Do We Have Free Will? (video)

PragerUniversity.com ^ | 3-30-2015 | Frank Pastore

[servo1969]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDkLUBdvOkw

In the external, or physical, world, we're all aware of standard cause and effect. You know, "Object A acts upon Object B with Force X." We all get that, because it applies to just about everything -- from electrons to athletes.

But now consider events in your internal, or mental, world. What causes your thoughts?

Some of our thoughts have external causes, like when we touch something and suddenly realize it's hot. We don't deliberate whether or not to pull our hand away. Our brain has already fired the instruction to do so -- involuntarily. In some strange sense, "we" didn't really pull our hand away at all -- because "we" didn't choose to do it. Our brain did it before consulting us.

A second cause of our thoughts is internal. Say you're thinking about giving a big presentation and as you do so, you get increasingly nervous, and your blood pressure and your heart rate jump up. Now, nothing external is acting upon you. You're doing all the "causing" internally, right? Your anxious thoughts are causing your brain to send signals to your heart, and we get that.

But now, I want you to consider a third category of your thoughts -- it's your conscious choices -- something as simple as choosing where to go for lunch.

Now when you introspect, when you think about your thinking, do you believe that you are the active agent in charge of the process, or that you are just a passive recipient of the instruction -- that you have no choice in the matter, it's all external forces -- be they environmental, genetic, chemical, biological, or neurological? In other words, do you think all your thoughts have external causes beyond your control, or do you think that you control some, if not most, of your thoughts?

Now let's stay with our lunch example for a second... back to the question...I ask you "Where do you want to go for lunch today?"

Now, if all you are is a brain, an exhaustively physical system of neurons and synapses, then there's no "you" that's gonna be making a "choice" at all. Your thought processes are basically just a complex series of colliding electron-dominos crashing into one another. It's just physical cause and effect, right -- something that can be exhaustively understood in terms of physics and chemistry? There's no "you" that's an agent that's deliberating, or choosing, or exercising free will.

And that's why, if you are just a brain, you cannot have free will. You would just be a physical machine -- a very complex but programmed computer.

But, if you're something more than your brain -- if you're the thing that has the brain -- then, when I ask you "Where do you want to go for lunch?," you're going to start deliberating -- you're going to be weighing your taste preferences, the commute time, perhaps even counting calories. You'd be weighing various reasons to choose one place over another. You wouldn't be caused to think about any of these things. You would choose to think about these things, and you could stop anytime you wanted to.

So, what we have here, therefore, are two different types of things: an immaterial mind and the material brain. You are the thing that has the brain -- you are not your brain.

Now look, even if you were the world's foremost brain expert, and you knew what was happening with every electron in someone's brain at a specific, particular moment, you still wouldn't have a clue about what's going on inside that person's mind. Surgeons can have access to my brain, but only I have access to my mind. This is what makes you human and not a machine.

Psychology, the study of the mind, is not reducible to physics, and biology, and chemistry. Yet, there are many materialists -- people who believe that physical matter is all that exists, that the only reality -- including every thought, every feeling, every mind, every will, all of this is totally explained in terms of matter in motion, simply physical phenomena. These materialists believe that we're no more than robots and that free will is an illusion, a myth.

Now, why do they believe this? Because they understand that the moment they acknowledge that free will exists, that there really is an immaterial you beyond the physical realm, that there really is a mind, not just a brain, then there has to be something non-physical that accounts for our non-physical minds.

Now when you exercise your freewill and you choose to think about all of this -- you're gonna probably reason -- just like I did -- that there is a Great Mind that accounts for the origin of your mind.

But again, that's your choice -- it's evidence of your free will.

I'm Frank Pastore for Prager University.

[servo1969]

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[Patriot777]

The Lord God gave us a free will; He didn’t want ‘robots’ that He forced to worship and obey Him, but a creation that would choose to love Him back for His love toward them.

[Dr. Thorne]

Not in Obama’s America.

[Buttons12]

We sure do have free will. Most days I don’t deserve mine and I often wonder if He shouldn’t have made me a flower instead.

[MNDude]

The “God doesn’t want robots” argument doesn’t seem to stand up. Because that would seem to imply that we’ll be robots in heaven when we are perfect.

[reasonisfaith]

Why do you ask?

[cuban leaf]

I agree, but I’m always puzzled by the wording of this

http://biblehub.com/romans/9-17.htm

[Nevadan]

Thanks for the post to Prager University. I respect Dennis Prager. The faculty looks great. I will definitely be check it out some of the courses.

[hosepipe]

America has the FREE WILL to elect people THAT....
Can TAX things you OWN.!... over and over and over again...

WHICH means you don’t actually OWN IT.. you’re RENTING IT from that givernment..
And THEY don’t care if even the truth of that penetrates their gitalong..

THEY PAY the TAX.. as if.... they were Slot Machines..
With NEVER the desire to REVOLT.. against this system..

NEXT WEEK... we’ll talk about the Federal Reserve System...
YOU’LL NOT BELIEVE the hubris of that Boonswoggle..
Intelligent people falling for THAT!...

Most likely HOUSE WIVES used to spending other peoples money.. i.e. husbands..
Installed after the amendment that gave women the VOTE.

[.45 Long Colt]

The human will is not sovereign, only God is sovereign. A God who isn’t sovereign over all isn’t much of a god. Thankfully, the God of the Bible is sovereign. The Bible makes it so clear.

