More and more I am learning about how much God values mankind's free will. More than almost anything we can even begin to imagine, the preservation of our free will is something He will not compromise.
How do I dare say such a thing? Because there's a bit of evidence supporting this, all the way back as far as you care to go. Hitler, Genghis Khan, Robert Mugabe, Adam (he of Eden fame) all enjoyed free will that really they didn't deserve. People complain how there can be a loving God when people like Adolf existed - so in this case, God should have over-ridden free will and stopped him, surely?
He didn't spare his own Son on a cross on a hill called Calvary, He let free will flow even then, Adolf Hitler is not even on the same scale of significance.
As much as the next man, I'd like God to intervene more, over-rule us when we do something bad, or wrong, or stupid, but then we would never have to think about the consequences of our actions, would we? Responsibility is ours, God respects and loves us too much to remove that freedom. Given his supreme power, authority and knowledge, its a pretty crazy position to take - knowing there are all these tiny humans with their limited insight and tendency to do the wrong thing, and yet to let them do it, let them hurt themselves and others.
I think God shows unbelievable self-restraint in light of this. And so I lean towards the opinion that its not a lack of love on His part that means the absence of divine intervention, but a love so great that means we will never have our free will taken away from us.
We will always be able to choose.
3 comments:
"God should have over-ridden free will and stopped him, surely?"
Sure, there are ways to leave free will and limit actions if you are an omnipotent being...
Even without omniscience I can easily come up with a way to do that... How about a meteor striking Hitler? How about miraculous appearance of more alcohol in the pints of beer that Hitler was drinking at the right moment just to make him drunk enough not to be able to deliver his speeches that attracted his supporters?
Just remember that even if you had free will (the science (neurology and physics) actually strongly leans towards deterministic behavior of the brain) - you are still limited by certain limitations - such as laws of nature, etc - limiting your actions.
Essentially you are just saying that god is not intervening (the god's effect on the universe is nil) so as to not violate free will. But then you are implicitly believe that god is actually intervening by at least inspiring the creation of bible. Sure he had to affect free will of the people writing the bible? Didn't he?
So out of your post and science knowledge I have, I can only conclude that:
* your beliefs are inconsistent :)
* all the evidence points to the fact that there is no god
The concept of free will is simply used to strengthen the arguments for adherence to belief and in particular the reward/retribution part of that.
If you believe in god, i.e. you choose to, then you will be rewarded with ever-lasting life. If not, which is also your choice according to free will, you will likey end up in hell (or at the very least not in heaven).
But for a supreme being who created an entire universe including all space and time, he (or she) will be aware of what choices you are going to make (which can be influenced by alot of things out of your control) and will therefore be condeming you to hell by NOT intervening.
Lack of intervention also brings into question the whole idea of prayer and organised religion - if god will not intervene, thus preserving free will, what is the point of praying to ask for help? Also what is the point of any organisation built around prayer and worship?
I'm just glad you're both interested enough to be thinking about this stuff, never mind that you have different views to mine (definitely a good thing :-)
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