I do not believe for a moment that God orchestrates our lives or the events that occur around us. If you believe that whatever happens is God's will you must logically conclude that both the good and evil things that happen are God's will?
Good things that happens to us, (loving families, success in our endeavors, personal happiness) can not be attributed to God's actions in our life unless we also attribute the bad things to Him. To adhere to such a concept makes God responsible when a three year old baby gets raped or an elderly and infirm woman is abused by her children. I can not believe it is His will that a four year old child should get beaten to death. Evil exists in this world and it is independent of God!
If you accept the statement in this meme then you must believe that evil humans like Adolph Hitler, Pol Pot, Joseph Stalin, Mao Tse-tung, Ted Bundy, Hillary Clinton, Fred Phelps, Margaret Sanger, Joe Biden, Osama bin Laden, and Barrack bin Obama are sanctified, hallowed and welcomed into the presence of God in Heaven since, according to the meme, God endorsed their actions because it was his will! Really? It is repulsive to embrace a philosophy that concludes that God, our Father, endorses and embraces evil and is the source and author of evils like rape, battering, alcoholism, genocide, and terrorism (ISIS, KKK, ANTIFA) and socialism. Such a philosophy is evil on its face!
I believe that God, our Father, placed within each of us a tiny spark of himself. It is certainly his will for us to care for that spark and let the winds of righteousness grow that spark into a beautiful flame! But, it is our choice to do so! It is also our choice to ignore that spark but doing so opens the door to our becoming evil! By nurturing that spark we become in tune with Him and develop within ourselves the ability to discern evil and reject it. As children of our earthly parents, we learn from them and become like them. But, we have the option to reject them, if they are evil in their heart. The same holds true with our Father in Heaven; as we learn to reject evil by our own choice and progress, we become more like Him.
This internet meme rejects the idea that humans are expected or even able to make their own choices! The meme is repulsive!
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Omniscience is confused with predestination and predetermination. I have no doubt that God can know how and what I will do without causing it to happen.
ReplyDeleteThe best example is my own kids, especially my middle child, DeAnn. She was headstrong, determined and consequences be damned! I looked out the windows and both my daughters had climbed on top of the car. I yelled at them to "Get off the car!" I ran out the front door. Andria (my eldest) climbed down via the front bumper. DeAnn stood up and JUMPED from the top of the car. I knew she would do that, hence, I ran out the front door because I knew my headstrong daughter would jump and I was going to try to catch her. I didn't need a broken leg! Fortunately she did not get hurt. The point is I KNEW! There was no doubt, no question, she would jump. I was telling her not to jump. Didn't matter, she was gonna jump, no matter what daddy said! She made her own decision.
We bought her a pretty pink "Big Wheel" trike. (She was three years old.) We had a long conversation before she ever sat on it that she absolutely could NOT ride that thing in the street!!! She took it outside on the walk by the front door. She sat down on the seat, kicked into high gear and shot down the walk to the driveway, turned right down the drive and into the street. She got there at the speed of light! I chased her down and took the trike away for an hour. Let her have it again. Down the driveway and into the street! I took it away for a day. We had another talk. She PROMISED she would not go in the street. This time she rode the trike to the edge of the driveway, stopped, turned and looked at me. I thought, I WON! HA! She turned back, kicked it into high gear and down the street she went. Locked that trike up for a week! And, after that, I stood at the end of the driveway and physically guarded the exit! (Fortunately, we lived on a dead end street and there was very little traffic.)
The point is that in spite of the commandments (Thou shalt NOT ride thy Big Wheel in the street), in spite of all the explanations of consequences of making the wrong choice (Thy Big Wheel shall be taken away) and (Thou mayest get hit by a passing car), she chose to ride the trike in the street. There was never any doubt in my mind that she would go in the street! I was omniscient in that question but my knowledge did not make her break the commandment. She chose it, even knowing the consequence. I could have forced the choice because I was also omnipotent but she would not have learned anything. I don't know if she ever actually learned the lesson because I exercised my omnipotence and guarded the exit! LOL!!