Philosophy Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Philosophy - Article Example (d) PERSON or HUMAN – The idea of a person in Hicks is tied to the ability to be â€Å"responsible for one’s own decisions,† which he says causes one to be â€Å"a finite center of freedom.† (106) A working definition in the context of the essay might perhaps be that a person or human is a being created by Judeo-Christian God and given the ability to exercise the power of free will. He also makes the point that this means persons are not necessarily good due to these â€Å"moral freedoms,† and that this is why â€Å"persons† are the only ones â€Å"capable of entering into a personal relationship with their Creator by a free and uncompelled response to his love.† (108) (e) FREE WILL – Free Will in Hicks means a will that decides things in a way that cannot be analyzed on a strictly causal level. Hicks gives the example of a patient who has received hypnosis therapy, and that â€Å"his volitions of actually been predetermined by another will †¦ in relation to whom the patient is not a free agent.† (107) This, he says, is not truly free will. Therefore, true free will, even if given by God, must not contain any pre-conditions like a mind â€Å"infallibly guaranteed always to act rightly.† (107) The argument put forward for this is that non-moral or natural evil acts as a sort of character-building process which helps people to become successful (Christian) people and enables them to truly ascend to a higher plane of spirituality. Because Christianity has â€Å"never supposed Gods purpose in the creation of the world was to construct a paradise,† the fact that natural evil exists does not contradict the idea of a benevolent, omnipotent deity. (109) Hicks paraphrases Irenaeus, who believed that although Man was made in the image of God, the suffering and hardships of the world were a necessary evil to help turn man into the â€Å"finite likeness of God, which is revealed in Christ.† (109) In other words, it is only through suffering that Man can become