Readings for 11/7

These readings brought up the somewhat controversial idea of whether there is such a thing as free will or if everything in and about our lives are predetermined by God. I think a reason this can be such a controversial topic is because if you believe in God, he is all-knowing and created all humans, therefore seemingly eliminating our free will. But it also seems as though we have the freedom of making our own decisions because if God is in control of everything, why would we sin in the first place? Why are we created with the ability to sin, just to hopefully complete the journey of finding our ways back to God who wants us to be with him anyways? Problems arose from those who chose to believe in predeterminism for their own benefit because groups of people like for example the Umayyad, would argue that they were the predetermined leaders of the area Ummah. This predetermined right sent from above seems to be a recurring theme throughout history regardless of race or time. In the United States, it took the form of the Manifest Destiny and in China, the Mandate from Heaven.