Andy Atheist On Human Free Will.

[ding]

There is only one God presumably

Well that's an opinion based on zero evidence. This issue is already obfuscated and cloudy, because the OP cannot possibly know a single thing about what his god is thinking.

We get all kinds of feedback on our behaviors.

If the universe were created through natural process and we are an accidental happenstance of matter and energy doing what matter and energy do, then there should be no expectation for absolute morals. Morals can be anything we want them to be. The problem is that nature does have a preference for an outcome. Societies and people which behave with virtue experience order and harmony. Societies and people which behave without virtue experience disorder and chaos. So we can see from the outcomes that not all behaviors have equal outcomes. That some behaviors have better outcomes and some behaviors have worse outcomes. This is the moral law at work. If the universe was created by spirit for the express purpose of creating beings that know and create we would expect that we would receive feedback on how we behave. The problem is that violating moral laws are not like violating physical laws. When we violate a physical law the consequences are immediate. If you try to defy gravity by jumping off a roof you will fall. Whereas the consequences for violating a moral law are more probabilistic in nature; many times we get away with it.

 

[Augustine_]

Morals can be anything we want them to be.

Yep. Why do you think there are so many religions and so many denominations of Christianity?

 

[ding]

Morals can be anything we want them to be.

Yep. Why do you think there are so many religions and so many denominations of Christianity?

Because there are many different perceptions of God.

Diversity is natural. I can't think of a religion - other than Scientology - that hasn't diversified. Diversity is good. Why do you believe diversity is a weakness?

 

[ding]

Morals can be anything we want them to be.

Yep. Why do you think there are so many religions and so many denominations of Christianity?

Do you understand how evolution works? It is very similar to the technology cycle.

 

[harmonica]

1. there is no god
2. if there is total free will, then how come over 85% of murders are committed by males? or blacks commit murder at 4 times the rate of whites?

 

[harmonica]

Can you find any evidence at all that my thoughts, and yours or anyone's (for that matter) are not inner directed?

I can't. No one can.

Same as how there's no evidence for a God. Pretty pointless thread, if you think about it.

"Same as how there's no evidence for a God. Pretty pointless thread, if you think about it."___Augustine

There is a lot of evidence supporting the existence of God.
The evidence has not convinced you.
But that does not mean there is no evidence.
What does it mean?
It means that the evidence has not convinced you. That's all it mean.
Here at this link is Peter Kreeft's 20 Arguments For The Existence Of God.
These arguments are concise and easy to read.
These 20 arguments are not some long drawn out screed.

Twenty Arguments God's Existence by Peter Kreeft (& Ronald K. Tacelli)

www.peterkreeft.com

there is no evidence of god

 

[ding]

Can you find any evidence at all that my thoughts, and yours or anyone's (for that matter) are not inner directed?

I can't. No one can.

Same as how there's no evidence for a God. Pretty pointless thread, if you think about it.

"Same as how there's no evidence for a God. Pretty pointless thread, if you think about it."___Augustine

There is a lot of evidence supporting the existence of God.
The evidence has not convinced you.
But that does not mean there is no evidence.
What does it mean?
It means that the evidence has not convinced you. That's all it mean.
Here at this link is Peter Kreeft's 20 Arguments For The Existence Of God.
These arguments are concise and easy to read.
These 20 arguments are not some long drawn out screed.

Twenty Arguments God's Existence by Peter Kreeft (& Ronald K. Tacelli)

www.peterkreeft.com

there is no evidence of god

The evidence is literally all around you.

 

[ding]

1. there is no god
2. if there is total free will, then how come over 85% of murders are committed by males? or blacks commit murder at 4 times the rate of whites?

Because their nuclear family was destroyed by welfare in the 1930's.

 

[harmonica]

1. there is no god
2. if there is total free will, then how come over 85% of murders are committed by males? or blacks commit murder at 4 times the rate of whites?

Because their nuclear family was destroyed by welfare in the 1930's.

--plain and simple--males are made to be more aggressive/etc = no total free will

 

[Eric Arthur Blair]

1. there is no god

Not for YOU anyway.

2. if there is total free will, then how come over 85% of murders are committed by males? or blacks commit murder at 4 times the rate of whites?

What? Could you possibly be confusing general gender based traits with the exercise of free will?

