I find it hard to believe that predictability of human behavior in today's world actually exists. We live in a world that encourages free choice, free will, and open-mindedness. It's hard to accept the fact the our choices, thoughts, and reactions are determined or caused. Our world consists of people making radical changes either to themselves or their lifestyles everyday. For example, lets take human sexuality in modern America. Today American sexuality is more diverse and more loosely constructed than its ever been. We have open homosexuality, transgendered individuals, people making sex-change operations. These are all acts upon free will. They are not determined and they are not caused. Everyday we make millions of choices. Should I go to work, should I go to the mall, or should I get a sex change, what will I have for dinner, what will I wear? How can these choices be determined? Some might say that a higher power is determining our every thought or decision. I"m a believer in God but I don't necessarily buy into this argument. I believe that God created all of us with our own brains and our own thoughts to make our own decisions. If I want strawberry ice cream it's because my mind tells me that I have enjoyed that strawberry flavor in the past and I want to enjoy that experience again. And if two weeks from now I"m feeling spontaneous and want to try the chocolate ice cream because I've never had it before then I will choose to do so. I don't believe god has the ability to change my mind, I do, or often times a friend or a family member can bring to my attention an interesting point that is new to me, then I might change my mind based on the point they had brought up, but might is the key word, I"m not forced to change my mind about something just because my peer thinks I should. .
Lets take the aspect of homosexuality and apply it to theistic determinism. People who are openly gay choose to be gay.
