GOD’S OMNIPOTANCE AND OMNIPRESENCE
Report 5
By: Praew
O’Connell
Co-author: Steven
Clarke, Yuko
Ono, and Noah
Purington
Psychology 459, Spring 2008, Generation 27
Dr. Leon James
Instructor, University of Hawaii
Link to Class Home Page
Section 1: Lecture Content
By: Yuko Ono
The Vertical Community and
Mental Biology
Chart
A shows the mental anatomy with eternity and vertical community, which
contrasts with horizontal community.
Horizontal community & Vertical community
Horizontal
community refers to the physical world with time and space, where there is
other cites, countries, families, and friends. We have physical bodies and connections
with others who are also physically present. On the other hand, Vertical
community neither have time nor space. There is only on mental world in
eternity where we were born with our spiritual body and mental organs. Everyone
belongs to the same mental world and there is no barrier between the people in
any region, which is in layer 4, 5, and, 6 for heavenly regions and in layer 7
and 8 in hellish regions.
Swedenborg
proved the no barriers or distances by going frequently to all the layers,
regions, zones, and talking to the inhabitants of that mental region.
Everything co-present in eternity is determined by people's thoughts and
feelings. Opposite thoughts and feelings cannot be co-present but similar
thoughts and feelings automatically creates co-presence. This is what creates
the appearance in eternity of communities, which are all arranged in a rational
order by categories of thoughts and feelings. “Vertical community” shows our
connection to these societies and groups in the mental world of eternity.
Roles of the Divine Psychologist
The Divine
Psychologist manages these connections in every moment of our daily activities
from birth to eternity. For example, when you are feeling and thinking
something in layer 9 (corporeal mind), then the Divine Psychologist keeps you
connected with the societies in layer 9 while you are engaging in these
activities. He connects you to certain societies in eternity, in which the
thoughts and feelings of the inhabitants are compatible with the thinking.
When Divine
Psychologist presents you the opportunity to elevate your thinking and feeling
to level 8, He closes the connection with the societies you are with in layer 9
and connects you to societies in the vertical community that are compatible
with the thoughts and feelings you can have in your layer 8. When this happens,
you suddenly feel elevated to a higher consciousness level and you feel
enlightened to a new rational understanding.
It is
important to remember that neither of us is conscious of the connection to a
spiritual society nor the people in that society are aware of the connection to
us. Divine Psychologist does not allow us to aware of it. He allowed in ancient
times but it has been ceased in subsequent generations. While there is a
certain form of “spirit possession” continuing until the Incarnation Event two
thousand years ago, Sacred Scripture told us that spiritual possession and
communication were not permitted any longer after that event with anatomical
reason.
The vertical
community is a critical element for both development of individual’s
consciousness and mental evolution of the human race. As we all have learned,
human has been civilized and developed from the past. There are some
predecessors in our history who have contributed to our civilization. Even
though they are not present in horizontal community, they are still present
with us every day through the vertical community because they live in spiritual
society in eternity.
Thought-language and Word-language
According to
Swedenborg reports, our speaking style changes after being resuscitated and
conscious of the life in eternity. Automatically and spontaneously, we start to
talk like all “spirits” who already live in eternity. Ideas and words in our
natural mind (layer 8 or 7) will be brought to our mental heavens (layer 6 and
above), however after resuscitation, we talk thought-language but not a
word-language, which is our natural language. Expressions or concepts in our
spiritual mind much worth than the one in our natural mind.
Three distinct levels of progression in
mental biology
One can call
the Chart
A as “mental biology” when he or she has the knowledge organized in a
coherent and meaningful way. We can study the Chart A little by little to
understand the spiritual-natural concept since we are capable of thinking
rationally and abstractly with natural mind (layer 8, 7).
There are
three distinct levels of progression, which we need to learn in order to
understand the spiritual-natural concept of “mental biology.”
