|
|
Re: What?
by Schizo on Jul 28, 2001 - 12:28 AM
(User info | Send a Message)
|
No, you didn't make your beliefs public. I'm OK with that.
Free will does not cause suffering. Misused free will causes suffering. Well-used free will relieves suffering.
God made mankind. But He only shapes those portions of mankind that allow Him to. By His own rules, He cannot interfere with a person's choices without that person's direct permission. He may control the circumstances around them, but not the person itself.
Not that He is unable, but He is unwilling, because people were designed as companions, not slaves. The moment He starts tinkering with free will, all His friends turn into robots.
This allows mankind to become the enemy of God. And because God is the embodiment of all that is good, to become an enemy of God is to become an enemy of good. Therefore, evil is allowed into the world. War, hate, pain, sickness, all that is wrong and hurts on earth is here as a result of rebellion against God, the source of life and joy.
But because God is more powerful than man, He is able to transform even the mangled results of man's wayward behavior. And so man struggles in his painful world, and through his struggling either wounds himself or strengthens himself, as he chooses either rebellion's way or the way of life.
God, being not only omnipotent, but omnicient, knew at the creation of the universe and its inhabitants, that this would happen. And he knew that without resistance nothing can become strong. And things fought for and won are sweeter than those easily aquired. Apparently He thought it worth both His and our while for this to happen. I agree with Him.
Note: this is intended as discussion and debate, and is in no way intended to judge one person or another as "in rebellion" or not. This is a statement of what I believe, given in response to a challenge to what I believe.
One thing more - you may ask, what about the people who are crushed beneath the pain and never learn to fight through? God, being omnipotent and omniscient, and also benevolent, has provided a chance for every human on the face of the earth. We cannot always control the circumstances around us. Often we cannot control our feelings. But we can control our attitudes. I have no right to preach to anyone else about this. I am talking primarily to myself. If I do not have an attitude of defeat, then I am not defeated. You are not conquered until you surrender.
|
|
|