Many who believe in God explain evil in this world by saying that God
gives us free will. In other words, he gives us the freedom to choose
good or bad actions. The rationality being that he wants us to choose to
love him and each other freely, without coercion.
But those of
you that have children, and I would assume you love them more than
anything, do you let them choose between good actions and bad actions?
Are they free to run around your house and do anything they want, for
example set the house on fire, steal from your neighbors, hurt
themselves, hurt each other?
If you went to someone's house, and
you saw them allowing their children to do these things, what would you
say about that parent? Would you say, "oh clearly this parent loves
their children so much that they give them the freedom to do whatever
they want so that when the child does the right thing they're doing it
freely!" ???
Why do we apply one set of logic to "God" and another logic to humans?
When something terrible, like 9/11 happens, do we say "oh look evidence
of God's work in the world, evidence of God's love for us, of our
freedom to choose?"
Or do we lash out at the perpetrators, and
hold them accountable, and punish them using human laws, human prisons,
and human punishments?
If our faith in God was absolute, why
wouldn't we allow them the same freedom of choice that God does? If we
don't, does it mean we don't love our neighbor as God does?
When
we punish our children, or at least attempt to direct their behavior
towards what we consider best, are we being less than God? Or are we
exercising our common sense that if a child is not directed in terms of
how to act in a way that is best for themselves and others then there
will be consequences that affect others and ultimately will come back on
the child.
So do you raise your children allowing their complete freedom of will like God? Or do YOU decide what is BEST?
Or are we perhaps abusing the concept of "free will" ? How can we
define free will in a way that doesn't create unintended consequences?
Because the current definition ALLOWS and JUSTIFIES abuse. And yet, we
don't even apply this definition universally. As individuals, we tend to
apply this definition to justify OUR actions and thoughts and beliefs
that are not best, and yet we hold everyone else to the standard of
paying for their actions, thoughts, and beliefs when they hurt other
people or ourselves especially.
What if the true meaning of "free
will" is the freedom to always choose what is BEST in any given
situation? Whether you believe in "truth" or not, at the very least,
doesn't this definition serve us and others better?
Of course,
in the way the world works today, it is not always possible to choose
what is best from the bigger perspective, because we have to survive.
And so we all do things that we know are not best because if we don't,
ultimately it's a lot harder to survive in this world. In self honesty,
don't you observe that those who are the most dishonest, the best liars,
the best cheaters, the best abusers, tend to make the most money? You
may say that people get what they have coming, but deep down you know
that isn't true. Because otherwise you would never blame anyone in any
position at any level of society for any problems in this world. Because
they would've got what they had coming and would not be allowed or be
able to continue in the position they are in. There would be no oil
cartels, drug cartels, monopolies, starvation, suffering. With enough
money you can virtually avoid justice in this world. And you know what
I'm saying is true.
The fact is, saying that God allows free will
gives you permission to participate in a system of abuse, for example
our money system, while billions starve and lack basic necessities.
If God were here on earth, wouldn't he do something about this
situation? Isn't that what Jesus attempted to do? And yet the world
crucified him. Is that what you fear for yourself? Are you not actually
free to exercise your will due to fear?
Did God allow Jesus to
have free will? What does it say in the Bible, that God so loved the
world that he sent his only son to die for OUR sins?
What parent would do that? A loving one?
So, if we are to exercise our free will properly, knowing that we have a
system of abuse in this world, wouldn't that imply that even within
that limitation, proper use of our free will would be to choose in
every moment that which would support a change in the system that would
free us from the bonds of a system of slavery, abuse, and competition
for survival?
Isn't that what Jesus would do?
Self honesty
means looking at your beliefs within commonsense, not justifying your
own self interest and fear, but based on considering the actual
consequences of holding such beliefs.
Are you self honest enough
to see the common sense in what I'm saying here? Can you forgive
yourself if it turns out that you've been wrong this whole time? Or have
you given the power to forgive away to something/someone external to
you, which is the essence of mysticism?
And what does it mean to
take the Lord's name in vain if not to use his name to justify abuse,
when He put you on this earth to use your God-given common sense to make
it the heaven that it could be.
See you in the comments.