** "Because if you create something and give it free will it is inherently accountable to everything else by the choices it makes. The alternative is take away everything from it so that it has nothing and so there is no accountability. This is in fact what death is." **
For some reason, this reminded me a saying I heard a while back...
"If you love something, let it go - and if it doesn't come back, hunt it down and shoot it."
Could this really be the TRUTH?
by purplesofa 22 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Ingenuous
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LouisaWas
Geronimo--great post, and I very much agree with you...but, could a reasoning person go against his his predisposition....(say he is genetically predisposed to stealing and his circumstances are such that he is in need and in an easy position to do some swiping) What if he is able to reason it out in his mind that this is really wrong. It might be quite a mental fight for him...but would this be free will of sort? When learned behavior actually takes over? Like when a genetically fat person learns new behaviors that helps them to lose weight...it almost goes against nature for them to achieve it but they want to do it so much they make the extra effort that it takes. Perhaps this is what the Apostle was referring to when he spoke of pummeling his body and leading it as a slave....I hope the other poster was incorrect about the suicide thing since my Dad was a suicide! That bites! Guess I had best keep an eye on myself!
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Geronimo
Geronimo--great post, and I very much agree with you...but, could a reasoning person go against his his predisposition....(say he is genetically predisposed to stealing and his circumstances are such that he is in need and in an easy position to do some swiping) What if he is able to reason it out in his mind that this is really wrong. It might be quite a mental fight for him...but would this be free will of sort? When learned behavior actually takes over? Like when a genetically fat person learns new behaviors that helps them to lose weight...it almost goes against nature for them to achieve it but they want to do it so much they make the extra effort that it takes. Perhaps this is what the Apostle was referring to when he spoke of pummeling his body and leading it as a slave....I hope the other poster was incorrect about the suicide thing since my Dad was a suicide! That bites! Guess I had best keep an eye on myself!
Hi Louisa Was! In a nutshell what I'm tryint to convey is that each of us is simply a part of an infinite web of cause-and-effect. None of us, myself included, is aware of all the various causes and conditions that go into making our predetermined choices. It is especially a habit of the Western mind to see ourselves as "individuals" in isolation from the cosmic web and weave of cause and effect. The Western mind has a difficult time undersstanding and accepting cause and effect. If you, Louisa, notice a predisposition for some behavior...let's say punching the wall when angry...and you "decide" to cease that behavior, both the recognition of the behavior and your subsequent efforts to overcome it are all part of the web of Determinism, of cause and effect. A friend once asked me, "If what you say is true, why don't you just give up and go sit on the freeway at rushour?"
The question struck me as very odd, and made me realize how completely and utterly Westerners are unaccustomed to thinking in terms of cause and effect, and the tremendous effect Determinism has upon the Western psyche, generally speaking. My answer, in a nutshell, was "If I go and sit down in the middle of the freeway at rushour, that too is part of my predetermined life. If I don't do so, so is that. Every effect has a cause."
That's about as thoroughly as I can explain Determinism, but I always leave people with the reminder that none of us is aware of all the causes of our thoughts, speech, and actions, so it does indeed seem as though our will is free. So, for most people, it's for the best to simply understand and acknowledge Determinism/cause and effect, and then ignore it and go about your life.
Unless you are a person that detests yourself for who you are and what your life has been. Then you need to be liberated from all that negatvity by understanding Determinism. G