God's Gift of Free Will

Anonymous asked for this post, so here it is.

(Ze asked me to cite chapter and verse, but, dude, go read the opening chapters of Genesis. It’s not hard to find. Here, I'll let you skip chapter 1; start with chapter 2 and read through to the end of chapter 3. If you don't like that version, find another, that's just the first one that Google spat out when I typed in "Genesis." I'm not going to argue details or individual words, I'm talking about the main events in the story. You can even read the LOLcats Bible, if you want.)

God gave us free will.

Adam and Eve chose to listen to the serpent and eat from the tree in the middle of the Garden, the only tree from which God told them they could NOT eat. Yet they did it anyway -- because God had given them free will. They made their own choice, followed their own will, not God's.

Now, if you remember, God is the Alpha and the Omega -- He knows all. He knew, before He went through the trouble of creating Adam and Eve, or the serpent, that Adam and Eve would eat from that tree. BUT HE LET THEM DO IT ANYWAY.

Adam and Eve controlled their own fate, but God knew what choices they would make and what that fate looked like. And God chose to NOT interfere with that.

If God did not want things to go that way, if He did not want Adam and Eve to disobey Him, why did He make it so easy for them to do so? He’s all-powerful. Could He really not manage to put a little fence or something around the tree? Or, heck, put the tree somewhere else, where Adam and Eve couldn’t get to it?

The only logical conclusion is that God wanted Adam and Eve to “screw up.” He wanted them to KNOW. He wanted them to make their own choices, and live the lives that we lead now, with the good and the bad and the ugly -- and everything else.

Because without evil, how do we know what "good" is? Without pain, loss, hardship, how do we know what "happy" is?

If we were still living in the Garden of Eden, would we understand how happy we would be? How could we, without having something to compare those “good” feelings to?

Yeah, maybe the very first (recorded) thing Adam and Eve do with their free will is something most of us would consider “unwise.” So what? Who cares what you think? God gave them the ability to make that choice, and I happen to think God does things for a reason. Maybe you think God’s kind of stupid and didn’t know what He was doing... I happen to think He knew exactly what he was doing.

He chose to create Man and Woman, and He chose to let them “muck things up” like this.

What you personally think of Adam and Eve’s choices is completely irrelevant in this conversation. What you personally think God’s choice to grant us free will is also irrelevant. And, if I may, perhaps a little blasphemous? But, hey, if you want to question God, that’s up to you. Have fun.

The fact remains: God gave us free will. Because He wants us to make our own choices. That includes women, and what they chose to do to and with their bodies.

Dear Biblethumpers: You're doing it wrong. And making the rest of us look bad.

Dear Biblethumpers:

Stop. Please STOP.

You don't get it. You're doing it wrong, and you're making the rest of us look bad.

You're making those of us who were already on (what you claim to be) your side want to jump ship.

So quit it. Stop the hate, stop the intolerance, stop the stupidity.

Thanks,

Criss.

So, apparently, today on Twitter someone started a #nogod hashtag. I saw it this morning; didn't like some of the stuff I saw tweeted, because, since I do believe in God, those insults included me as well.

But then this afternoon I saw this. And, really, how can you argue with that?

When I see stuff like the #nogod hashtag/trending topic, or people defending atheism by condemning Christianity, part of me has to agree with them. I mean, look at what those people were saying? Really?

I know when people attack God and religion and Christianity they are not attacking me, they are not really saying I'm stupid because I believe in a higher power and go to church. They are attacking those who blindly follow a leader who tells them pretty things. And they are attacking those leaders who twist the words they read in the Bible for their own twisted, hateful, small-minded bigotry; those who use the Bible and religion to control.

And so many of the people on Twitter who claim to be "Christians" spew so much hate against anyone who might perhaps think just a little differently than they, and they do it "in God's name." It's hard not to hate them back. I can't blame the people who were using the #nogod hashtag.

I know I'm not the nicest person in the world. I know I have a huge issue with forgiveness -- I don't give it. I spew hate on my blog. But I don't do it "in God's name." I don't condemn you to Hell because God says so. I don't tell you God's going to send you to Hell.

I also have enough faith in my faith, and I believe what I believe strongly enough that some stupid hashtag isn't going to threaten my faith or my beliefs. Do you think God cares about that stupid #nogod hashtag? Puh-leeez! There are several hashtags that probably hurt God, but #nogod wasn't one of them. #lame, #retarded, #gay... I bet God feels a stab or two when he reads those. (And I'd give you more, but frankly I don't look at the trending topics and don't follow hashtags other than #prochoice, #NaNoWriMo... and that's about it.)