Why don't you stop for a moment and think about all the males in our society who have exercised their
free will and decided to ignore and subjugate their biological urges and NOT murder the guy that cut them off in traffic or the lady who brings her dog to your lawn so he/she can crap all over it?

You are just misleading yourself and very lost. Rethink your error filled assumptions.

 

[harmonica]

1. there is no god

Not for YOU anyway.

2. if there is total free will, then how come over 85% of murders are committed by males? or blacks commit murder at 4 times the rate of whites?

What? Could you possibly be confusing general gender based traits with the exercise of free will?

Why don't you stop for a moment and think about all the males in our society who have exercised their free will
and decided to ignore and subjugate their biological urges and NOT murder the guy that cut them off in traffic or the lady who brings her dog to your lawn so he/she can crap all over it?

You are just misleading yourself and very lost.
[/QUOTE]
.I can count on the ''believers'' for some laughs hahahhahahaha
....plain and simple--you are trying to refute 85%!! = you are trying to refute basic math and science= which you can't
AND---hahahahhah--what about the blacks!!? they commit murder at four times the rate--why the difference in race???!!
..does some alien spacecraft hover over the black areas and beam down a special laser that makes them murder at FOUR times the rate---? how come black males are murdering at MUCH higher rates?

 

[Eric Arthur Blair]

.I can count on the ''believers'' for some laughs hahahhahahaha
....plain and simple--you are trying to refute 85%!! = you are trying to refute basic math and science= which you can't
AND---hahahahhah--what about the blacks!!? they commit murder at four times the rate--why the difference in race???!!
..does some alien spacecraft hover over the black areas and beam down a special laser that makes them murder at FOUR times the rate---? how come black males are murdering at MUCH higher rates?

You are just repeating your original errors in thinking. Not impressive at all.

Criminals are no more exercising their free will when they commit crimes than drunks are using their free will to get drunk.
Or some obese fatty in turning down a milkshake. Or a junkie not taking the crack pipe.

When someone uses his own free will to NOT commit a crime he is inclined to to commit or get drunk as he always does every day of his life then you have a point!

As it is you are again confusing physiological inclinations with acts of real free will...i.e. real conscious
decisions not to engage in familiar ingrained habits!

The lesson is over as far as I'm concerned.

 

[harmonica]

.I can count on the ''believers'' for some laughs hahahhahahaha
....plain and simple--you are trying to refute 85%!! = you are trying to refute basic math and science= which you can't
AND---hahahahhah--what about the blacks!!? they commit murder at four times the rate--why the difference in race???!!
..does some alien spacecraft hover over the black areas and beam down a special laser that makes them murder at FOUR times the rate---? how come black males are murdering at MUCH higher rates?

You are just repeating your original errors in thinking. Not impressive at all.

Criminals are no more exercising their free will when they commit crimes than drunks are using their free will to get drunk.
Or some obese fatty in turning down a milkshake. Or a junkie not taking the crack pipe.

When someone uses his own free will to NOT commit a crime he is inclined to to commit or get drunk as he always does every day of his life then you have a point!

As it is you again confusing physiological inclinations with acts of real free will...i.e. real conscious decisions
not to engage in familiar ingrained habits!

The lesson is over as far as I'm concerned.

....you fkd up---comparing drinking to murder = nonsensical
AND, I give you one more time to explain the differences between black-white murder rates and male-female

 

[Eric Arthur Blair]

....you fkd up---comparing drinking to murder = nonsensical

And you fucked up by demonstrating what a less than ordinary thinker you are. What a downright unexceptional thinker you are.

I'm not comparing drinking to murder per se or those actual things themselves.
I'm comparing the the urge or compulsion to drink, murder, eat, snort, burn down, steal, rape....etc.
to a conscious act of free will.
I'm NOT comparing those things themselves to each other.
Your cognitive skills are poor.

AND, I give you one more time to explain the differences between black-white murder rates and male-female

And I will again decline to go through more of the same. There are many sociological factors involved here. I don't think free will has a thing to do with them.

 

[ding]

1. there is no god
2. if there is total free will, then how come over 85% of murders are committed by males? or blacks commit murder at 4 times the rate of whites?

Because their nuclear family was destroyed by welfare in the 1930's.

--plain and simple--males are made to be more aggressive/etc = no total free will

And yet, not all males are, black or white. Plain and simple, it's a choice.

Unless you believe you have no control over yourself. Do you?