“A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps.” (Proverbs 16:9)

“It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure” (Phil. 2: 13)

Scripture emphatically says, “It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy” (Rom. 9:16). Do we believe God or the free will preachers?

The Word expressly declares, “There is none that seeketh after God” (Rom. 3:11). If God didn’t violate the so-called freedom of some men, no one would ever be saved.

In and of himself the natural man has power to reject Christ; but in and of himself he lacks the power to receive Christ. And why? Because he has a mind that is “enmity against” Him (Rom. 8:7); because he has a heart that hates Him (John 15:18). Man chooses that which is according to his nature, and therefore before he will ever choose or prefer that which is Divine and spiritual a new nature must be imparted to him; in other words, he must be born again.

Jesus said, “No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me, draw him (John 6:44). “No man can”

God’s people must be made willing in the day of His power (Psa. 110:3).

For most of my years I too believed in man’s free will. Coming to understand divine sovereignty changed my life. I don’t want to argue over it and I can’t hang around to discuss it today, but if anyone is interested, I can suggest a number of free resources to help understand this from a biblical point of view. Divine sovereignty is perhaps the most comforting truth you will ever encounter.

[USCG SimTech]

The most challenging and difficult creation by the infinite Being. Within all that is infinite, create finite and have these finites NOT KNOW something so it can be harvested from them by the Infinite Being so It can possess even not knowing something.

[bike800]

No free will means man is not culpable for his own sin...judas then did gods will...who u means God wanted him to sin...mmmmmm I don’t think so

[PUGACHEV]

Let's go back to the example of "Where do I want to eat lunch?" Maybe one café has green décor, and green is a favorite color of mine, so I am inclined to chose it over others. Often, if not usually, our choices are governed by no more than such whims. But why do I like or dislike a color? My preferences seem fed to me by my subconscious, a part of my mind that by definition I cannot know or have dialogue with. How can one say I have complete free will in every case if many of the paths I choose are the result of subconscious influence?

"Psychology, the study of the mind, is not reducible to physics, and biology, and chemistry. Yet, there are many materialists -- people who believe that physical matter is all that exists, that the only reality -- including every thought, every feeling, every mind, every will, all of this is totally explained in terms of matter in motion, simply physical phenomena. These materialists believe that we're no more than robots and that free will is an illusion, a myth."

It baffles me why people say this. I suppose it is our strong Cartesian prejudice that there must always be a dichotomy between the physical and spiritual. The soul may be spiritual, that's not the present question, but every thought and every dream that goes through my mind, and all that I perceive, is the result of chemical and electrical physical processes that occur within my brain. Just because thoughts do not persist as stones do, they are not less a physical thing than any cloud we see in the sky.

[rusty schucklefurd]

Re: “The “God doesn’t want robots” argument doesn’t seem to stand up. Because that would seem to imply that we’ll be robots in heaven when we are perfect.”

I disagree. It is true that we will have a new body, but believers already, in this life, have been made “a new creation”. It is also true that our sin, our sorrow, our imperfections, our pain, in heaven, will be gone. It is also true that the Scriptures say, “we will be like Him, because we will see Him as He is” - I do not see any reason to assume that we will have no ability act freely - we just won’t have to struggle with a sin nature anymore. All fulfillment will be ours as we will be in His presence forever. The test is over. The suffering is over. We will freely fall down to worship Him, because when we see Him, our only response will rightly BE praise and adoration - not because it is forced, but simply because God is so awesome.

[HiTech RedNeck]

There are occasions in which a range of choices are possible that are not a sin. Absent special circumstances, the Lord does not command whether you should have apple or cherry pie. This should be obvious. Sometimes men reason from the divine prerogatives to the absurd. Being omnipotent does not prescribe how the omnipotence is used.

[HiTech RedNeck]

The story of humanity and the capabilities of the Lord are both complex. But God most definitely frowns on men throwing away their responsibility. That is a persistent theme of scripture.

[bike800]

I agree...The way I see it, removal of free will removes responsibility for actions...saying that God controls everything translates to God making people sin...instead of allowing sin due to free will. God is all good, therefore cannot will evil. We are told that we will be held accountable for every thought word and deed...hard to be accountable if God is forcing the issue. As a side note... It seems that removal of free will paves the way for sola fide...after all we can’t help what we do...so just believe and all will be good...

[HiTech RedNeck]

There are nuances between the extremes. Sola fide asserts that faith unto acceptance of a distinct divine salvational offer is effectual, and yet attempts to do works that are good enough to earn heaven will always fail. In short it matches up with the bible promises before they were heavily overlaid with human philosophies.

God can both destine AND allow opportunities for choice. That reflects a perspective and power that is special to the divine. That does not mean it is valid to reason about the divine in terms of human perspective alone.

[mjp]

You wouldn't be caused to think about any of these things. You would choose to think about these things, and you could stop anytime you wanted to.

Man's primary choice is whether to exert the energy to rise above his perceptual consciousness and use his faculty of reason or not.Most libtards are unable or refuse to do this. They are left with a non-volitional, concrete bound mentality accompanied by emotionalism, like a deterministic automaton.

[bike800]

Fair enuff...my mother once said that “foreknowledge does not mean forewille” if that makes any sense