Adam would not abide his command?
·         If yes, then why did He give that command to Adam?
These questions are raised against the omniscience of God. Had He known why did he give that order. Had he been omniscient Adam could not have done that. So the story goes on ... with so many added questions.

Such a discussion had been going on for very long, probably it started along with earliest first believers. All along so many interpretations or explanations have been provided by many theologians. Some of them are as follows - with my comment within brackets.:
There is an apparent contradiction between God's omniscience and free will. This problem is formally described as a paradox of free will or theological fatalism. This contends that omniscience and free will are incompatible .
Augustine proposed that evil could not exist within God, nor be created by God, and is instead a by-product of God's creativity. ... He believed that this evil will, present in the human soul, was a corruption of the will given to humans by God, making suffering a just punishment for the sin of humans. (God cannot create evil; but evil could be a by-product ...looks very funny. Sounds so illogical.)

Christians who were influenced by the teachings of Jacobus Arminius (such as Methodists) believe that while God is all-knowing and he still gives them the ability to choose or not choose everything, regardless of whether there are any internal or external factors contributing to that choice. (if so, does god know what the man would do? Adam's case may be cited here.)

The Catechism of the Roman Catholic Church asserts that "Freedom is the power, rooted in reason and will". It goes on to say that "God created man a rational being, conferring on him the dignity of a person who can initiate and control his own actions. God willed that man should be left in the hand of his own counsel. (If so man is not under god's control; so god is not omnipotent?)

The above said interpretations have not given a direct and correct answer. They were mostly beating around the bush and very much verbose. My contention has always been that no religion can answer rational questions. When god has said that even hairs on a person's head are numbered it simply means god is omnpotent and all that happens in our lives were all under his control. In that case, there is no space for free will. Assuming that god has given free will and man can handle things all by himself, then god cannot be omnipresent, since god may not know what the man would do. It was like Adam- God story. God said no to a fruit; but Adam ate that; then god comes to know; then curses mankind to a hard and painful life.

So the question still stands strong: can omniscience and free will co-exist? The answer is simply "no"!

An extra information on free will in Islam: 

P.S.:     Disputes about free will in Islam began with the Mu'tazili vs Hanbali disputes, with the Mu'tazili arguing that humans had qadar, the capacity to do right or wrong, and thus deserved the reward or punishment they received, whereas Hanbali insisted on God's jabr, or total power and initiative in managing all events.


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