Re: Does God have Free Will?
Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2008 10:20 pm
I wish I could remember the verse or verses where Paul writes of this, about the creation questioning the creator, but I can't, and it's too late today for me to be doing a lot of digging. I don't think I'm taking the bible or God blindly. I had doubts about God for a long time - I didn't become a Christian until I was 33. You said you like CS Lewis' works. Do you know how he became a Christian? He fought it a long time, but one day it just happened. He said that one moment while he was riding somewhere he didn't believe in God, and the next moment he did. Something happened to him - a switch or light went on in his soul. Something like that happened with me too, only a stronger thing than he described. Jesus himself made me know of him. If you know someone and you love them, and then they do something you don't understand, you don't automatically think they're bad. You give them the benefit of the doubt. Because I know personally that God is good, and I'm thankful for his salvation, I do try to understand Him. I'm aware of the unpleasant, hard-to-understand things in the bible, and certainly all of the awful things that happen now. I don't think I'm being naive in thinking that if you gave God a fair chance, that you'd understand Him more. And I'm very serious in saying that parts of His plan, perhaps most of it, are incomprehensible to us. That could lead to the same conclusion as some very good and intriguing stories: things are not what they seem.
As for thinking about things we don't understand, just think about time. Is it possible for us to understand any kind of life without time? Of course not. Yet He conceived of creation and knew of it all outside of time. I can't pretend to come near knowing what that truly means. That's where trust comes in. In the end, I mean a person's physical end, either you trust Him or you don't.
This is an afterthought, although related to my previous post. The Adam and Eve story goes deeper, I believe, than what is at first obvious. Humankind chose knowledge over life. Humans just love knowledge, don't they? And it's good. But it's not good to think that your knowledge is above God's gift of life. It seems like the pride in knowledge is what is keeping so many people from believing in God, and it's what is said about our first ancestors, Adam and Eve.
As for thinking about things we don't understand, just think about time. Is it possible for us to understand any kind of life without time? Of course not. Yet He conceived of creation and knew of it all outside of time. I can't pretend to come near knowing what that truly means. That's where trust comes in. In the end, I mean a person's physical end, either you trust Him or you don't.
This is an afterthought, although related to my previous post. The Adam and Eve story goes deeper, I believe, than what is at first obvious. Humankind chose knowledge over life. Humans just love knowledge, don't they? And it's good. But it's not good to think that your knowledge is above God's gift of life. It seems like the pride in knowledge is what is keeping so many people from believing in God, and it's what is said about our first ancestors, Adam and Eve.