Nobody knows what horrors God has saved us from 'cuz people can't see what never happened. All evil flows from independence, and independence is your choice. If God were to simply revoke all the choices of independence, the world as we know it would cease to exist and love would have no meaning. This world is not a playground where God keeps all of His children free from evil. Evil is the chaos of this age that we bring to God, but evil will not have the final say. Now it touches everyone that God loves, those who follow Him and those who don't. If God takes away the consequences of people's choices, He would destroy the possibility of love. Love that is forced is no love at all.Why is this hard to grasp? Well, it is probably because we have such a small view of what it means to be human. You and the rest of this Creation are incredible, whether we understand it or not. You are wonderful beyond imagination. Just because we make horrendous and destructive choices does not mean we deserve less respect for what we inherently are--the pinnacle of God's creation and the center of His affection.
...more tomorrow
thoughts from "The Shack"
thoughts from "The Shack"
g-ram
4 comments:
Well put Graham. I would like to argue though that free will is not just the reason that evil exists, but also the reason that good exists as well. If you saw a man with no hands you would not think "good, now he can't punch any one, or steal anything" rather you would think of all the good things he couldn't do. In the same way when we use free will to do good, we honor God and show him our love and obedience.
Hmm, Jeff has some great thoughts. I enjoyed yours, too, Graham! I thoroughly enjoyed The Shack. It had some very deep insights on God's Love and how it works.
It was great to see you again this past Sunday! Hope you're having a good week!
Amanda
Well I do like your thought process Jeff but I think I would have to say that God is the reason that good exists. God IS good and so it is His character that brings good. If we were good also we, by our free will, would always chose to be like God and therefore be good. However, it is the goodness and love of God that allows free will and free will is what we use to bring evil, selfishness and sin into the world. God is the reason for good, not us.
I would agree with you there. I wasn't so much saying that good comes from people, for none are good but God, but rather that God would not give us a gift so that we can do evil, but good. it is our own sinful nature that takes the gift and uses it for evil.
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