What passage in the bible answers this question?

[CRATUS]

I struggle to understand free-will. I believe in fate more than free-will. We do not choose our physical appearance, where we are born, our families, the people we will encounter, etc. Each person had their own limitations in personality and our own sinful tendencies. There are subjects no matter how hard I try, I cannot understand. There are certain sins I am just not attracted to, committing them would make me feel awful. There are sins I probably do not think twice about committing. It seems odd that God gives us free-will, but ultimately his way is the one path to life, true love and happiness. It is difficult for me to surrender my life to God. Partially because I hate being told I cannot do or have this. You have to accept the fate you are given. If Virgin Mary, did not accept her calling to birth Christ, I am not sure what would have happened in history. We will always have a choice, there is still a feeling of predestination.

God Bless You & Amen.

 

[JohnR77]

I suggest you ask God to help you love the things of heaven and to judge the things of earth.

.

 

[BartholomewB]

Partially because I hate being told I cannot do or have this. .

I’m not sure what you mean by things you cannot do. Do you mean things you’re unable to do, or things you are told you mustn’t do because they’re wrong? You can’t fly like Superman, do you hate that? None of us can. We just have to learn to live with it. Things like that I suppose you can call predestination, if you want to. Or do you mean you hate being told it’s wrong to steal money or to walk into a school with a gun and kill twenty kids? Do you hate being told that? If that’s your problem you don’t just need a priest, you need a shrink as well…

 

[grannymh]

I struggle to understand free-will. I believe in fate more than free-will. We do not choose our physical appearance, where we are born, our families, the people we will encounter, etc. Each person had their own limitations in personality and our own sinful tendencies. There are subjects no matter how hard I try, I cannot understand. There are certain sins I am just not attracted to, committing them would make me feel awful. There are sins I probably do not think twice about committing. It seems odd that God gives us free-will, but ultimately his way is the one path to life, true love and happiness. It is difficult for me to surrender my life to God. Partially because I hate being told I cannot do or have this. You have to accept the fate you are given. If Virgin Mary, did not accept her calling to birth Christ, I am not sure what would have happened in history. We will always have a choice, there is still a feeling of predestination.

God Bless You & Amen.

Genesis 1: 26-27. Genesis 2: 15-17. Genesis 3: 11.

 

[BobCatholic]

I believe in fate more than free-will. We do not choose our physical appearance, where we are born, our families, the people we will encounter, etc. Each person had their own limitations in personality and our own sinful tendencies.

Ever play cards?

God deals to us our cards in life. It is up to us how we play them.

 

[CRATUS]

I’m not sure what you mean by things you cannot do. Do you mean things you’re unable to do, or things you are told you mustn’t do because they’re wrong? You can’t fly like Superman, do you hate that? None of us can. We just have to learn to live with it. Things like that I suppose you can call predestination, if you want to. Or do you mean you hate being told it’s wrong to steal money or to walk into a school with a gun and kill twenty kids? Do you hate being told that? If that’s your problem you don’t just need a priest, you need a shrink as well…

Not crazy. I have no intentional desire to harm others. Being nice to those you dislike is that not the easiest. Or admitting you are not fit for the job you really want is not that easy either.

 

[Beryllos]

Here is a passage from the Catechism:

Providence and secondary causes

306 God is the sovereign master of his plan. But to carry it out he also makes use of his creatures’ cooperation. This use is not a sign of weakness, but rather a token of almighty God’s greatness and goodness. For God grants his creatures not only their existence, but also the dignity of acting on their own, of being causes and principles for each other, and thus of cooperating in the accomplishment of his plan.

The next paragraph (307, not quoted here) cites St. Paul from 1 Corinthians 3:

… I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the growth. Therefore, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who causes the growth. The one who plants and the one who waters are equal, and each will receive wages in proportion to his labor. For we are God’s co-workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.

God doesn’t make us cooperate with him, but if we do, our world will become a better place and each of us (individually) will be better off.

