So What? Reflection

For the past four weeks, we have looked at the importance of free will and moral-decision making in the context of Biblical texts, literature, and film. As we are approaching the conclusion of the course, I have started to think about how free will and determinism coupled with moral-decision making plays a role in my life, and how it has helped me to grow as an individual. Overall, I believe that my belief in compatibilism has granted me a sense of peace, whereas my decision-making process has greatly affected the way that I weigh good and bad decisions.
When considering free will and determinism, I think that my belief in compatibilism has had a great deal of influence in my life. I find a great deal of comfort in knowing that although I have the freedom to make everyday decisions, I’m not just walking through life without a higher power guiding me. I have always believed that God has an overall plan for my life, and that even if I make a string of bad decisions, I can view those decisions as lessons God intended for me to learn along the way. The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon re-affirmed my feelings when Trisha constantly took turns that landed her deeper into the woods, yet still managed to make it out alive with a fresh appreciation for her family. The story of Jonah 1:2, also demonstrates the power of God’s plan in our daily lives. When God tells Jonah to go to Nineveh, Jonah makes the conscious decision to instead go to Tarshish to run from God, however, with Jonah’s overall plan in mind, God sends the raging ocean storms and a giant fish to try to help Jonah realize that he cannot run away from God’s will.
My process of moral-decision making has also greatly impacted the decisions I have made and why I made them. From a young age, I initially deemed things moral or immoral by simply following a code of virtue ethics that my parents instilled in me. My parents taught me the virtues that they exhibited, and thus expected my brother and I to follow. Besides my parents, educational and religious institutions also re-enforced the values of honesty, hard work, and compassion that were ingrained into me at a young age.  I believe that while virtue ethics helped shape the fundamental parts of my character, I tend to use a consequentialist approach in decision-making today. When making an important decision, I try to weigh the positive and negative outcomes, and make the decision that benefits both me and those involved the most. Overall, if a decision I make seems to fall in line with my virtues as well as benefit more than harm those involved, I deem it to be the right, moral choice. To me personally, the combination of truly believing that He is in charge of my overall plan (regardless of incorrect or immoral decisions) coupled with my best efforts to live a moral life, give me a sense of security and peace every single day.