On Divine Intervention and Prayer – First Question
Greetings to the Honorable Rabbi,
In the book "No Man Has Dominion Over the Spirit," the Rabbi writes that there are two assumptions in the context of a person's choice (or lack of choice):
A. God decides and creates everything that happens.
B. The person freely chooses the present.
Likewise, the rabbi stated that " it is clear that it is not possible to adopt both assumptions simultaneously ."
In my humble opinion, there is a logical fallacy here on the part of the Rabbi. The fallacy is of the type of " false choice ."
Why determine that there cannot be a third option – a combination of the two assumptions?
For example, in his book "Sciences of Freedom" the Rabbi describes the "Readiness Potential" (RP) and that after it appears the person's choice (I of course advocate the Rabbi's method that this is a true free choice and not an illusion/determinism). The question is – why not assume that the Divine will intervenes, and for example, sometimes generates electricity in our brain (measured as RP) that gives us the initial jump, before deciding to keep the Sabbath or that actually encourages us to sin?
Then it turns out that G-d also directs us + it is our free choice to act in accordance with/contrary to that electricity (the one measured by what is known as "readiness potential"), and man deserves to be rewarded for it.
There is nothing illusory, mystical, or improbable about this assumption. No juggling is required.
After all, the Rabbi himself writes in "Sciences of Freedom" that a person's free choice (which is pure choice) is indeed influenced by all sorts of factors (genetic, environmental, etc.), so why not make the same assumption that the divine will is also one of those factors?
Best regards, Ehud
לגלות עוד מהאתר הרב מיכאל אברהם
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