Tude6: God allows human free will because of love

Tude6: God allows free will because of love

I want to share with you an important insight regarding the “personality” of God. It ought to not be a surprise, certainly not to those who read the scriptures with joy and comprehension based on hunger to know God. But it’s something that is misunderstood, which is one reason I was thrilled when Pope Benedict’s first encyclical was entitled “God is Love.”

God is endlessly fascinated with and charmed by every individual person. God is the person who is never bored when proud parents pull out baby pictures, or when hundreds of photographs are taken on a vacation and “shared” with anyone who comes in reach! God loves hearing about your job, your family, your likes and dislikes, whether you like cooking or fast food, your pets, your hopes, your fears, what you bought at Wal-Mart, the kind of tchochkas that you like (he likes them too and has received his share of crocheted tissue box holders), your car or your bike, and how you manage carry on when flying (he admires people who are satisfied with carrying just one novel on a flight, but is more of an abundance of pastime stuffed carry on bag kind of guy himself). God loves sitting in an open air café and watching the people go by and enjoy life, but he likes them even better when they stop and talk and tell him about themselves. He’s not thrilled with poseurs, and unfortunately people watching and friendship making has turned into posing. Jesus did not have that trouble when he lived, for the people wore their hearts and intentions on their sleeves and not to “score points” for one side or the other. But anyway, I’m speaking of God overall, God as Allah, who loves people and delights in their individuality (not “diversity” because God does not see people as groupings, he sees them as individual children and, if they wish and merit, as friends). God loves the uniqueness of every person and even the “average Joe or Mary” is of great delight to him because he loves each person as the miracle that they are, even if they are drinking beer and watching the Colts play football.

This is why free will exists. God could have created robots if that was what he wanted, but he didn’t. How do we know this? Because even the angels, who are purely of the spirit and of God’s will, have personalities of their own. The Bible has a number of stories about how God would travel on earth in the company of one or more angels. Sometimes things are as simple and obvious as they seem; God walks with angels as friends and companions. An angel came to comfort Jesus Christ in the garden when he had his agony over his betrayal. Specific angels exist and while they are entirely “of God” they are unique in “personality” and not in ways that humans can understand (who seem to worry more about what color “gowns and wings” angels have). The Bible describes angels as either appearing like humans, or in their glorified form, as glowing like brass. So it is human projections (ironic, no?) that people try to differentiate angels by their “fashion” of clothes. Angels “look” either like an average Joe or Mary, or they are in their glorified forms. But however they appear they have unique personalities and are the “friends and family” of the Lord.

So if we know that angels have personalities and each is unique, and that God enjoys and is glorified by them and their service and friendship (for they surround him in all eternity), how much more should you understand that he loves each human person as they are? As they naturally develop? That he does not want to impose personality or traits on any living being, since that is in total contradiction of his love for all living beings? Look at nature: even one spotted leopard differs from another, and he loves them each uniquely, even if humans have to look closely to discern a difference in their fur patterns. All of the diversity of nature (which humans have to a large part oppressed and stamped out) shouts to God’s love of individuals of every species, form, and personality. Look at the amazing types of dinosaurs that walked the earth. And within each species were thousands of individuals, who grazed here or there, hunted this way or that, and were loved of God for their individual selves. He increased diversity of life, not reducing it, like humans do, to uniform genes and culturally homogenous commercially profitable beings. Likewise he is in abhorrence of the politically correct homogenizing of humans. God loves each and every person for their uniqueness, which can only be developed if they have free will. God is not moving people like chess pieces. It is his will that people operate in a world where they find their own way in life and make their own decisions, because that is how each person preserves their uniqueness as being made “in the image” of God, but being an individual soul known of God, even from pre-birth.

So there is free will because God has never been about creating robots and automatons. God wants to be obeyed because he does not want ANY human to fall out of the nest and into the eternal fire. That is why God is firm about the rules, as any good parent would be. But freedom of will and dominion over the earth is not enough for some people, for many people, so they kick God in the face and fall out of the nest and into the fire of those who appoint themselves more important than God.

So just because God wants to be obeyed for human’s own self preservation and goodness’ sake does not mean that he wants everyone to be mindless automatons (like human marketers seem to want). Remember, through the ages God has loved the nameless and humble who “did the best they could” throughout history. There is no such thing as “hundreds of slaves died there” or “thousands of potato eaters died there” or “thousands in Sudan are displaced.” There are individuals, all the people who ever lived, who are unique and loved as their own person, being their own man or woman, boy or girl who may share the same hardship or fate, but are not viewed as “a group” by God. That is the error of humankind. Each person had uniqueness, dignity, and the capacity to be loved regardless of their state in life or collective circumstance of living.

So when God asks, “What did you buy? Was it on sale?” when you leave Wal-Mart, he really wants to know and enjoy it with you (even if it is a tacky Betty Boop watch) and he’s not checking if it’s a Bible or a condom. God cares about the totality of each person-the whole package-and only frets and is infuriated when each person he loves jumps (and worse drags along with him or her) out of the nest of goodness and into the eternal fire through their own choice. God would much rather be looking at your beanie baby collection with you in heaven.