 

[Iron_Donkey]

I struggle to understand free-will. I believe in fate more than free-will. We do not choose our physical appearance, where we are born, our families, the people we will encounter, etc. Each person had their own limitations in personality and our own sinful tendencies. There are subjects no matter how hard I try, I cannot understand. There are certain sins I am just not attracted to, committing them would make me feel awful. There are sins I probably do not think twice about committing. It seems odd that God gives us free-will, but ultimately his way is the one path to life, true love and happiness. It is difficult for me to surrender my life to God. Partially because I hate being told I cannot do or have this. You have to accept the fate you are given. If Virgin Mary, did not accept her calling to birth Christ, I am not sure what would have happened in history. We will always have a choice, there is still a feeling of predestination.

God Bless You & Amen.

A few things: first, free will is the capacity to make decisions and to attempt to act on them, not the capacity to actually do whatever we want. We may be able to do that which we decide to do, but the actual accomplishing of the act is tangential to free will. It is true that we can’t do everything. But we can decide to do anything.

Further, it doesn’t mean that our decisions don’t or shouldn’t have consequences. If we jump in front of a moving train, we will die. We can still make that choice, we can make whatever choice we want, but reality will not reform so that we get to both choose whatever we want and have whatever we want result from this choice. That acting on a choice has consequences does not negate the choice that we made.

Second, it sounds almost like you are viewing God as some person who lays out some rules and declares that not following them is bad, and thus prevents you from doing some things. This is not the best way of viewing it. Rather, God is objectively Good, (goodness, in fact). What He tells us is bad is not merely something that He has arbitrarily decided to prohibit, but rather something that is fundamentally opposed to objective goodness itself on the most basic level of reality. Which means that doing these things anyway is opposing the very nature of the reality to which we belong. Which isn’t good for us.

That is, God’s commands not to sin are not along the lines of a parent telling a child to stop clicking his tongue because he’s been doing it for the past 6 hours and it’s starting to get really annoying, but rather a parent telling a child “don’t chug antifreeze because that will kill you.”

 

[CRATUS]

A few things: first, free will is the capacity to make decisions and to attempt to act on them, not the capacity to actually do whatever we want. We may be able to do that which we decide to do, but the actual accomplishing of the act is tangential to free will. It is true that we can’t do everything. But we can decide to do anything.

Further, it doesn’t mean that our decisions don’t or shouldn’t have consequences. If we jump in front of a moving train, we will die. We can still make that choice, we can make whatever choice we want, but reality will not reform so that we get to both choose whatever we want and have whatever we want result from this choice. That acting on a choice has consequences does not negate the choice that we made.

Second, it sounds almost like you are viewing God as some person who lays out some rules and declares that not following them is bad, and thus prevents you from doing some things. This is not the best way of viewing it. Rather, God is objectively Good, (goodness, in fact). What He tells us is bad is not merely something that He has arbitrarily decided to prohibit, but rather something that is fundamentally opposed to objective goodness itself on the most basic level of reality. Which means that doing these things anyway is opposing the very nature of the reality to which we belong. Which isn’t good for us.

That is, God’s commands not to sin are not along the lines of a parent telling a child to stop clicking his tongue because he’s been doing it for the past 6 hours and it’s starting to get really annoying, but rather a parent telling a child “don’t chug antifreeze because that will kill you.”

My point is we are are BY NATURE disposed to different sins. Some people are naturally prone to being pride. Then committing the sin of pride is second nature to them. Besides, why repent of a sin if you are receiving glory for it now? PLEASE DO NOT RESPOND WITH A DRAMATIC ANSWER. For example, what is so wrong with a rude sarcastic comment to someone you do not like. What are the consequences? They won’t like you, but you already do not like them. NOT ALL SINS have physical, tangible consequences. If you are confident, and responsible enough you can get away with all seven of the deadly sins without people casting out a doubt on your insincerity. Not only this, if you feel no guilt, why bother ever changing your ways? What if you are indeed better than someone people, what is so wrong with rubbing it in their faces, if it is indeed TRUE?
Some people can navigate their lives fine without God. It seems like those who need Him simply are poor, disadvantaged, losers of some sort. It is easy to need God when you have nothing. It is easy to repent, when your consequences bounce back at you.
No one knows for ever if THERE EVEN IS AN AFTERLIFE.
Maybe in the afterlife, the “evil” will be punished. But hoping for that already makes me sinful.

