Free Will, Choices and Responsibility

Good question, Damage limitation. I hope I don't regret trying to answer it.

I'm not a Christian, but nevertheless I will try to answer the question according to my limited efforts in trying to understand God. I don't assume that you're an English teacher in China, but if you were, I'm sure like many FTs you would notice the general over-reliance that Chinese students have on their teachers. The word initiative doesn't seem to be in the Chinese dictionary, at least when it comes to education. So I'm sure, like others including myself when faced with this and other incongruities we at least try to teach students not only what this word means, but how to put it into practice. We work at helping students to become more responsible, mature, and self-reliant. Yes we "dare" to ask and help students use their "initiative" and to try to encourage them to walk, without hanging onto the "apron strings" of their teachers all the time.

There are at least two occasions in the Old Testament where man indicates the desire to make his own choices and decisions, independent of God. The first major occurrence of this is relayed to us in Genesis, during the account of "the fall of man." Instead of listening to everything that God tells him, Adam decides what he is going to do for himself. He eats the forbidden fruit and as a result, forfeits an everlasting relationship with God. Then with his wife, he is cast out of the paradise of the garden of Eden. Adam chose independence, because God gave him FREE WILL.

The second occurence of man's will for independence occurs later. This account can be read in "1 Samuel chapter 8" when many among God's chosen people, Israel, called for an earthly human king. Up until that point God himself had been their king. If you read the whole of that chapter you will see that God warned his people Israel, of the consequences of their actions in great detail, and he gave them plenty of opportunity to change their minds. As God had endowed them with free will, however, and wanted his people to follow him out of CHOICE, he allowed them to select a human king to rule over them. Please look at the following link.

http://members.aol.com/abidingitw/godking.html

Now some say that as Adam was perfect he should have not been able to do wrong. Some people want to have their cake and eat it. We as humans need to decide what we want. Do we want to be automatons that are totally programmed to do everything that God commands us, or do we want to enjoy free will, which gives us the oppportunity to make our own decisions as to what is best for us? God gave us the capacity to use our initiative, and to think for ourselves. Is that not merciful and wise? With freedom, though, comes responsibility. We have to suffer the consequences of our actions. This is where we learn and grow as people. We know through experience that smoking can cause cancer and kill us. Should we blame God because people exercise their free will to smoke and die as a result of it? Would we rather God denied us the choice of smoking or not? We learn that eating plenty of good fruit and vegetables is good for our health and will help us to live longer. Does God FORCE us to eat those things? No, but I'm sure he wants us to use our initiative and make the choice to do so based on the fact that we appreciate the life and body that he gave us and thus wish to look after and prolong it.

Some may say that the earthquake was a natural disaster. Well, it was, but the results of tens of thousands of people dying, could have been avoided if many buildings had been designed stronger. All around the world governments CHOOSE to erect buildings on known earhquake zones: buildings that are often not able to withstand severe earthquakes. Are those in authority aware of this when they build them, or do they do this in ignorance? If they know what they are doing, why do they do it?

Has God given any indication, whether through the Bible or other means, that he desires governments to build flimsy and poorly constructed buildings on known earhquake zones? Don't you think that God would be much happier if they didn't? If God intervened in every choice that we made that might harm us, how would we learn initiative? How would we develop as people? Now think again about the stunted development of many of our students in China. How would we learn to be responsible, and to be safety conscious? One of the reasons he gave us the sense of touch was to help us realize that touching something hot would do harm to our skin. From that we learn to appreciate the body that God gave us, and hopefully we look after it. How would those in positions of responsibility truly learn how to care about the people that they are responsible for without being able to make their own decisions? FREE WILL teaches us to be responsible. It teaches us that we have to face the consequences of our actions. Most of all, it teaches those in authority, the earthly kings of today, that their decisions often affect the lives of thousands of citizens on the earth. Don't we as teachers tell our students that they have to face the consequences of their actions? We encourage them to make good choices but also realize that they should be mature enough to make their own decisions. Is man not mature enough to make his own decisions today? If not, WHY not?

Man chose independence from God and has continued to choose independence, and God has allowed him to do so up until now. Unfortunately, we also have to pay the price of independence.