tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1511169919755872956.post1859123433118620518..comments2024-03-19T07:42:09.164-05:00Comments on "A Humble Servant's Catholic Blog": Are “Free Will” and “God” Mutually Exclusive Concepts?David Mantheihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04023682595579388008noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1511169919755872956.post-66045956495127656372016-01-06T09:45:23.371-06:002016-01-06T09:45:23.371-06:00In the conclusion of our discussion, my dialog par...In the conclusion of our discussion, my dialog partner gave a very long and detailed response that summarized to this:<br /><br />[Paraphrasing] "While Adam knew right from wrong, he did not know good from evil. Because he could not conceptualize evil, he had no means by which to gauge the nature of a legalist choice (doing X is wrong) versus the moral choice (doing X is Evil). Therefore, he could not have had the free will necessary to make a choice.”<br /><br />Then it hit me. His argument isn't actually against free will, it's against culpability. Note that my partner DOES believe in free will, just that Adam did not have it. With that in mind, there are only 2 conclusions I can see: <br />1) we (including Adam) have free will;<br />2) "determinism" is true.<br /><br />This was my final response:<br /><br />"I disagree that being able to conceptualize evil was necessary in order to make an informed choice. <br /><br />However, this argument, coupled with the facts that we know and the remainder of your argument, still works against the conclusion that Adam did not have free will: **If not knowing the difference between good and evil took away his freedom of choice, how did he come about to do the exact opposite of what he was told?** <br /><br />The only answer that would suffice here, other than “he had free will”, would be determinism…that God has determined/caused all the actions of man from the beginning to eternity (Remember, God is eternal, so any quality of God is also eternal.)<br /> But for that, you must presuppose that “knowing” = “causing”. (You have to prove that if I know what color shirt you will wear tomorrow, and then you wear that shirt, that I caused you to wear it.)<br /><br />But that’s still not what your argument works toward, because you DO believe in free will (just not in Adam’s). Your whole response argues that *Adam did not have all the information you believe he should have had*, or that should have been *necessary to make an informed decision*. You statements, the entire sum of them, suggest that Adam should not have been *culpable for his choice*, or at least not as culpable as God held him. But this presupposes free will to make a choice. You aren’t arguing against free will, you are arguing against *culpability*."<br />David Mantheihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04023682595579388008noreply@blogger.com