What if God ... Part 3 - The aftermath of free will

What if God ... Part 3 - The aftermath of free will - by P.K.Odendaal - March 2014. 

So, now we have decided that we have free will after all. But what are its implications.

Firstly we can do what we like ... well maybe not everything. We cannot decide to spend the day on Mars - or such other trivial places. But ... why not? Surely I am body, mind, soul and spirit and my mind, soul and spirit are not tied to my body and are free to roam where they wish. So, my mind, soul and spirit can wander around Mars or anywhere else, for the day - nothing prevents me. If we think about Mars and imagine its surroundings and let our thoughts take flight ... then we are there.

Is there a difference between my body being on Mars vis a vis my mind, soul and spirit being there? I do not think so. If we think there is, we need to reconsider who and what we are. Our bodies are really only a vessel for our mind, soul and our spirit, although it is the only tangible object observable in the physical world or domain we call planet earth.

And that brings me to the nature of God.

To really understand that, we must first take a trip to Flatland. I do not wish to get into technical details here, as I will later do an article on the fourth dimension, but suffice it to say that a sphere is not observable in Flatland - a very interesting place where only two dimensions can be observed. A sphere passing through Flatland will look like a flat circular disc.

The next question which begs itself then is: what do I look like when my mind, soul and spirit traverses Mars? I mean, what will I look like to a sentient being which is in touch with its soul and spirit as we say. Remember that we have lost our touch with reality and with our soul and spirit when we ate from that famous tree which I talk about such a lot - that one still standing in Eden.

And then the next question which is then begged is: what will God look like when He passes through Cubic land, of which planet Earth is a type. If we were in touch with our soul and spirit, would we notice Him and how would He look like? You guessed it ... He visited us once and He looked like this ... Isa 53 v:2 ... he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. 3.  He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4.  Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

Some people find it strange that Jesus Christ was said to be human with no godlike powers, when he lived and died on earth. They would propose that Jesus Christ, being God in the flesh, must have had godly powers, but what they fail to realise, is that God cannot live or be contained in a human  body. Scripture says that Jesus Christ only had that part of God within himself which could live and be sustained in man - and He had that fully. That is what we now term the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, but that did not give Him any godly power. If anymore of God could live and be sustained in man than the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, then God would surely have given us that.

Enough of that for now - I will return to this camping site later in the series.

What I need to address is: what are the implications of free will, apart from giving us almost unfettered access to any thought and deed? The implications are vast, far-reaching and even fateful and risky - the implications are ... wait for it ... Responsibility. If we received such a rich gift - the one of free will, it is our responsibility and duty to care for it and use it with due diligence - and there is the rub, as Shakespeare would say.

However - whatever we think or do, we regard ourselves as not responsible for any of our deeds or actions ... well ... there are exceptions, but Adam was quite adamant about his innocence. He did what we all do and blamed his wife and the serpent.

A short allegorical tale of things in the physical world will demonstrate this, but keep in mind the spiritual connotations.

My father one day gave me a brand new Mercedes Benz (or was it a GMC) as a gift, just for me being his child. He instructed me partially in its operation by giving me the handbook which is issued with the motorcar and urged me to read it and to take note of the limitations and dangerous aspects of this hot-rod. At first I was quite happy to only drive on tarred or paved roads, but after a while this became a bit boring. So the next thing is that I tried some off-road stuff and even very muddy and overgrown places where lions lay in ambush, waiting for its prey. Instead of veering away from these dangerous creatures, I tried to chase them, play with them, taunt them and even stroke them. One day on one of these excursions into unknown land, the motorcar wheel hit a rock, it turned over, breaking all the glass, and I was not able to match the speed of the lions in this chase which was now in the reverse order. In fact, I had sustained some injuries in the crash which also impeded my sight and hearing - and of course my agility.

So while I served as breakfast for this beast, I murmured and mumbled words in my thoughts to my father, now far away, that he had indeed given me a vile plaything - a thing which could not adjust to conditions in the wild. Of course I also did not notice the reply my father gave me to the effect that he meant me to use the motorcar in terms of the owners-manual, because I was now hard of hearing due to my excursions and the temptations I gave myself over to in the wild. Of course, I will never admit responsibility - neither will I admit free will in my actions of leaving the straight and narrow road. I would bemoan the fact that this world was such an unreasonable and dangerous place, rife with pain and grief - things which I am now in and which I cannot control, but am an innocent victim to.

This allegory rings so true in the lives of many of us - but that is what God has to put up with - hearing us blaming Him for the position we find ourselves in - being eaten by lions in this place where we cannot see the trees for the wood - or is that vice versa? We remind Him that we have no responsibility in this situation we are finding ourselves in, and blame Him for making places where one can be had by lions or other such beautiful animals. It is just not fair!

If we cannot take responsibility for the actions we initiate by virtue of the exercise of our free will, or our lack of exercising it, or even our notion to not believe in it, then we cannot start on road of reconciliation and fulfilment with God.

Remember, it is not God who ate from that tree - He only warned us!