Level 1: This is the layer 9C thinking in terms of rational thinking. The reader
could understand the Chart with both negative and positive biases. Anyone who
studies theistic psychology as an intellectual or scientific discipline can
understand the Chart. They can replicate its important features and keep it in
long-term memory.
Level 2: This is the layer 8C thinking in terms of rational thinking. Students
or readers have positive bias. In relation to the elements in Chart A, they
believe the existence of God, our affective, and cognitive organs. They also
believe the existence of heaven and hell in the eternity. However, they might
think the Chart is one of the opinions or belief in many others.
Level 3: This is layer 7C and may be layer 6C thinking. Students or reader see
the Chart from theistic psychology perspective. They recognize it as a
natural-rational representation of Divine Speech (layer 7) and it will allow
them to experience its spiritual-natural meaning (layer 6). They will also
understand the “mental biology” and the spiritual meaning with conscious
awareness.
We understand
the concepts and ideas in theistic psychology from one of these three levels.
Only the third level is the theistic psychology thinking and reasoning because
it concerns spiritually online, which is the spiritual-natural perception of
Divine Speech summarized and represented in Chart A. It is called “online”
because we are constantly receiving spiritual-natural perception of Divine
Speech from the Spiritual Sun in layer 1, which goes down to the lower layers,
passing through intermediate states, to our natural mind.
It was not
difficult for me to understand Chart A and the vertical community, where the
God’s love and truth are constantly provided from the top layer and we are
receiving them with our cognitive and affective organs. The community without time
and space was easier to imagine when I think about the dream, where the world
changes in one second depend on my mental state. Even though I have studied
theistic psychology, I felt my understanding is level 2 understanding. I study
the concepts and ideas with positive bias but yet consider it one of the ideas
rather than the scientific fact.
(II)
God's Omnipotence and the As-of-Self Free Will
Omnipotent Divine
Human
Everything happening in the world is controlled, managed, and determined by God through immediate influx from the spiritual heat and light which reach to the every object or event in the universe. There has been a continued influx to keep the world going since its creation, and if the influx disappears, then everything in the universe collapses and disappears.
The influx is from the Omnipotent Divine Human. According to Swedenborg, Omnipotent Divine Human is like a super-brilliant aura which surrounds God’ Head and amid the Spiritual Sun. This is the way what people in the highest heaven (layer 4) can see the Divine Human. In some special occasions, the Divine Human appears to them face-to-face, however it is only one of the outward visual appearances of God because He is infinite and omnipresent.
God’s complete
determinism and as-of- self
People who do not study theistic psychology have difficulties to understand the idea of complete determinism by God. They tend to think they are responsible for the thinking, memory, emotions, and feelings of themselves. They do not think that it is the God who makes them behave and feel that way.
Also, the idea of complete determinism by God needs to be rationally understood with the idea that we are completely free in our decisions, intentions, and actions. These two ideas, complete determinism by God and human’s complete free will seems paradox, however it can be logically reconciled with Swedenborg’s rational and true solution.
In non-theistic psychology, “self” refers to the self-determination, which makes up the individuals, and there is no concern of God’s omnipotence. While in theistic psychology, “as-of-self” deeply concerns the relationship between God’s omnipotence and an autonomous self. It is our sense of self-determined being, such as “I, me, myself,” while all of our mental details are actually created and managed by God. What we notice or senses are all selected and determined by Divine Psychologist; the omnipotent God. He creates free will in our affective organ within the absolute determinism, and it is called “as-of-self.”
Real freedom and
God’s Co-presence
God keeps the real freedom for us to maintain our sense of “as-of-self.” We are free to choose what we desire, intend, and think, and the freedom also allows us to choose evil and illegal acts. It is the real freedom but not an illusion. We sense the reality, except the reality of His Co-Presence and his omnipotence because He does not let us aware it.
