FOXTROT, by Bill Amend
Jason: Go Deep.
Marcus: How can free will coexist with divine preordination?
Jason: Too deep.
Marcus: If Batman died, would the Joker be happy?
Do we have free will, or is everything preordained?
A bright fellow suggested the following simple test to prove we have free will: stick your finger in the air, and choose whether to hold it still or wag it. Which ever you do proves you had free will to chose.
In all respect, what a horrible attempt at proof. With the wagging or non-wagging finger still held high, the believer in preordination would say, “Whichever you did, it was God’s will.”
To prove or disprove free will vs. preordination, you have to use the framework of the believers in preordination, not that of the convinced skeptics.
It is actually extremely simple to prove free will if you use the arguments of the believers in an omnipotent God, and none believe more in a perfect deity than Muslims. They believe Allah is perfect, and will demand the death of any who say otherwise, be it a learned Muslim like Salman Rushdie, or some freedom loving Danish cartoonists.
Part of being a perfect god is being the instrument of absolutely everything that happens. So if you have a perfect god, you have preordination, right?
Wrong, you have the proof of free will!
It’s very simple. Perfect gods do not sin. In fact, gods establish punishments for sinning, some of which can be severe. For example, eternity in Hell, or wearing a burka in August.
Would a perfect god sin by making one of his believers sin, and then would this perfect god punish the believer for all eternity for doing what god made him do?
Of course not! The only explanation for sin is free will.
Any other explanation requires god to be petty, a bored deity, playing with his/her/its creations like a child with dolls or toy soldiers.
You might call such a god fun loving, or vicious, or capricious, or a lot of other things, but you never accuse such a god of perfection.
So, sinners, you have free will.
The Devil didn't make you do it.
The credit is all yours.
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