 

[mikekle]

My point is we are are BY NATURE disposed to different sins. Some people are naturally prone to being pride. Then committing the sin of pride is second nature to them. Besides, why repent of a sin if you are receiving glory for it now? PLEASE DO NOT RESPOND WITH A DRAMATIC ANSWER. For example, what is so wrong with a rude sarcastic comment to someone you do not like. What are the consequences? They won’t like you, but you already do not like them. NOT ALL SINS have physical, tangible consequences. If you are confident, and responsible enough you can get away with all seven of the deadly sins without people casting out a doubt on your insincerity. Not only this, if you feel no guilt, why bother ever changing your ways? What if you are indeed better than someone people, what is so wrong with rubbing it in their faces, if it is indeed TRUE?
Some people can navigate their lives fine without God. It seems like those who need Him simply are poor, disadvantaged, losers of some sort. It is easy to need God when you have nothing. It is easy to repent, when your consequences bounce back at you.
No one knows for ever if THERE EVEN IS AN AFTERLIFE.
Maybe in the afterlife, the “evil” will be punished. But hoping for that already makes me sinful.

I think I understand what you are saying, and can relate to some degree, Ive always though it odd/ curious, that we as humans, pretty much all consider sex to a good and pleasurable thing, in fact, we are ‘hardwired’ to commit this particular sin, its almost like putting a double pepperoni, extra cheese pizza in front of a person trying desperately to loose weight, almost cruel to a certain extent, like saying, ’ I know its VERY pleasurable for you, but its a sin if you indulge, but its going to be in your face everyday’.

Just seems odd a almighty creator would hard wire us to be sinful beings and then come up with all these rules that go against our nature to want to indulge in that particular thing, example, some animal species, sex is very uncomfortable, and they only do it for procreation, why not give this trait to humans, so they do not even want to commit the sin in the first place? Why make sinning to be so physically enjoyable?

 

[BartholomewB]

Not crazy. I have no intentional desire to harm others. Being nice to those you dislike is that not the easiest. Or admitting you are not fit for the job you really want is not that easy either.

What I found strange, even worrying, in your OP was your use of the word “hate”. It’s one thing to recognize that there are things you would like to do but, all things considered, it’s better not to, for whatever reason. But to “hate” that? Are you sure you really mean “hate” and not something much milder, such as feeling aggrieved or frustrated?

 

[PJM]

=CRATUS;12899376]I struggle to understand free-will. I believe in fate more than free-will. We do not choose our physical appearance, where we are born, our families, the people we will encounter, etc. Each person had their own limitations in personality and our own sinful tendencies. There are subjects no matter how hard I try, I cannot understand. There are certain sins I am just not attracted to, committing them would make me feel awful. There are sins I probably do not think twice about committing. It seems odd that God gives us free-will, but ultimately his way is the one path to life, true love and happiness. It is difficult for me to surrender my life to God. Partially because I hate being told I cannot do or have this. You have to accept the fate you are given. If Virgin Mary, did not accept her calling to birth Christ, I am not sure what would have happened in history. We will always have a choice, there is still a feeling of predestination.

God Bless You & Amen.

Allow e to first address your question:

Duet. 30:19 “I call heaven and earth to witness this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Choose therefore life, that both thou and thy seed may live”

Matthew 7:14
How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!

WHY does “man” have a freewill?

Isaiah 43: 7 & 21 “And every one that calleth upon my name, I have created him for my glory, I have formed him, and made him. & This people have I formed for myself, they shall shew forth my praise”

These passages explain why humanity even exist.

Freewill is an essential element of our “being”

In ALL of Creation only “man” has the ability, the necessary attributes to KNOW of God, and then if they choose and accept Gods Grace, they can then actually come to “Know God.”

Only man has the necessary .attributes to know God: we have a mind, intellect, and a freewill permanently attached to our Souls which fulfills God’s commitment in Gen. 1: 26-27 : And he said: Let us make man to our image and likeness: and let him have dominion over the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the air, and the beasts, and the whole earth, and every creeping creature that moveth upon the earth. And God created man to his own image: to the image of God he created him: male and female he created them"

Our freewill is necessary to Love God n the same way that God Loves us: Perfectly.

