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The Theories And Arguments Of Roderick Chisholm And Harry Frankfurt

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when it comes to our first order desires because we cannot control them. But, we cultivate free will through our second order desires by using will power. Thus, free will ignores the external aspects of a human being, instead, it is developed internally (Frankfurt).
Through the theories and arguments of Roderick Chisholm and Harry Frankfurt, free will is explained and defined. However, how does God play into this argument? Because He is omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent – how does that reconcile with our free will?
One of the ways that free will and God’s omniscience coexist is through our ability to sin. As human beings, we are sinful. If God is a good God that controlled all aspects of our lives, than He would also control the sinful aspects of our lives. However, this does not coincide with the …show more content…

Sarapion of Thmuis, a bishop from 326 to 339 from the Nile Delta discussed this topic in his book Against the Manicheans (Neil). During his time, Manichaeism was a “gnostic religion” that was founded in Persia and dealt with the contrast between good and evil in the world (Manicheans). Manicheans believed that human beings were sinful and that evil was “manifested in the physical body” (Manicheans). They presumed that humans could not control the evil that existed in them, or their sin. Sarapion of Thmuis argued that humans still had free will, whether or not they sinned. According to Thmuis; “for free will, whether in the state of understanding or in the state of falling, nevertheless has not been released from being reasonable but retains this (ability) incorrupt” (Neil). Sarapion of Thmuis discussed the fact that sin is “the act of the will related to a goal” (Neil). So, as humans, our decision to sin is to gain something, and it is based off of free will. For example, if I were to make the decision to lie, there would be something that I would gain

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