Tuesday, November 04, 2003
predestination vs. free will
i don't remember if i blogged about this when i came back from big bear... but you all know the argument: God gave us free will, but He knows what the outcome will be and no matter what we do, we'll end up where His plan guides us to be. so doesn't that mean, we don't really have free will? they're seemingly contradictory thoughts. it's more like fate vs. free will.
here's a letter i wrote to a friend on the subject:
we were having a discussion once about predestination vs. free will. gl and another friend of mine were actually having this rather heated discussion where the two ideas contradicted each other. both are very logical engineers and in the end, it was decided that they were trying to logically work through the difference of the two ideas, but with God, there isn’t necessarily a logic, it’s faith that allows us to believe in both. a good and christian resolution, but not entirely settled.
i recently went up to big bear on that retreat I told you about with the sacred heart sisters. i asked sister jennifer what she thought about it and it was explained in a similar way that you spoke about in your november 2 blog. sister ida (their founder) described it like this: imagine you’re on a high cliff overlooking l.a. and the freeways. you can see what’s going on and you can see the good drivers and the bad moves. you can see the path where the drivers can pass safely and the irresponsible and dangerous paths as well. while you can see all the possiblities, you cannot control the drivers. this is God’s omniscience- He knows all and can see all. he can see all the possiblities for our lives, with whatever choices we make. however, with all his vision, he cannot control us and our decision. we still have free will. what’s nice is, like what you said, he has an optimum plan. he wishes for our ultimate joy to be with Him and He’s got a plan laid out for what is the BEST for us. if we choose something else, we may be happy there too because he loves us, but maybe not AS happy as if we had chosen His best plan for us. i thought this analogy brought to understanding a confusion that most people have about predestination/free will. He can see all the possibilities for all of the choices we make in our lives. He’s got an optimum plan of what He wants for us, but in the end, we still have to choose it. we still have to choose HIM.
i needed to get that down before i forget it.
here's a letter i wrote to a friend on the subject:
we were having a discussion once about predestination vs. free will. gl and another friend of mine were actually having this rather heated discussion where the two ideas contradicted each other. both are very logical engineers and in the end, it was decided that they were trying to logically work through the difference of the two ideas, but with God, there isn’t necessarily a logic, it’s faith that allows us to believe in both. a good and christian resolution, but not entirely settled.
i recently went up to big bear on that retreat I told you about with the sacred heart sisters. i asked sister jennifer what she thought about it and it was explained in a similar way that you spoke about in your november 2 blog. sister ida (their founder) described it like this: imagine you’re on a high cliff overlooking l.a. and the freeways. you can see what’s going on and you can see the good drivers and the bad moves. you can see the path where the drivers can pass safely and the irresponsible and dangerous paths as well. while you can see all the possiblities, you cannot control the drivers. this is God’s omniscience- He knows all and can see all. he can see all the possiblities for our lives, with whatever choices we make. however, with all his vision, he cannot control us and our decision. we still have free will. what’s nice is, like what you said, he has an optimum plan. he wishes for our ultimate joy to be with Him and He’s got a plan laid out for what is the BEST for us. if we choose something else, we may be happy there too because he loves us, but maybe not AS happy as if we had chosen His best plan for us. i thought this analogy brought to understanding a confusion that most people have about predestination/free will. He can see all the possibilities for all of the choices we make in our lives. He’s got an optimum plan of what He wants for us, but in the end, we still have to choose it. we still have to choose HIM.
i needed to get that down before i forget it.
Comments:
Post a Comment
quotable quotes
-
"To try is to risk failure. But risk must be taken because the
greatest hazard of life is to risk nothing. The person who risks
nothing does nothing, has nothing, is nothing. He may avoid
suffering and sorrow, but he simply cannot learn, feel, change,
grow, live, and love."
~unknown
"It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues."
~ Abraham Lincoln
"live a life that others will remember years from now, NOT because it pointed to you but because of how it pointed to the One who made you."
~ Mark Hart, the Bible Geek
"we grow up learning to become self-reliant, but really we need to be God-reliant"
"we could learn a lot from crayons: some are sharp, some are pretty, some are dull, some have weird names, and all are different colors....but they all exist very nicely in the same box"
"never wound hearts that love u, never give them the endless pain, because wounded hearts are like roses that never bloom"
"there comes a time when we have to stop loving someone not because that person has stopped loving us but because we have found out that they'd be happier if we'd let go"