Perfect Love demands a freewill choice, so that in order to emulate God we MUST as we are able too, freely choose to love God. A Freewill choice.

BTW: Did you choose to dress yourself this morning? That is a freewill decision.

God Bless you,

Patrick

 

[CRATUS]

I think I understand what you are saying, and can relate to some degree, Ive always though it odd/ curious, that we as humans, pretty much all consider sex to a good and pleasurable thing, in fact, we are ‘hardwired’ to commit this particular sin, its almost like putting a double pepperoni, extra cheese pizza in front of a person trying desperately to loose weight, almost cruel to a certain extent, like saying, ’ I know its VERY pleasurable for you, but its a sin if you indulge, but its going to be in your face everyday’.

Just seems odd a almighty creator would hard wire us to be sinful beings and then come up with all these rules that go against our nature to want to indulge in that particular thing, example, some animal species, sex is very uncomfortable, and they only do it for procreation, why not give this trait to humans, so they do not even want to commit the sin in the first place? Why make sinning to be so physically enjoyable?

For some people it is their nature to be cruel, harsh and belittling. Some people are naturally weak. There is a perfect situation for abuse. Surely we are all sinners. Why repent if your sins do not affect you? You mentioned sexual temptation. For some people, lust will lead them to become sex addicts. For some people, they can have sex with people responsibly without ever baring a poor reputation, STDS, illegitimate children, low self-esteem.
Some people seem invincible to the effects of sin. When I encounter them I wonder why something is a sin to begin with. Is it a transgression because the weaker people cannot handle it? People say it goes against God’s law, but if I see on effects in this life how it destroys people, how is it a sin?
There are always anomalies in life. People that do not make sense/fit.
Some people’s relationships began through fornication, they ended up happily married for years.
Some people saved themselves for marriage, yet their marriage ended in divorce.

 

[ericc]

For some people it is their nature to be cruel, harsh and belittling. Some people are naturally weak. There is a perfect situation for abuse. Surely we are all sinners. Why repent if your sins do not affect you? You mentioned sexual temptation. For some people, lust will lead them to become sex addicts. For some people, they can have sex with people responsibly without ever baring a poor reputation, STDS, illegitimate children, low self-esteem.
Some people seem invincible to the effects of sin. When I encounter them I wonder why something is a sin to begin with. Is it a transgression because the weaker people cannot handle it? People say it goes against God’s law, but if I see on effects in this life how it destroys people, how is it a sin?
There are always anomalies in life. People that do not make sense/fit.
Some people’s relationships began through fornication, they ended up happily married for years.
Some people saved themselves for marriage, yet their marriage ended in divorce.

I am troubled by your statement that it is someone’s nature to be cruel, harsh etc. My question is “Is it?”. If how a person acts is determined at birth and is proven as a fact, I may be inclined to concede that point. But isn’t our nature a product of our nurturing, our environment we find ourselves in or put ourselves in, our education, our upbringing, choosing proper friends etc. Isn’t our behavior a result of our freewill to choose the right thing or the pleasurable thing? I do not accept that we are powerless to accept or reject behavioral acts or that we are not capable to reason things out. If one accept that one shouldn’t do things that we won’t want others to do unto us, that should give a pretty good guide of how life should be lived. Blaming “natural” behavior is lowering us down to base animals reactions. Highlighting a few successful outcomes from bad behavior is just cherry picking which may be due to more to chance than anything. The sexual revolution may bring more sexual freedom but it resulted in more broken families. Statistics should tell the tale. I am not sure it bring greater happiness at all but it sure allow one to change partners on the slightest reason. Perhaps children from broken homes do not vote in the happiness index and hence don’t count.

It is a sin/crime because someone told you doing that is bad thing to do. It is bad because sin destroys something in us and others as well as society. Perhaps if one find themselves alone on an island and doing perverse acts harm no one else except their own imaginations, one can argue what I do harms no one else. Therefore it is ok. However, harming oneself is also not a good thing. Harming one own’s mind, body and soul is never a good thing.