God tells us that He manages us with the Laws of Divine Providence and Divine Permissions. Through the Laws of Divine Providence, God provides and gives heavenly order for all that is needed. Through the Laws of Divine Permissions, God allows us to experiences the hellish events, which He can turn into something useful and good to self and others. Human beings in a hellish order can get only the things, which are allowed and can be turned into ultimate good by God. Even the victims of all evil behaviors are protected by God because He allows only the event, which can be spiritual good for each victim.
Doctrines of truth
from Sacred Scripture
Two things human need to understand which are the spiritual foundation stones of our conjugial heavens of the mental world of eternity.
- Human beings have the real sense of as-of-self autonomy and self-determination, which actually created and maintained by God
- Human
beings have to strive as-of-self to challenge temptations, knowing and
understanding that God is managing and overcoming for us
Without
God’s work, no one can live in the heaven in eternity because human are born
with tendency to use intelligence to create disorder and anti-sanity, as it is
describe in Sacred Scripture. We rationally make the image of God as a creator
while negative bias of science denies the existence of God insisting that He
makes no scientific revelations.
Divine
Speech comes down from the top layer to lower layers, and the contents have
been changed through the each layer. By the time it reaches to our conscious
natural mind with the physical forms, the content of Sacred Scripture in the
literal sense has become historical, rather than the scientific. We think there
is no scientific revelation because we see the Sacred Scripture in the literal
sense but not the correspondent sense.
People
who study theistic psychology can obtain the hidden meaning with the
correspondential sense from the Sacred Scripture.
God
is providing the endless opportunities for humans to regenerate their
characters to live heaven in eternity. If we wish to regenerate further, God
can bring us into the endless human potential. He always maintains real freedom
for human to choose either heavenly or hellish traits.
God’s
complete determinism and as-of-self sounds paradox, however it makes sense if I
understand God’s omnipotence. He manages all the details of our thoughts,
feeling, and behaviors without us noticing it. He can do this management
because he is omnipotent. Of course, I have never thought that everything
around me and myself have been controlled by God but myself. However, it is
also true that I have always been feeling the power, which is out of my
control, over my life. I have thought that everything what has happened in my
life has meanings and I have been provided the opportunities to learn something
from them. It makes much more sense to me when I think God brought the events
to me through the Laws of Divine Providence and Divine Permissions.
(III)
God's Omnipresence -- Not in Space, But Within It
Paradox: God is One
Divine Human Person but Omnipresence
The
paradox of the concept of God’s omnipresence while He is One Divine Human
Person can be understood rationally. People think it is impossible for one
person to be everywhere simultaneously because they imagine the God as human
being with finite physical body in the physical world with time and space. In
the state without space, which can be divided by distance and separated, all is
together and God can be present in all space and place in that state.
It
is important that we understand this concept with layer 7 rational thinking,
not spatial, which is in layer 8 thinking.
Example of
Omnipresence: Dream
Both
dream and daydream are produced by our imaginations. If you dream which you see
the dog is playing with the boy, you are the author and creator of the dream.
It does not necessary mean that you are “in the dream” but rather, you are
“within” or “apart” from the dream; you are omnipresent and cause of the dream.
Swedenborg
describes the concept of “within” that the cause of anything is always “within”
the effect. The cause of any action comes from your intention or desire, which
is “within” the outcome of your intention (effect).
The rational idea of
“within”
God orders the universe by discrete degrees or layers and He
manages all events through a downward series of discrete degrees, which are
corresponding each other. This concept is the foundation for theistic psychology and theistic
science in general.
The
simultaneous view of the 12 layers chart shows the concept of “within.” Each higher discrete
degree is “within” the next lower discrete degree. God is present “within” all
the subsequent layers; God is “within” your mind, body, and every natural
object or cause-effect event. The rational idea of “within” does not have
spatial meaning like in natural world, but means God determines and manages all
the events from “within” them by causation and intention.
God
is omnipresent by being “within” each discrete degree. It is important to understand
the concept of discrete degree rationally, not literally or physically. This
rational understanding allows us to have a concept which God is a Person and
omnipresent.
