(April 22, 2016 at 7:21 pm)Shadow_Man Wrote: Ryantology,
Ryantology Wrote:The fact that there is a carrot and stick in this process nullifies the concept of free will. Eternal life and eternal damnation taint the process. If there was no reward for acceptance and no punishment for rejection, only then would a declaration of love be the product of a decision made by a person legitimately exercising free will.
The legitimate exercise of free will does not demand that all choices be equal.
Free will is only nullified if the presence of the carrot and the stick invariably produce a choice for the carrot. They do not, as is demonstrated daily throughout the world around you, and in this very forum. And yes, I am taking into account the fact that none of you believe in the Christian God. Many of you have declared time and again that you would prefer hell with Lucifer rather than Heaven with the God you despise. We are clearly well able to make up our own minds regardless of the carrot and the stick.
Regards,
Shadow_Man
Your god and time travel run in the same boat. If the future exists, then we are the past and have already made the choices. We would be nothing but shadows playing out what has already happened.
You make people miserable and there's nothing they can do about it, just like god.
-- Homer Simpson
God has no place within these walls, just as facts have no place within organized religion.
-- Superintendent Chalmers
Science is like a blabbermouth who ruins a movie by telling you how it ends. There are some things we don't want to know. Important things.
-- Ned Flanders
Once something's been approved by the government, it's no longer immoral.
-- The Rev Lovejoy
-- Homer Simpson
God has no place within these walls, just as facts have no place within organized religion.
-- Superintendent Chalmers
Science is like a blabbermouth who ruins a movie by telling you how it ends. There are some things we don't want to know. Important things.
-- Ned Flanders
Once something's been approved by the government, it's no longer immoral.
-- The Rev Lovejoy