Yesterday, one of the students in my tutoring group asked me if it was true that the Bible says piercings are bad.

Dude, I really don't think they had body piercing parlours in Nazareth. Or am I missing something? Did Judas have an eyebrow ring? Was the reason Sara had such a hard time conceiving because she had a belly-button ring? Didn't take it out until she was, like, eighty, and that's when she finally got pregnant?

No, the kid was talking about the Bible saying your body is a temple. So you shouldn't get a piercing or a tattoo.

I tried to explain to the kid that he should be much more worried about what kind of food he eats -- puts in his temple -- than about an earring. But he wasn't paying attention.

An authority figure, his parents, or a priest/preacher, told him the Bible says this and this is what it means. Period, end of story.

"You can't get a piercing or a tattoo, because the Bible says that's bad. God will hate you. And you will go to Hell."

"Oh. Okay."

What about respecting your body? Taking care of yourself? Eating right? Exercising? Loving your body as it is, instead of telling yourself you are too fat? Too tall? Too short? Your body is a gift from God, God made you just the way He/She wanted you to be. Love your body, it was custom-made for you.

No? That part's not important?

Nope, just the "no-piercings" part.

Eat all the high-fructose corn syrup you want, and stay on the couch all day playing your stupid XBox. That's what the Bible says.

What most people tell you the Bible says is rarely ever what it does say. Too many people take one line, one verse, and tell you the Bible says THIS. They ignore the pages upon pages of Jesus telling them to "love one another, as I have loved you."

That's what the Bible says. That's what religion faith is. That's what I believe in.

And I wish others would stop ruining it for me, dammit.

I Know You're There, God. (It's Me, Criss.)

I've always known You were there. It's always been a given. However, I didn't always feel I could talk to You, or ask You for help.

That's one of the things that struck me about Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret: here was this girl who "didn't have" a religion, because one parent was Catholic and the other Jewish and they raised her as neither, but she had a much closer connection to You than I did. She talked to You all the time, and asked You stuff... and I didn't.

Then again, the Catholic Church isn't that keen on us talking to You directly. They want us to talk to You through them -- we go to confession and tell them what we did, and they tell us if You forgive us or not*. We're supposed to go to them to find out what the Bible says, instead of reading it for ourselves.

They also told me other stuff, that I'm sure they didn't mean to sound the way it came out. Perhaps they weren't counting on a 10-year-old trusting them and believing them so faithfully... who knows. Either way, they told me that You didn't like when people "put God in the closet, with moth balls, and only took Him out when they needed something." I didn't want to be one of those people. So I was scared to take You out of the closetand ask You for anything.

I didn't think I could talk to You.

I've started to get over that. This crisis has helped a lot. I have known for a while now (since I joined the Lutheran Church) that You don't hate me, and that You're not going to send me to hell. That's not the way You work; it just doesn't make sense.

I've known for a while now that I can talk to You, and that You like to hear from me. (And others.) But it was still hard. That shy-girl part of me, and the years of Catholic rule, still made me think I was not worthy of asking You for help.

But I can ask You for help now. And I know You are helping me. I know You're there.

Like this morning, when Unpleasant Student said goodbye to me in her snippy, unpleasant way, but You made me say, "Bye, have a good day" automatically, in an honest, pleasant tone, and then You let it just roll off.

You do have a twisted sense of humor sometimes, though. I guess being around for all Eternity would lead to quite a bit of boredom. Which is why the pen I grabbed this morning was leaking ink, staining my fingers black for the rest of the day (because it had to be during first period, didn't it?) And why somebody decided to slam my door shut during the passing period, who knows why (at least it was before my conference period, so I didn't need the door to be open). And why seventh period decided to -- well, You know. You were there.

I've been doing a lot of talking to You lately, but I've also been trying to listen. It's hard. I sure wish You weren't so cryptic.

Patience has never been one of my virtues. Neither has listening (who, me? Loudmouth? Bossy? ... Well, yeah). But I'm trying... I'll figure it out one of these days. (You'll help me, right?)

Thanks for chatting with me. And for, You know, being there.



*PS: they told me You did not. I know now that You don't work the way they told me You did, but I'm still bitter about it. I mean, who tells a 10-year-old she's going to hell???