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This is one of those things I see posted here frequently: Because God loves us, he gave us the free will to accept him or reject him. It's a choice. If we choose to believe in him, we go to heaven. If we choose not to, we go to hell (or at least, we don't go to heaven).
Anyway, can someone here who thinks that belief is a choice explain why they think that?
My understanding of "free will" is somewhat different and more complicated. Does God exist? If so, is this God sovereign? If God exists and is sovereign, does that mean that God has complete freedom to do whatever God wants to do? If God exists and is sovereign, how might this impact any supposed "free will" that men and women may have?
To answer your question, we all have beliefs. Beliefs about all sorts of things. We have an apparent ability to believe the truth to be false and to believe that which is false to be true. This would seem to me to indicate an ability on our part to choose to believe whatever it is that we choose to believe.
According to the bible and backed up my hundreds of teachings is this. Man does not have the free will to choose to follow Jesus and become a Christian. Yes we have a free will and this free will allows us to continue to live in a state of unforgivin sin. A man can not intellectually look over the bible and then say. " you know what? this makes sense, I think that I will just decide to become a Christian. Therefore if you could prove to a man that the gospel was the truth then he should accept that and become a Christian. This is what so many so called Evangelists teach today. From a biblical perspective it's false. The bible teachs that Man has a dead heart that not only can not believe the things of God but is at emnity with God and has no desire to change that.Jesus was speaking about this very concept when He said, "Even if they see a man rise from the dead they will not believe." He also said, "You must be born again". Can a man in a dead spiritual state cause himself to come alive and believe? He in no way can do this and that action is performed by God for those he has chosen to be His recipients of GRACE. This action by God is called Regeneration. This regeneration or bringing to life if you will is a sovereign act performed By God for His people. That is why we are the Chosen people. The bible is emphatic on the point that Salvation is by grace alone. If free will played any part in it then it would be a salvation of works.
I don't need the lure of an afterlife. Many Christians can't stand that nonbelievers can be good for goodness sake.
If God gave us free choice, why do his followers keep threatening nonbelievers with hell? They should leave us alone and respect our choice.
Well, look at it this way... maybe there are fun times to be had there. It's like when you get ready to take a trip to somewhere new. Don't you like to read up on it first... get a little background about it, where are the best places to go and sights to see.
You may surprise yourself and find out that the next life will be the best you ever had.
Maybe it's that they don't understand that "nonbelievers can be good for goodness sake." Behaving well only because you fear punishment represents a very low level of moral development. People who don't understand why nonbelievers don't rape, pillage, and plunder must desire to do those things themselves. If they abstain only because they fear eternal damnation from an all-seeing God, then I'd say they're adhering to the letter but not the spirit of their own laws. Such people don't understand the concept of empathy.
That's where I part company with atheists who believe that religion is utterly without value. If "fear of God" keeps some would-be criminals in line, then great. At the other end of the moral-development scale, if some believers behave well because they think it's the right thing to do, and that right and wrong come from God, and they don't try to force specific belief-based behaviors (i.e., no alcohol sales on Sundays) on others, I'm perfectly fine with them.
As a nonbeliever, I cop to any of my wrong doings, as I can't blame my misdoings on the devil. Sometimes I think atheists walk a rougher line than Christians, as we have no devil to blame, and no god to forgive us. Accountability can keep one, honest and humble.
This is one of those things I see posted here frequently: Because God loves us, he gave us the free will to accept him or reject him. It's a choice. If we choose to believe in him, we go to heaven. If we choose not to, we go to hell (or at least, we don't go to heaven).
Belief, for me, has never been connected with choice and free will. My beliefs are formed based on what my mind perceives to be the preponderance of evidence. I believe that, if I let go of a pencil, it will fall to the ground, based on my past experience of letting go of pencils and my knowledge of gravity. I believe that, if I confide something sensitive and personal to Joe in the sales department, he'll use it against me, because he has a history of doing so. I don't believe that the earth will stop rotating at midnight GMT, because there's no reason to believe that. I can't choose to believe otherwise--not without knowing I'm lying to myself, anyway. But that's not really belief, is it?
All of my experience and searching have led me to believe that the Judeo-Christian version of God doesn't exist. There's no malice in my conclusion. I wish I could be certain that there's some sort of afterlife, but I can't.
I'm not going to use my lack of belief to commit atrocities, though. That is where choice comes in. I can't choose whether I believe something to be true or not, but I can choose how I'm going to behave based on my beliefs.
Historically, there have been many people who believe in God yet choose to behave in un-Christian ways. To put a metaphoric spin on things, that seems to make more sense when applied to the notion of "rejecting God" than lack of belief does: "I believe in you, but I reject your authority over me."
That's another thing I don't understand: why some people think that belief in God (or lack thereof) trumps one's actions during life. I can be the worst sinner on earth, but if I accept God and repent on my deathbed, I'll be "saved." Conversely, I can live my life according to Christain principles, but if I miss the technical detail of not believing in God, then I won't get into heaven.
Anyway, can someone here who thinks that belief is a choice explain why they think that?
The most obvious reasons are that humans are generally not deterministic beings governed solely be reason or self interest and that there are a variety of questions where answers are not clear-cut.
For an irreligious person I suppose politics and the law are examples of that. If you choose one candidate over another you are expressing a confidence, a belief, without knowledge of whether one candidate will be better. If you believe in some new law or reform you have no way of knowing in advance it is beneficial.
The whole thing is we do have a choice to chose who we want to serve, and to deny the Lord is to accept the devil..there is no in the middle ..Jesus said if you deny him then he will deny you..just because you choose not to believe is does not mean God doesn't exist..there is conseqeunces to pay..because he is God the Creator of the universe...when you marry it's because you love that person...was it forced on you?? it is a freewill choice to chose who you want to commit to
You should read the bible again and ask God for understanding because you missed the point..we do have a freewill choice..God is the Creator and He is in control of everything..we must understand that Love never force anyone....It is up to you..We can preached to you over and over again..you have to want to accept him on your Own
Sure is getting preachy in here. Three consecutive posts by the same person...use the edit button and combine them as you go along, would ya?
I attempt to live an ethical life to the best of my ability without "serving" any supernatural being. The Christians say we have free will, then purport to show the indescribably hideous result if we make the incorrect "free choice". I can feel the love. To "deny the Lord" is not to "accept the Devil" if one does not believe in either.
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