Essay 2 Fate And Free Will

Submitted By alek2375
Words: 1455
Pages: 6
Open Document
The Hands of Fate: Fate and Free Will in Oedipus Rex and the Bible The question of whether humans are responsible for their actions or if they are under the influence of divine or supernatural power is one that has been debated over for centuries. There are three views that exist: the first is that there is only free will, the second view is that there is only fate, and the third view is that there is room and justification for both possibilities. The themes of fate and free will are very prominent in the book of Genesis and Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex. In both, the fate of the characters is decided by a higher being, but the way in which they arrive at their destinies is determined by free will and the choices they make, which leads to the demise of the characters.
The book of Genesis records the creation of the world and everything in it, as well the early relationship between God and humanity. God creates man, Adam, “from the dust of the ground” (Genesis 2:7) and places him in a paradise on Earth called the garden of Eden, where he also places the tree of knowledge of good and evil. From the man, God creates a woman and tells them that they “may freely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil [they] shall not eat, for in the day that [they] eat of it [they] shall die (Genesis 2:16). Despite this warning, the woman, Eve, is eventually tempted to eat the fruit of the treat and convinces Adam to do the same, causing them to be cast out of the garden. Although Adam and Eve do have free will to do what they wish, by placing of the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the garden of Eden, God fates them to failure.
Adam and Eve were both created without any concept of morality. After they committed the first sin, they learned the distinction between right and wrong: “Then the Lord God said ‘See, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might reach out his hand and also take from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever” (Genesis 3:22). The knowledge of right and wrong was not imparted onto Adam and Eve, but was of their own discovery. Despite His instruction to not eat from the tree, Adam and Eve cannot be reasonably expected to follow, as they do not know disobeying is immoral. Lord also allows evil to enter the garden in the form of a talking serpent, which tempts Eve into doing what God said shouldn’t be done. Although Eve is tempted to eat from the tree, it is not done as a conscious act of disobedience but, rather, because she thinks the tree is pretty and the fruit looked appetizing: “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired and make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate” (Genesis 3:6). Although God tells Adam and Eve that they may not eat from the tree, he does not give them the mental capacity to understand that following His command is the right thing to do. He also allows the serpent to tempt Eve. If the serpent is in actuality Satan, God possesses the authority to limit his power. In the book of Job, Satan unleashes suffering on Job, but has to first receive permission from God to do so. However, God does not restrict the serpent from tempting Eve. However, Adam and Eve both had the choice to make the decisions that led them to failure. When God had only made Adam, he gives him the warning of eating freely off any tree in the garden except for the tree of knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:16). Had there been no free will, there would not have been a need for the command. God gives Adam the choice to obey or disobey His command, but he did not have to obey it. Until their fall from grace, Adam and Eve did not understand the difference between good and evil, but they had the choice to obey God and decide whether or not to eat the forbidden fruit. Although God set Adam and Eve up for failure, it was by free will that they decided to eat the fruit.
Show More

Related Documents: Essay 2 Fate And Free Will

Examples Of Free Will In Romeo And Juliet

Theme Essay Many people have wondered if the outcome of Romeo and Juliet was controlled by fate or free will. In Romeo and Juliet, free will overpowers fate. Juliet's actions had consequences. Juliet inflicted her own wounds by choices she made. In romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare is proving life is controlled by free will, just like Juliet's actions lead to the death of 2 “star crossed lovers”. Free will over powers fate. Anyone can say everything can be controlled by fate, but because of free will…

Words 579 - Pages 3

Fate In The Aeneid

The word fate is mention repeatedly in the Novel “The Aeneid” so let's start off with what Fate actually means. According to Merriam-Webster online Dictionary one definition of fate is “the will or principle or determining caused by which things in general are believed to come to be as they are or events to happen as they do.” Another definition that more closely relates to my thesis and the book is “ and inevitable and often adverse outcome condition or end.” Most characters in the Aeneid strongly…

Words 378 - Pages 2

Prof.: Destiny and Fate Essay examples

Directions: This writing assignment is based on the accompanying sources. This question requires you to integrate a variety of sources into a coherent, well-written essay. Refer to the sources to support your position avoid mere paraphrase or summary. Your argument should be central; the sources should support this argument. Introduction: “A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it” Jean de La Fontaine Destiny is defined as the events that will necessarily happen to a…

Words 3004 - Pages 13

Essay Creative Thinking

Critical and Creative Thinking PHL/458 July 28, 2014 University Critical and Creative Thinking Essay 1: A current situation that plagues California that is a public interest to all residence of California is the shortage of water. During the summer months in California it can become hot and water can become scarce. Because of the lack of rainfall California get within the year the rain does not restore water losses from their previous levels especially, when this becomes a normal thing. An idea…

Words 592 - Pages 3

Examples Of Transcendentalism In The Civil Disobedience

The Civil Disobedience is a written essay that is the foundation of transcendentalism. It heavily emphasizes the importance of self-reliance and individuality of people. Thoreau first argues that the government isn't doing its job as it supposed to. Instead, it abuses its power and makes unfair laws that the people must follow. Also, he realizes the acts of warfare and slavery happen in America; therefore, he convinces the people should follow what they believe in. Thoreau insists that people can…

Words 1069 - Pages 5

Free will and determinism Essay

“Feel free to choose your dead-lines” said my philosophy teacher. “It can be anytime from now to the end of this year and please choose it according to your comfort.” I looked at the sign-up sheet and saw the various dates I could choose from. I was very relieved by the fact that we were free to choose our own deadlines. But as I stared at the rectangular boxes on the sheet where I was supposed to write my choice, I was dragged into a vortex. My mind was swirling helplessly. I was a free man until…

Words 1833 - Pages 8

St Augustine Church Orthodoxy Beliefs

Henry Zlotkowski Church History Per 6 11/7/14 Chapter Five Essay Introduction- During the time of St. Augustine there were many different heresies, that didn’t believe exactly what the Christians did. Some of the major ones would argue and debate with St. Augustine about why their religion had the correct churches orthodoxy belief. But it never seemed to work. The three major ones were the Manichaean, Donatist, and Pelagians. St. Augustine would rebut their beliefs and teach them the Church’s…

Words 553 - Pages 3

Essay about Is Destiny a Matter of Chance or Choice?

Newton, believed that there was a universal law and everything was ordered in line with this universal law. Since everything in an order, the future can be predicted because it was already arranged by the universal law. This is also called destiny or fate and it means that people believe their role in this world is given and they cannot change it. However, people’s life is not destined by a universal law or by God. With the new discoveries in science, it has been claimed that 18th century scientists…

Words 1270 - Pages 6

Essay about Compare and Contrast Othello and Waiting for Godot Plays

4/25/13 Oedipus the king is a representative of ancient Greek drama by Sophocles. The Latin title of the play is Oedipus Rex. Though produced as the second play in the three sequences of Theban plays by Sophocles, it finds its way at the top of the sequence as a result of internal chronology. The next play in the sequence is Oedipus at colonus and finally Antigone. The play is an excellent example of Greek tragic plays (Bloom, 51). Waiting for Godot is a play by Samuel Beckett, an Irish who won…

Words 1111 - Pages 5

Essay on APA Format TEMPLATE

Week 6 – Essay Scott Miner Ivy Tech Community College This is just a sample page that displays indentations, running head, title, resources, punctuation and the use of sources in an APA paper. I hope it helps you with any formatting questions you may have. You can also use it as a template, simply changing the running head, ect., for your use. In a study on “Remembered Parenting Styles” (Rothrauff, Cooney and An, 2009) researchers from the University of Missouri, Columbia found that, “Parental…

Words 769 - Pages 4