This concept of “not in space but within it” is very difficult to understand. Though I have red the note many times still having hard time to get the clear meaning. One of the reasons is because I still possess the literal and physical meaning of “within” and it seems that I am still trying to understand it from these perspectives. The simultaneous view of the 12 layers chart or example of the dream helped me to understand the idea of “within” and omnipresence better. Since there is no space and time, God can be one divine human person and also omnipresent; He is “within” the each individual managing and controlling all the details, and He also keep the universe going by constantly providing the spiritual sun.
Section 2: Presentation on Reading
By: Praew
O’Connell
Section
I Mental Biology, Section
2 God Omnipotent and the As-of-Self Freewill,
Section
III God’s Omnipresence—Not in Space but with in it
(1) Explain the components of chart A. Then describe the parts that you
are having difficulty understanding clearly or justifying rationally. Discuss
the chart with friends. Which aspects turn out to be difficult for them to
understand? How do you explain this difficulty?
Chart A
The chart above is called “mental biology” chart and it can encompass it in its entity in on e spiritual –natural concepts. God or the divine human is at the top of the chart because all the existence are created and controlled by God through the “immediate influx” of the spiritual heat and light. The arrow of immediate influx goes around the whole chart because everything that exists in the universe is maintained by this influx. The Spiritual sun surrounds around God’s head like a brilliant aura. The spiritual heat (love) and spiritual light (truth) is substance from the spiritual sun. Affective organs receive heat and cognitive organ receives light from spiritual sun.
When we are still living in the physical world, we are conscious in the natural mind (layer 9,8,7). We are going through the process of reformation and regeneration. According to as-of-self liberty and rationality, God gives us freedom to choose what we want to do in order to regenerate. In natural mind, the reason that the arrow is going from affective organs to cognitive organs is because it always motivation (affective) controls thinking (cognitive). However, we are unconscious in the spiritual mind (layer 6,5,4) while we are still in physical world. After resuscitation, our physical body (layer 12) disappears and we enter into the mental world of eternity and then we are able to conscious in our spiritual mind. We either spend our eternity in heaven or hell. It depends on what we did while we were in physical world. If we are successfully regenerating ourselves to the highest layer of natural mind, we will spend our eternity in heaven but if we fail to generate, we will spend our eternity in hell.
Personal Opinion
At first glance, this chart is not that difficult to understand because I have already learned the important concept for the theistic psychology. This chart is easy to follow along and make me understand the concept of an omnipotent God clearer than just reading a lecture note. It is good to read along the lecture with this chart because it makes more sense when the concepts are put into the chart and arrow to follow along.
Although it is easy for me to understand, it is not really easy for other people to understand without explanation. First, my friend understand a little bit about the idea of God is omnipotent and he creates and control everything in the universe but he does not understand what is the different between spiritual and natural mind. After, I showed this chart along with the lecture note, my friend still have a hard time to understand because of the unfamiliar vocabulary and concepts that discuss in the lecture. I had some difficulty when I tried to explain to my friend because in order for my friend to understand everything clearly I have to explain everything that I learned from the beginning from this class. Therefore, I tried to explain everything to more simple words, he understands a little more.
(2) Explain how God's omnipresence is not in space but within it. Relate
this idea of "within" to the simultaneous order of the 12 layers.
God’s omnipresence means that God is within us everywhere we go and within everyone. In Physical world, it is impossible for us to be omnipresence because the natural world of space and time, we can be only one place at a time. If God appears as normal human being in the physical body, he would not have an ability to be omnipresent or be in many places at the same time. Therefore, God is not in space, but within it. He is within space but apart of space.
We could think about the concept of “within” as a dream. When we are dreaming, we can do anything we want or create anything that we cannot do while we are in physical world. If we dream about someone doing something in our dream, we are the one who creates or cause of that dream. So, you are omnipresence because you are the author of the dream and you are within the dream or apart from the dream.
