Does God have free will?
If God always chooses the best possible thing to do, that would imply that he is unable to do otherwise. Since God can see into the future then he knows in advance what he will do. He might as well be following a script. If there are some equally good options then God acts arbitrarily. So which is it? Is God’s behavior predetermined or arbitrary?
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If we assume for the sake of argument that he is real, then how can he be said to have free will?
Though I suspect that the question is based on a category error, in that gods don’t have to exist moment to moment with limited information, and therefore are not ‘decision making beings’ in the way humans and animals are—I think “free will” may be an incoherent concept anyway.
These sorts of questions generally make implicit assumptions about the nature of time and consciousness that are probably not justified.
He has free will. 15 kids are in a horrible fire but “he” chooses to save 2 of them, when he could save them all. How is that not free will?
@Kropotkin, If gods don’t make decisions then they must be automatons. What other possibility could there be?
He created the whole universe so yes
But what if it wasn’t his choice to create the universe?
@LostInParadise What does “decision making” mean for an omnipotent trascedent entity that is not bound by space or time?
We make decisions because we’re conscious only of the moment, with some finite information about our immediate environment and past experience. This doesn’t have to apply to some imagined all-powerful god.
Maybe God created the universe but there is no solid evidence for him doing anything at all after that. He is apparently “resting”.
Which god? If you believe in religions, there are many of them.
He’s been resting for 3 billion years @jca2!
I heard on the seventh day that he created the universe he rested for one day and went back to work.
On the seventh day he reconsidered, then walked away.
Yes, He does what he wants. It has not been in the interest of humans all the time, though. Lot of people got killed along the way.
If not in the interest of humans then what is the standard? For other animals? For his own personal pleasure?
There is no standard. He doesn’t do anything at all.
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