This powerpoint talks about free will and predestination and looks at compatibilism, soft determinism and hard determinism, etc. Just have a nosey see if it helps :)

1. DOES GOD KNOW THE
ETHICAL DECISIONS
WHICH WE MAKE?

2. What are Ethical Decisions?
Ethical decisions are decisions which determine between right
and wrong. It is a debate between two moral principals,
however, there is no real answer to an ethical dilemma. It is
simply a matter of what one believes in and how they behave in
certain dilemmas or certain situations.
So for example one well-known and frequently discussed
example of an ethical dilemma was offered by Jean-Paul Sartre.
Sartre asks us to imagine a young man who lives with his mother,
he is her only happiness in life. But the young man lives in
occupied France during World War II and feels obliged to fight in
the war. What does the young man do? Does he go to war to
help save the country or does he stay at home and be regarded
a coward?
He may be pressured and physically forced by society to fight.

3. Euthanasia
Abortion
Ethical Religion
Decision or
Dilemma
topics
Violence Sex, Drugs
& Alcohol
Stealing

4. There are other divisions in Ethics such as
Absolutism: This is An ethical absolute which is
a command true for all time in all places and
in all situations.
Relativism: Is All principles and values are
relative to culture or age, there are no absolute
truths which are common to all beings.
Objectivism: Is judgements based on an
impartial absolute value system. So majority
rulesSubjectivism: Judgement based on a personal
opinion not a rule. It’s there opinion.
Teleological: A teleological judgement is
thinking of the consequences before an action
is perused.
Deontological: They look at the action itself,
deciding whether it is prohibited or made
obligatory by one of their rules.

5. BUT...
DOES GOD KNOW
THE ETHICAL
DECISIONS THAT WE
MAKE?
Many theists believe that God
knows the ethical decisions that we
make. So is this true?

6. Many theists believe in
predestination. And
this is the idea that
God has a route
planned out for a
believer to live. So a
person already has
there life planned by
god and very decision
they make is already
known by god.
And religions such as
Christianity and Islam
believe in this.

7. Predestination Catholicism
Predestination is one of the central teachings of the
Catholic Church. Catholic Encyclopaedia defines
Predestination as the Divine decree by which
God, owing to His infallible prescience of the
future, has appointed and ordained from eternity all
events occurring in time, especially those which
directly proceed from, or at least are influenced
by, man’s free will.
Catholics believe that predestination occurs due to
original sin which makes us unable to reach
salvation, not even will our salvation, without being
first moved by God’s Grace. This leads to the
question: Since the initiative of our salvation belongs
to God, does He predestine who will go to heaven
(the Elect) and who will go to hell (the Reprobate)?

8. Predestination Islam
Historically, Islam teaches that Allah has decreed
all things, good and evil from eternity, all that
happens, whether obedience or disobedience,
faith or infidelity, sickness or health, riches or
poverty, life or death:
When Muhammad died, this article was not yet
included with the other five. About a century later,
Muslim theologians argued much over it. One
group, the Jabrites, plainly said that Allah decreed
everything, good or bad, and that man had no
choice to do anything except what Allah had
willed for him. The Qadarite theologians did not
agree. They said that evil and injustice cannot be
blamed onto Allah, but were the result of man's
own choice. But this raised another problem. If
man chould choose to do right or wrong, then man
also became a creator of actions, like Allah
creates actions. No Muslim could agree to this.

9. In both religions it argues that if a
person acts morally and obeys
laws, willingly then they will
reach heaven or Paradise.
BUT...
If their life is predestined, THEN
they doo not have the ability to
act willingly as it has been
decided for them.

10. SO...
DOES GOD KNOW THE
ETHICAL DECISIONS
WHICH WE MAKE?

11. There are three ways
of approaching this:
Hard Determinism
Liberalism
Soft Determinism

12. Hard Determinism
Hard Determinism is the theory of Universal Causation which explains that
everything in the universe (including human action) has a cause which
precedes it. So if it wasn't the case that one event or set of circumstances
lead to another, scientific observation, and the conclusions drawn, would be
pointless and meaningless.
John Locke (a philosopher) gave the example of a man who wakes up in a
room that, unknown to him, is locked from the outside. He chooses to stay in
the room, believing he has chosen freely. In reality, he has no option.
However, his ignorance of this gives him an illusion of freedom.
Although with hard determinism there is an issue raised about accountability
and moral responsibility. If all of our actions are predetermined then surely
we can’t be held responsible for them.
Kant says that moral responsibility is only possible with free will. He argued
for the idea of transcendental freedom, freedom that is as a presupposition
of the question "what ought I to do?" This is what gives us sufficient basis for
ascribing moral responsibility: the rational and self-actualising power of a
person, which he calls moral autonomy: "the property the will has of being a
law unto itself."

13. Liberalism
Libertarians accept that universal causation would apply to
a mechanistic world, but that this would not influence
human choice.
A kleptomaniac (someone with an irrational urge to steal in
the absence of an economic motive) may be inclined to
steal, but has the choice not to. There is a difference
between the personality of someone and their moral self.
All of our actions are based on the assumption that we are
free. We can only make decisions about what to do if we
do not already know what we are going to do. Although by
giving us free will to make our own decisions we being to
question god’s omniscience. If we have free will can god
see our actions before we do them and if so do we really
have free will or are our actions predetermined by god’s
foreknowledge.

14. Soft Determinism
Soft Determinism accepts that all of our actions are determined.
However, there is a difference between an Islam choosing to
fast, and a man being locked up without food. In both cases, the
actions are determined, and the men could not do otherwise.
However, what determines the Muslims actions is internal, where
as the man locked up has been externally caused to be without
food.
A compatibilist, who believes that determinism and free will are
compatible, would draw a distinction between actions caused
or determined by our personalities and actions with external
causes.
Compatibilism, unlike hard determinism, allows for moral
responsibility. If Bob does not save a drowning child because
Bob cannot swim, he is not morally responsible. However, if he
chooses not to because of his personality, a combination of his
conditioning, an event in his childhood etc, then he is to be held
responsible as he has not attempted to save him. Therefore he is
initially thought of as Immoral.

15. THEREFORE...
The question which is being forced is, how can a
person act willingly if their life is predestined. Which
then forces the question.
DOES GOD KNOW THE
ETHICAL DECISIONS
WHICH WE MAKE?
Because if predestination is true, then surely god
makes the ethical decisions rather than the
individual.