The mental world of eternity viewed in simultaneous order
We can relate the idea of “within” to the simultaneous order of the 12 layers chart above. From this chart, you can see that God is within all the subsequent discrete degrees of 12 layers. He is omnipresent by being within each degree and within you and within everything in the universe.
(3) Discuss how God's omnipotence can be rationally reconciled with
individual human freedom.
God’s omnipotence means that God creates and controls everything in the universe including “us” human being. Unlike other things that God creates, God gives us human a freedom. God is omnipresence or within us. He controls us indirectly by challenging us with temptation. Everyday, he presents us with temptations and he wants us to fight that temptations. However, he cannot forces us to do either good or evil things, but instead he gives us a freedom to choose whether we want to fight temptations and choose the heavenly traits or give in temptations and choose hellish traits.
Personal Opinion
When I first heard about God’s omnipresence and omnipotence in this class, I had a hard time understanding about these 2 concepts. However, after studying this lecture note, I can understand more about these concepts. I also try to relate these concepts with my own experience. Before taking class, I did not have much knowledge about Christianity because my religious background is Buddhism. Somehow, I realize that there are many concepts that similar with Buddhism. Buddhism also has similar idea about God’s omnipotence and omnipresence. In Buddhism, we also believe that God is with us everywhere we go and he tries to protect us from evil things. However, he does not control us to do good thing but guild us by his teaching and it depends on us if we want to follow his teaching or go against it.
Section 3: Presentation on Exercise
By: Steven Clarke
(a) Summarize the main ideas presented by the team
The team that
presented the exercises for the content of lecture 11 included Charyse Iseri
and Jeremy Haire. The questions for the
exercises were based on concepts and ideas from the material in sections I, II,
and III, of part two of the lecture notes, The
Vertical Community And Mental Biology.
The team’s presentation was focused on mental biology, God’s omnipotence
and the as-of-self free will, and God’s omnipresence—not in space, but within
it. Charyse interviewed two of her
friends regarding their personal views of God.
She outlined some of the main ideas presented in sections I, II, and
III, and designed some open ended questions to keep her friends thinking in
regards to the material we covered in class, and then reported the results back
to the class. She followed up with
asking a few of the same questions to the class to give us an opportunity to
respond to the material from lecture 11.
The main ideas of Charyse’s interview with her friend helped the class
to understand the difference between vertical and horizontal community, and how
the divine psychologist manages our thoughts and feelings from moment to
moment. Her presentation also helped
the class to understand that the as-of-self free will is created by god in our
affective organ.
The presentation
then shifted gears dramatically as Jeremy reported on a few videos pertaining
to why Atheists care about religion, and shared some of his feelings about why
he thought the people held the beliefs they did. He reported to the class that discrimination against atheists is
an attempt to restrict their free will, and that religions create an “us vs.
them” mentality. The summary of his
presentation concluded that atheists can be considered a minority group that is
discriminated by other major religions.
(b) Describe what they did
and how they interpreted it.
Charyse was able to examine the view of two
of her friends regarding God, by conducting a sort of interview with two of her
friends, which had some basic questions pertaining to the material we covered
in lecture 11. The first friend that
she interviewed believed in heaven and eternity and that god exists. That person believed knowing God, heaven,
and eternity exist means that she should live her life accordingly, and
described a sort of positive bias out look on the situation. She expressed a view that understands that a
lot of people feel that it is hard to live for God, but felt that they should
adjust their frame of mind to incorporate the idea that they are living with
him, and not for him. That person stated
that being given the opportunity to live so that they can ensure themselves a
place in the mental world of eternity is something people should not only want,
but strive for. The other person
Charyse interviewed stated that she believed in God, but that they only go to
church during Christmas and Easter, and that only thinks to communicate with
God when they want to ask him for help with something or for guidance. When Charyse explained the ideas of the
difference between vertical and horizontal community, and how the divine
psychologist manages our thoughts and feelings from moment to moment to her
first friend, she reported to the class that her response and overall
understanding was gauged towards relating the lecture material to a scientific
interpretation of fate. When she
approached her second friend with the lecture material, including the
information that the as-of-self free will is created by god in our affective
organ, and that he manages our thoughts and feelings the person seemed to be
confused and didn’t understand. The
person lamented that it all seemed too scientific, rather than being just a
matter of faith.
