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DA3. Belief Systems and Free Will

Statement

  • Your FIRST of TWO posts this week:
    • Please post your thoughts about who or whom you believe is the author of your destiny (Free Will or not).
    • Use the terms from class to describe your belief system. You may introduce other terms if something more concise would work better.
  • Your SECOND topic posts in the Discussion Forum this week:
    • Why do you think evil exists? If you believe in a God or Gods, why does he/she/they allow evil in the world?

Answer

Belief in Free Will

I believe that destiny is a shared authority between God and Free Will. This was not the case at the early stages of human history, where it was believed that God/Gods control everything.

My belief system (Islam) is described as monotheism, where one God named Allah is worshipped. In this system, Free Will determines the actions of humans, and thus their destiny while alive. However, the destiny before birth and after death is controlled by God.

The concept of destiny in Islam is complex in Islam, as they believe in Immortality, where every human has a pre-life where they took a covenant with God, then a life where they have free will to obey or disobey that covenant, and finally a post-life where they are judged by God on whether they fulfilled the covenant or not (Fitrah, 2024).

Most Abrahamic religions (Islam included) discourage the discussion around destiny, as it is more complex than a human mind can comprehend or may lead to a significant crisis of faith (Yaqeen, 2022); I have a lot of unanswered questions. Throughout history, some Muslim thinkers believed in determinism where everything is predestined, while others believed in free will. I personally adopted both beliefs.

Why Evil Exists

As stated earlier, God does not interfere in people’s lives after they are born, with some exceptions; and it is believed that all good is from God, and all evil is from ourselves (Yaqeen, 2022). This is a common belief in Abrahamic religions, where God promised rewards for people who suffered from evil, and eternal punishment for those who caused it.

The source of evil is usually attributed to human desires of greed, power, and lust. Suffering (as a result of evil) is seen as a test from God, a message to people to return to God, or a punishment for a sin. In all cases, as God promised not to interfere, humans should be responsible for punishing evil in the world and leaving the eternal punishment to God.

References

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