Posts Tagged: God’s gift of free will

OF PARASAILING, GOD’S VIEW OF THINGS, AND THE DUBIOUS GIFT OF FREE WILL”

On February 11, 2018 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

Sometimes I like to serve God, but only in an advisory capacity.  I forget that God is God, and I am not.  I doubt that I am entirely alone in this regard.

Take a recent morning while my wife and I were on vacation.  I was thinking about the fact that there was so much bad news in our world, and said to my wife, “I know that God knows what God is doing, but I doubt it when it comes to giving us free will.  All we seem to do with free will is to harm ourselves and others.”

My wife said nothing.  She has learned not to get my way when I’m busy being a heretic.

A couple of hours later, I was rising into the air in my first parasailing experience.  I wasn’t scared; I was filled with delight.  It is one thing to see the ocean and clouds and the sun from the ground.  It is another to see them (and the beach) from above the waves.  I felt as if I was seeing the island where we were visiting the way God sees it.

And then, I felt God speaking to my mind.  “So, child, if I had not given humans free will, no one would ever have developed parasailing, and you could not have chosen to go parasailing on this lovely day.”

I did not sense God’s displeasure when I felt that God said this to me.  If anything, there was amusement.  But I was properly brought up short.

I am reminded of something my dad used to say: “There’s nothing wrong with the world; it’s just the people in it.”  So, here is my take on this: “There’s nothing wrong with free will; it’s just people’s use of their free will that’s the problem.”

So, my job is not to critique God’s gifts, but to make good use of them—including the use of free will.

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