Jeremy watched a
couple of videos from the Internet web site youtube regarding why atheists care
about religion. His main points to summarize the material he watched began by
explaining that the atheists from the video believed religion in general
attempts to restrict freewill. He went
on to say that the video stated religions as being discriminatory towards one
another, and that it creates a sort of “us vs. them” mentality. The atheists believed that scientific design
should be taught along with evolution in school. The speakers in the video also felt very strongly that religions
are allowed to things that might otherwise be censored on television. They also felt that political designs were
very much affected by religion, which makes it biased. The rest of the information seemed to point
to feeling that the atheists considered themselves an oppressed minority,
sighting an example that young boys are not allowed into Boy Scouts if they
wont lie and swear in according to the Christian religion. Jeremy stated that he felt there was some
backing for the claims made by the atheists, but all in all the speakers in the
video just seemed to be very pro atheists and that they themselves were be
discriminatory by demoralizing other religions and their beliefs.
(c) Describe some of the ideas that needed a
better justification or greater amplification.
I felt that both Charyse and Jeremy presented the questions for the exercises well. During the presentation and interview that Charyse conducted, she may have justified the ideas represented in Chart A better when explaining the concepts of lecture 11, so that they wouldn’t feel so lost and revert to justifying their confusion with answers that are almost similar to upholding a negative bias. Jeremy could have selected a few of the concepts from sections I, II, and III, such as the as-of-self free will, to compare to the reactions of the people in the atheist videos, so that the class wouldn’t be left with a one-sided view of their beliefs.
(d) What was the success of
the approach they used?
The approach Charyse used when interviewing her friends was successful in making available the reality of theistic psychology to people who already accepted the existence of God, so that they might be encouraged to study more into the field. It also raised an interesting question for the class to discuss about whether or not it is important to live with the guidance of the Divine Psychologist, so that he can mange us and prepare us for our afterlife in the mental world of eternity. A general consensus was reached by the class that perhaps it is better to know some things and not others, like when a father cares for a very young child. The child is given freedom to explore the world, but the father will protect it from certain things. This is similar to when the Divine Psychologist presents us with opportunities for regeneration through spiritual combat, but will only present temptations that we can overcome. Jeremy’s presentation was successful in presenting the ideas of atheist members of societies who feel oppression from religion. It was also effective in raising a number of questions for the class to debate about the feelings of those people in the videos. One of the debate topics that came up raised the question of the possibility of groups of evil people who may try to rise up and take over hell in the grand monster.
(e) What improvements are
needed in the procedures or in the instructions?
The only
improvements that I felt could be made in the procedures, would be if perhaps a
physical copy of Chart A was presented to the people who were trying to
understand the material in lecture 11, so that they could have a visual
representation to help them in understanding the material. Also if the instructions included the
appropriate links to the youtube videos, so that we could all be on the same
page, and not watching different videos about the same topics.
(f) What are the limitations
of these types of exercises?
There are obvious
limitations to these types of exercises.
First of all, the people who we interview need to have an open mind and
assume the positive bias, otherwise they will be confused and even reject and
ignore anything you try to teach them.
Also, there needs to be a reciprocal open view upheld by students of
theistic psychology. This is important,
so that when material based on the negative bias is presented in class, we can
rationally discuss it and offer constructive criticisms and opinions about the
material.
(g) Describe what happened
when you did some of the steps of the exercises.
