You understand God?
yuyutsu,
he didn't say that. Can you confirm there is a God ? What makes you think that a power/force creates temptation but does not endow people with a strong enough will to counter temptation yet asks people to restrain/control themselves ?

Yuyutsu,

<<You understand God? Then whatever you understand is incorrect because God cannot be understood. To understand means to grasp by one's mind, but no mind can grasp God>>

To a certain extent I agree with you. God is incomprehensible (Psalm 145:3; Romans 11:33-34), and yet He is can be known at the same time (2 Peter 1:2-3).

I understand the Almighty God to the extent he has revealed Himself to us. This is part of that revelation:

"They [sinful, wicked people] know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. SO THEY HAVE NO EXCUSE FOR NOT KNOWING GOD.

"Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles" (Romans 1:19-23).

Throughout Scripture God has provided details to understand Him better.

We won't ever understand God comprehensively, However, He can be known genuinely, personally and adequately. He is the personal God who has definite attributes (characteristics) and He has personally revealed them to us.

See, "What are the most important things to understand about the nature of God? http://www.gotquestions.org/nature-of-God.html,

Dear Individual,

«Can you confirm there is a God ?»

It depends on what exactly you mean by "there is".

As far as I am concerned, I can confirm that I am!

«What makes you think that a power/force creates temptation but does not endow people with a strong enough will to counter temptation yet asks people to restrain/control themselves ?»

So many incorrect assumptions...

1) That I think that a power/force creates anything.
2) That certain objects are inherently temptations: anything can become a temptation.
3) That people are strong (but not strong enough) and have a will.
4) That anything is being asked of people.

People are mere objects, just like mice and frogs - they have no free will. You and I on the other hand do have free will, but then we are not objects. If we choose to be tempted, then we should take the responsibility rather than blame some power/force for it!

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Dear OzSpen,

Exactly, God can be known but not understood!

Louis,

<<The tale of Adam and Eve has great power and depth and I think the message it sends helps to influence individuals to strive to be better people>>

The biblical text of Genesis 2-3 tells a very different story. It details how 2 people who were created 'very good', were given the free will choice over the 'tree of the knowledge of good and evil', and they failed the test. As a result, they brought sin into the world that infected humanity and the ground 'was cursed' (Gen 3:17).

That's not an example of people who 'strive to be better people, based on the Adam & Eve story, but of the whole of the world contaminated by sin.

Instead of people striving to be better people, based on 'the tale of Adam and Eve', this is what happened: 'When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam's sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned' (Rom 5:12).

Do you use postmodern, deconstructionist, reader-response interpretation to come up with your view?

<<What of a psychopath, pyromaniac or pedophile? They didn't choose their brain....>>

That's the worldview of naturalism speaking and not one based on sin infecting all human beings.

<<what of someone born with extreme depression>>

I have great sympathy for parents, especially mothers, who have to deal with childhood depression - as a counsellor and counselling manager.

This article gives one of the possible causes of 'perinatal depression and anxiety' as, 'a likely mechanism, whereby maternal stress during pregnancy influences fetal, brain and general development, is through changes in the mother’s physiological state'. See: http://resources.beyondblue.org.au/prism/file?token=BL/0470.

<<Imagine that due to either circumstance, or entirely due to neurology, an individual is unable to perceive the positive facets of reality as easily as you or I>>.

This again is a worldview of naturalism that doesn't deal with the infection of sin and its consequences in ALL human beings.

Your response was an example of turning to naturalism for an answer, rather than dealing with the reality of the nature of sin and its manifestations in our society.

.

Dear Louis O'Neill, Dear Graham Preston,

.

It seems to me that Sam Harris’s book on “Free Will” is more an exercise of intellectual masturbation than of philosophy and cognitive neuroscience.

According to the OED free will is :

« The power of acting without the constraint of necessity or fate; the ability to act at one's own discretion »

That seems clear, precise and easily understood.

Free will is a functional advantage developed by nature. It is autonomy, the autonomy of the individual (or of a group of individuals). Its acquisition and development are progressive. It is an evolutive mode of functioning.

Though there may be important differences in the rate of development of autonomy among individuals due to all the variables that contribute to its evolution, progress is nevertheless achieved during the lifetime of each individual. Beneficial mutations and experiences continue to accumulate over time, multiplying and diversifying choice patterns to an ever-greater degree of complexity until the individual is no longer held to obey any particular predetermined course of behaviour, gaining in the autonomy we call free will.

Life is relayed to each individual member of each individual species by its creator or creators (its parent or parents) in its or their own image, whether they be monkeys, elephants, snails, birds, cockroaches, plants or human beings. They all inherit the genetic patrimony of their parent or parents, their basic biological programme.

As the new-born develops it acquires knowledge and experience which it stocks in its memory bank (or library, if you prefer) for future reference. The richer the collection, the greater the choice of possible courses of action when placed in a particular situation, i.e., the greater …

« The power of acting without the constraint of necessity or fate; the ability to act at one's own discretion », i.e., the greater the degree of “Free Will”.

I suspect that all forms of life have some degree of free will – even plants and earthworms.

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Dear Banjo,

«I suspect that all forms of life have some degree of free will – even plants and earthworms.»

A precondition for free will is to have a subjective sense of will.

Otherwise, it is just physics in action.