Monotheism and Free Will

1. The Theological Problems of Free Will
2. Free Will, Fate and Determinism
   1. In Christianity
   2. In Islam
3. The Existence of God is Incompatible With the Free Will of Other Living Beings

1. The Theological Problems of Free Will

God cannot have free will. A benevolent god always chooses the path that causes most good so therefore has no real choice. Also because an all-knowing god instantly knows all of its future actions and its knowledge cannot be wrong, it therefore has no free will to choose otherwise. However a god with no free will cannot be a moral being; it must be morally neutral. Now, if an all-powerful and all-knowing God exists then this (by a long chain of cause and effect) denies any free will of any living being.

The free will of god is important for resolving the problem of evil. If God has free will, but never chooses evil, then it could have created life in the same way: With free will, but also never choosing evil. If God has no free will but is still good then there was no point creating evil to grant humans free will as it is possible to be good with no free will. If God, angels and other beings in heaven have free will where there is no evil or suffering, then it cannot be true that god lets evil exist because it is a required side-effect of free will.

2. Free Will, Fate and Determinism

2.1. In Christianity

“The Bible teaches that there is no free will. Examining Exodus, Ecclesiastes 7, Ephesians 1, Ephesians 2, Acts 13, Romans 8, Roman 9, 2 Timothy, 2 Thessalonians, Titus 3:4-5 and Revelations, we see that God's plan overrides our free will; those that do good do the specific good that God predestined them to do, and all others are ruled by Satan because God sends "powerful delusions" to them. The Christian Bible frequently states that God creates our future and decides our fates, no matter what our own will is. It constantly denies that we have free will. Some of the foremost Christians in history have taught that there is no free will, including St. Augustine (one of the four great founders of Western Christianity₁), Martin Luther (founder of Protestantism) and John Calvin.”

"Biblical Christianity Denies Free Will" by Vexen Crabtree (2005)

2.2. In Islam ₂

The first century of Islam saw a rationalist school of thought arise which held that as mankind had free will (qadar), there was no such thing as determined fate for men. People deserved what they got. These were the Mutazilites. They included "Mabad al-Juhni (d.702 CE); al-Ju'd ibn Drhim (d.721), the Damascene Ghaylan (d.743), and Jahm ibn Safwan (d.745)"₃. Unfortunately all these men were executed because their belief in free will contradicted Islamic dogma, which upheld the supremacy of God's jabr (initiative - God's plan). Determinists have used the following verses from the Qur'an:

• God Guides Some, But, Makes Everyone Else Blind. God bestows abundance on those who he guides, and, blinds those others so they don't, and can't, believe. God has set veils on unbeliever's hearts so that they don't understand signs and proofs, it "closes their hearts, eyes and ears" and leads them astray so that even "if they see every one of the Ayat (proofs, evidence, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.) they will not believe therein". If God wanted, it could open their eyes and then they would believe. God could have guided all of mankind if it wanted (Qur'an 13:31). These themes are seen time and time again in the Qur'an. See Qur'an 2:213, 3:74, 5:54,67, 6:25,35,39,111,126, 7:178-179,186, 10:99-101, 13:31, 14:4, 16:9,37, 17:45-46, 18:57 and 24:35. Whether you believe or not is not an issue of free will or personal choice, and any punishments based on belief or lack of belief is therefore arbitrary and without justice especially as Allah has the responsibility to guide people to the right path (16:9).

  But this vast array of verses is contradicted in places by the occasional comment that says otherwise. Qur'an 57:17,25 says "We have made the communications clear to you that you may understand" and 18:54-55 says that "nothing prevents men from believing". Although shortly after that, 18:57 returns to the old story, saying "Who does more wrong than he who turns away from [proofs, evidence, verses, lessons, signs, revelations] [...]. Truly, We have set veils over their hearts lest they should understand, and in their ears, deafness. And if you (Muhammad) call them to guidance, even then they will never be guided".

• "For God bestows His abundance without measure on whom He will" (Qur'an 2:212, 30:37). The context of this was revelation; but without it, unbelievers are condemned to hell.

• "God does not charge a soul beyond what is in its capacity" (Qur'an 2:286). If you're not capable of understanding something (because God made you that way), then, God will not then make you capable. You will remain hindered forever.

• "To everyone We have appointed a way and a course to follow" (Qur'an 5:42).

• "Nothing shall ever happen to us except what God has ordained for us" (Qur'an 9:51).

• "No aged man is granted a length of life nor is a part cut off from his life, but it is in the Book. Surely that is easy for God" (Qur'an 35:11).

• All misfortune is ordained: "No misfortune has happened either in respect of the land or of yourselves but it was in a book before we brought it about" (Qur'an 57:22).

In case it is possible to doubt it, when an almighty God ordains an event, then, that event is completely unavoidable (Qur'an 3:154) therefore there is no free will associated with them. When the Qur'an is so clear on a point there is no need to look to the Hadiths for further comments, however, there is every indication that the Hadiths are as clear as the Qur'an:

“One was the report that the Prophet had said, 'The first thing God created was the pen; then he said to it, "Write all that will happen until the Last Day."'”

"The Encyclopedia of Religion" by Eliade Mircea (1987)₄

3. The Existence of God is Incompatible With the Free Will of Other Living Beings

The problem here is that God knows everything that has happened and everything that will happen. Its knowledge cannot be wrong. There is not a single event that it has not foreseen. Given that it created the Universe the way it did, do we have free will? Consider that when God made the Universe it could see every possible result of what it was doing. Which means: it could not create something without knowing what the results would be, and without knowing how it would be affected (and effect) the things around it.

Let's say that Fred has a choice that will save his life, to accept God or not to accept God and the final choice is to be made tomorrow. God knows already what choice he will make - God cannot be wrong therefore Fred cannot choose otherwise to what God has predicted. God made Fred and knew in advance how Fred's brain would fire when faced with this choice, and God knew exactly what it was doing when it allowed every life experience that would influence Fred's 'decision'. When God created the chain of events that made Fred it also knew that it was making Fred's choice for him, and knew how the various circumstances and character would make him choose either right or wrong. Fred would go forth and make that very decision that God knew he would make, and by virtue that God knowingly set up all the factors that affected his decision, it was not up to Fred but to God to decide how Fred would fare.

This argument does not imply that God does not exist. It leaves us with three results, two of which have to be wrong.

1. God created everything with full knowledge and we have no free will to change it
2. God does not have full knowledge
3. God did not make the Universe or there is no God