Austin Fontaine 
Megan Novelli How far does free will go? I was talking to my roommate about this the night before we talked about it in class. We discussed how people often say that they are looking for The One. Did God make one person for each of us? If so then do we really have power over our life if God will make us choose this one person? Maybe God knows what choices we will make with our lives and based off of that he knows who we will ultimately chose and makes a person that will fit the choices that we make in our lives. My roomie talked about how when you say that God meant for you to be with a specific person that she thinks it is like saying that all of the events in your life happened in order for you to meet this one person. But is this really the case? What if the person who is made for you goes against God’s will (because I would assume that if I have free will that the other person would too)? Personally, I would not agree that all of the events in my life have led up to me meeting one particular person.
If our free will is limited then is it still free will? I feel like the answer to that would be no because we are not given full control of our own lives. And why would God make so many other people available to us if he had already chosen the one? Why would he not just create us to have some overwhelming feeling of finding the one when it happens. (Now I am not married and may not have found the person so I am not one hundred percent true that I would not know when I had found the one.) I feel like this is just another one of those small details that make our life what it is. If God is not concerned in the minor details of our lives but instead is interested in how we use our talents to help other people, then I feel like something like choosing a mate would not be on his top priorities. Unless perhaps, our mate is suppose to somehow influence the rest of our life and possibly change the course of where we are headed.
Amy McCarty
1:37 am, 09.20.10
I fully believe in free will and I believe at one time I was an absolute-ist. That is to say that I believed that free will trumped everything else. I now hold a more moderate view. I see free will more like a menu in a restaurant. Say you go to an ice cream parlor and order a hamburger. Will you get it? Probably not! You learn, hopefully, not to ask for something that is not on the menu. I see free will the same way. We are free to make choices, but only the choices that are on the menu. For instance, I cannot choose to be born a male. I do not choose the family I am born in to or my upbringing.
I think that it is the some with love. You are free to make choices about your “soul mate” within the menu provided. I think that the choices you make and your experiences make a certain type of person “perfect” for you. I am not sure that there is only one person on earth for each of us – that seems very deterministic. Plus I have know lots of people who have been married multiple times (due to death of spouse) and have loved each of their spouse differently but equally.
Just one girl’s opinion!
Jeremiah Blalock
7:45 am, 09.20.10
i fall under the, “not just one person,” scenario. This being said, i also believe that when you find the “one” that you want to love, care for, and marry. i do not believe that there is just one person out there for everyone because if that were the case, there wouldn’t be much dating and stuff now would there? that is just my opinion, because there are some people that you just know are gonna be good friends, great friends, heck even best friends, but then there is that feeling that you just found a person that goes beyond that, at least to you at the time, and want to pursue a deeper, stronger bond. if there was just one person, then it wouldn’t be a “feeling,” we would just know. that’s how i view it.
Great post Stephanie.
Brandon Schmermund
9:55 am, 09.20.10
I feel that on this topic one cannot just have a black or white answer. There is too much that could go into this equation of match making. I was once told that as long as we take care of God’s big plan, he will certainly take care of our little one.
We, as Christians, have certain limitations on who we see as potential mates. The same goes for any sub-type of people around the world. There are going to be certain boundaries in this whether we like it or not, but I do still think that one can still feel a sense of free will when choosing “The One”. What I mean by this is that one still has a choice of who they want to be that one that’s meant for them. This is where the gray area comes into play. Some people would disagree that this type of thinking is still free will, but I believe it’s what one makes of it. So what if you cling to a certain sub-type of society, you still have “free reign” on who you believe is the one for you to be with, given the restrictions of that culture. God will make a way.
Rachel Jinkerson
12:17 pm, 09.20.10
I believe there are some areas of God that man was not made to understand and will never understand, so its not worth bending over backwards for. That being said, I believe God is all knowing and I believe we have free will. I think to over analyze this idea is to put God in a box. Since we are not God and do not comprehend His power, how can we even try to understand free will, knowledge, and predestination? I believe that God wants us to choose Him and that is all that matters.
Austin Fontaine
12:49 pm, 09.20.10
If you want to look at it from the point of finding that one special someone and you feel like the case of free will needs further justification, look at free will as one of the factors that God accounted for in making that special someone. Knowledge of something and control of something are two entirely different things. just because God knows everything and might have made a person for us to meet that He knows will be the person we fall in love with does not mean that He forces or makes us meet them, but rather he knows just how to create that individual so that the two of you will inevitably meet through choices that each of you make on your own throughout your lives.
Hannah Hendrix
12:59 pm, 09.20.10
I have actually thought a lot about this question, and have asked the input of several influential people in my life. My mother belongs to the camp that says “There is one person out there for you that God made just for you… Now go find him!” I personally feel that it would be almost cruel for God to put only one person in the world with whom I can share my life with and I have to go find him. My dad and I share what I think is a more realistic opinion on the matter. We are more on the free will side of the spectrum and feel that the choices that a person makes throughout his life will affect who he comes into contact with, and therefore affect who he will most likely choose to marry. Our choices are what ultimately determine that. For me, it’s less of a “The One” sort of deal, and more of a “This One” thing. It’s less about this being the only guy for me or whatever, and more about me choosing this particular guy to be with and to minister with and to serve with for the rest of my life. I don’t think God cares so much who I marry as much as He cares that I will serve Him and love Him with everything I have.
Alyssa Bowyer
1:41 pm, 09.20.10
The bible says he has our paths already planned for us. However, it also says that we are sinners and stray from that path. I think that God knows the way we will choose. So he knows what will happen next and has control over it all. But He still gives us both options to choose from; thus allowing free will. He could just take away the choice since he already knows how we would choose, but instead He gives us options every day.