When I tried to relate the ideas of the as-of-self to a few of my friends, they seemed a bit confused. I had a copy of Chart A handy, so I tried to use it to better explain the ideas and principles from lecture 11. I explained the idea that the Divine Psychologist manages from moment to moment and that he is guiding us in our regeneration. They thought the information was interesting, but a little over their head. I explained that I have been studying it all semester and that a lot of the concepts sometimes take me a while to understand as well, and I then offered to give them the link to the lecture notes so that they could study more on their own time if they wanted. When I tried to look up the videos I realized there was no link for them, so I didn’t find much relative material to what Jeremy discussed in class. I mostly just found links to an annoying series of videos that bashed and hated on all religions. They didn’t seem very useful, so I didn’t watch many of them.
Section 4: Annotated Web links
By:
Noah
Purington
1)
Omnipotence vs. Omniscience
http://atheismforhumanity.blogspot.com/2007/09/point-in-omnipotence-vs-omniscience.html
The conflict of these two terminologies as the constraint of God is the focal point of this article on this website. The website is clearly a theology related site where people discuss theological ideas and people leave bulletins about what they believe in. The people who say that omnipotence is contradictory of omniscience would state that if God knows the future of events then he can’t change the past which would alter that fact thus constraining him from all powerful. I would say God reserves the right to alter the future due to our interaction (free will) but is still aware of the future at the same time.
2) Catholic
Rule
http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0405245.htm
This is a Catholic news article discussing the scientific and theological debate on the creation of the universe and other opposing ideals in a effort to bring reconciliation to both parties. Ultimately, from the Vatican’s perspective the potential changes in events (including evolution) have been allowed by God and under God’s monitor. This is a blanket approach to cover all things unknown as almost known (God knows and we know God therefore we know).
3) God gives no free
will?
http://www.vexen.co.uk/religion/goddeniesfreewill.html
This website suggest that since God knows if somebody is going to accept him or not before creation also creates the environment around you which shapes your decisions including the choice to accept God, therefore your free will is not yours in the end.
4) Neuroscience
researching Free will
http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/04/is-free-will-an.html
“Long before you're consciously aware of making a decision, your
mind has already made it. If that's the case, do people actually make
decisions? Or is every choice -- even the choice to prepare for future choices
-- an unthinking, mechanistic procedure over which an illusory self-awareness
is laid?” This is a very good point and I don’t seem to grasp it completely but
I can see there is a neuroscience involved with free will which is interesting.
5) Personal account
http://allphilosophy.com/topic/2566
This is a personal account of somebody who doesn’t like the
decision of choosing God in a process of elimination or not choosing God and
for ever being dammed to hell.
6) Spiritual intelligence and
Free will
http://www.mindreality.com/spiritual-intelligence-and-freewill-are-one
The realm of free will is entrapped the people with it so the
exercise of that will to be free of the choice of God is the plague we carry
according to this website.
7) Life is getting better?
http://www.freewillastrology.com/beauty/
This website proclaims that
societies are getting better or are doing less hellish acts as time goes on.
The Theory behind this notion is what I understand is, the free will gives us
the ability to accept things other than God. However the long term effects are
not beneficial and therefore we eventually reject it and when we have chosen
everything but God and it has not benefited us then we choose God and things
get better. In reference to many generations people as a whole can learn from
previous generations.
8) Purify your spiritual, mental,
emotional, and physical.
http://raphaelonline.com/ch16.htm
I like this website because it outlines a few main points for
spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical purification. However the main word
in the beginning in many of these sentences is choosing. This is underlining
the concept of having free will to choose this or not to choose it which is in
the hands of the individual.
9)Struggle for accepting God
http://www.credenda.org/issues/9-1doctrine101.php
This website is talking about people‘s natural tendency to sin. So
with that sense of being wired to make the selfish decision to not follow God
is highly likely. However when people choose God through the natural tendencies
then the true self is revealed.
10) Psychology and free will
http://dingo.sbs.arizona.edu/~snichols/Papers/PsychFreeWill.pdf.
This a research project about free will in terms of psychological processing. There are experiments involved in the research that are geared to focus on the free will variable in decision making and if other elements are involved to influence those decisions