Hi Ray,
Just read more of your papers in your web site and noticed that you disagreed with the common teaching in church which is that men have free will. You wrote several long articles on the subject which I didn’t have time to finish reading. But is it really that hard to prove the claim or disprove it? I believe I have free will.
When Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge and knowingly disobeyed God, they had their free will.
When Cain murdered his brother, nobody twisted his arms -- he had his free will.
Today when a person clearly sees that there is God and still decides to pursue life his own way, he has his free will.
Please don’t make it more complicated than it should be. Sometimes too deep a thinking confuses oneself. Here is another case where the saying from the Bible can be perfectly applied – the smartness of the world is stupidity in God’s eyes.
“Cause and effect” is the fundamental law in the physical universe, but it cannot explain everything. When a serial killer is on trial, the modern practice of legal assistance to him is to blame his childhood, his background, the abuse he received for his deeds. Then who should be responsible for the killing? His parents? Then his grandparents? Then eventually God? No wonder you want salvation for everybody! Because it is all God’s fault! Because He is responsible and He owes us! How can I or you or anyone swallow that?
Let me provide another way of explaining “God created evil”. With a little background in physics, it is not difficult to understand that darkness doesn’t exist – it is the absence of light; coldness doesn’t exist – it is the absence of heat. That’s why you cannot make darkness darker or coldness colder (than -273K). But you can always make the light brighter and the heat warmer. Similarly, evil cannot be an independent existence – it is the absence of goodness. When God’s goodness is rejected, what is left is evil. So, did God create evil? (He must be evil Himself if He created things of that kind.) Or evil was created by the rejection of God by some free will?
Apparently you don’t appreciate your free will that much. But free will, even in its corrupted and degenerated form, is one of the most (if not the most) important attributes we human beings have as God’s images. And that was from God’s ultimate love for us. What more could He have given us that would make us more like Him?
I’m an engineer. And I know that if I made something easily, then I didn’t do the best job I could. But if I go to the limit of my ability to do a best possible job, then very likely I could fail. I’m not saying that God had failed in His creation. But I believe that God made us His highest creation and so lovingly and generously and endowed us with the qualities He treasures that He was willing to take the risk of us going against Him. And free will is a gift of that caliber.
Please believe that God is a good God and God is a wise God and God is a loving God. He is perfect and He does not contradict Himself.
Love in Christ.
Ke
Dear Ke: Obviously you believe that you have free will, but you are wrong. Maybe you should have read all of my article. You state, "Cause and effect cannot explain everything." Oh really? Evil "is the absence of goodness." Oh really? And just where do you come up with this unscriptural nonsense? "Darkness doesn't exist." Oh really? Are you not aware of the fact that God "created" (making that which did not previously exist) darkness (Isa. 45:7)? What a crock! To bad you can't make our Nashville Conference.
God be with you,
Ray
