Since the concept of free will is being thrown around so loosly here, let me throw out some definitions to better understand what is actually being said.
Free will :The power of acting without the constraint of necessity or fate; the ability to act at ones own discretion.
Necessity :something that you must have or do : something that is necessary
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/necessity
Fate :a power that is believed to control what happens in the future
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fate
Discretion :the right to choose what should be done in a particular situation
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/discretion
So what does that say? Free will is the power of acting without being forced to do what you "must" or have an unseen power have control over it; the ability to have the right to choose what should be done in a particular situation.
Now..think about your country. Your home. Your life. By definition...how much free will do you really have? Not a whole lot. There are consequences for not doing what you "must", thus making your decisions influenced and not at all of free will.
What's ironic, Tylendel, is that while you are going on about others free will and encouraging ethical and moral behavior according to what you believe ethical and moral behavior should be, you are attempting to remove the free will of others by suggesting they should not do something that you personally don't agree with.
Everyone has a right to act the way they want and perform magic the way they want. They also have to live with the conseuences whether they be legal, spiritual or social in general.
If I want to curse someone, I have the right and ability to do so. The consequences (if any) are mine. You cannot talk about free will in one breathe, while attempting to take away free will in another. It's hypocritical.
Do what is best for you according to your own conscious and let others do the same.
I just do not believe you are hindering someones free will by shielding / protecting them. Especially if they do not know it. I personally do not believe in heaven and hell. Just the spirit worlds. :-)
It is no different than if a Christian prays for an Athiest to be protected from evil. It does not hinder the Athiest free will to shield them in my opinion. Not trying to be combative. I just do not see protection spells being the same as love spells when it comes to free will.
The main issue to this is morality and ethics are subjective. Everyone has different beliefs and I don't believe any ones is more right. There really isn't anything set in stone and people need to realize that. Hitler didn't know he was doing 'wrong', he throughly believed he was doing the right thing. And so did almost everyone in Germany. They loved their leader.
True it is a subjective topic. There are however certain things everyone knows are wrong. I disagree Hitler did not know he was wrong. Pesident G. W. Bush claims that holding ' suspected ' terrorists indefinately without a trial in Cuba is fine but he knows how wrong it is. He is simply doing wrong for the right reasons as was Hitler. He knew gassing people to death was wrong but felt the right reasons outweighed it. That little thing called conscionce tells us all, it is still wrong. It is possible, however that I am wrong and this is merely another opinion.
I'm going to have to disagree. I think hitler felt like a hero and I don't think he thought gassing them was wrong. I think he thought it was a justice and enjoyed doing it. And almost nobody is like "omg I'm evil haha look at me". It's almost always like "I'm doing something you don't agree with".
Everyone's conscious Is different and everyone has different beliefs. Those terrorists don't think they are doing anything wrong, they see it as their duty from their god to fight. They might think it's for the greater good but they also think it's ok because they can convince themselves that the victims deserve it.
Fair points. Perhaps Hitler, Bush, Terrorists and anyone else doing wrong are irrational and did not see it as wrong. I believe they new it was wrong and figured the ends justified the means. What is that old expression? ' The Road to Hell is paved with good intentions ' The majority of people I should hope are rational enough to find it unethical and amoral. I guess that proves the point I was debating against. The rules of ethics and morals are subjective of individual beliefs.
When it comes to spellcrafting, it's not moral ot ethics that matters imho
For every spell we cast, we alone are responsible, and we should be very careful in doing spells regarding another's free will.
In the olden days, spells, lore, knowledge, etc were verbally passed down from Witch to Witch, Shaman to Shamen..... This...internet 'let's ' play witchcraft is an insult to our forefathers in witchcraft. They would never have handed their knowledge to someone irresponsible.
Here on the net, youngsters see sites like these, and end up playing with things that are more dangerous than they can comprehend.
Playing with Witchcraft and not comprehending what its all about, is like driving a.car without brakes and a steering wheel. A crash is unavoidable.
