Board index ‹ Free Will

[Banjo Man]

If they don’t, who determines their actions? God?

If a dog or a rat doesn’t have free will and bites a child, did God make it do that?

God created ticks and mosquitoes and poisonous snakes and gave them the instinct to bite us make us very sick. So if a scorpion kills a child, did God kill the child since the scorpion doesn’t have free will?

[jimwalton]

> Do animals have free will?

Yes. Have you ever tried to get a toy or a slipper away from a dog? They are deciding which way to dodge away from you. Have you ever tried to give commands to a cat? They obviously have a mind of their own. Any assessment of an environment or a possible danger are processed by a wild animal's mind and they make decisions accordingly. Something in us as well as in animals is able to process our reality-based experiences and make decisions accordingly.

> did God make it do that?

No, God doesn't determine the actions of animals.

> God created ticks and mosquitoes and poisonous snakes and gave them the instinct to bite us make us very sick.

Do you believe in evolution? I do. Instincts evolved. What makes you think God made them that way? God used evolution as His mechanism of creation, and environmental adaptations happened in the course of time, not necessarily determined by God. Is there any verse or passage in the Bible that leads you to believe God gave the animals the instincts to harm us?

> So if a scorpion kills a child, did God kill the child since the scorpion doesn’t have free will?

No. God doesn't make animals attack people.

[Banjo Man]

So, God didn’t create all the animals and creatures that exist today? He just created the unicellular organisms that evolved into the species that exist now?

Humans are animals that evolved from those unicellular organisms, too. Are Adam and Eve just a metaphor?

[jimwalton]

> So, God didn’t create all the animals and creatures that exist today?

It depends what you mean by "create." If you mean by fiat *ex nihilo*, no. If you mean that he was guiding the process, yes. If you mean constant interference and deterministic force, no. If you mean designing certain developmental strategies and allowing them to perform their designed function, yes.

> He just created the unicellular organisms that evolved into the species that exist now?

Possibly, but I don't like your word "just." There is nothing simple about this process, for one. Secondly, we are not to understand this strategy as deism, a position that I not only reject but I deem impossible.

> Are Adam and Eve just a metaphor?

No. Adam and Eve were real, historical beings in space and time, but they weren't the first hominids, the first homo sapiens, or the first humans. When humanity evolved to the point where they were spiritually capable and morally culpable, God revealed Himself to them to establish a relationship with them. That's where the story of the Bible begins. I happen to think it was in about 6000 BC or so, give or take.