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To: supercat

Jesus did, didn't he? I hope every day that he hasn't changed by the time I get to meet him!


692 posted on 03/11/2005 8:39:01 PM PST by pa mom
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To: pa mom
Jesus did, didn't he? I hope every day that he hasn't changed by the time I get to meet him!

Jesus provides the way for God's prodigal children to return Home.

The Fall of Man described in Genesis was not so much about evil, so much as it was about human nature. God gave man free will, and part of that free will is an insatiable desire to go 'beyond'. The story repeats in the Parable of the Prodigal Son, but with a new ending. Whereas in the original story, the Father hoped that his children would obey his boundaries and was--in a sense--unprepared when they did not, in the latter story the Father recognized that it was human nature not to always obey boundaries, but that human beings could (and sometimes needed to) learn from experience.

One analogy I think is helpful to reconcile the concept of free will with that of an omnipotent creator is to consider the game of Klondike solitare. If you're playing with physical cards, is there anything that would prevent you from putting a Queen of Clubs on a Six of Diamonds? On the one hand, you "can't doing that", but on the other hand, there's nothing physically stopping you, except this: if you make such a play, you would cease to be playing Klondike solitaire.

God gave people free will. He would have the power to revoke that give, but once he exercised such power he would no longer be giving people free will. And, as with Klondike solitaire, it really isn't a "fuzzy" issue. To revoke the gift for anyone would generally be to revoke it for all.

God decided in the Beginning that his children would have the free will power to leave him. Whether or not he expected them to do so, he could not revoke that power without revoking the Greatest Gift. What God could do, however, was offer a way for lost people to return home. And in Christ he did precisely that. He can't force anyone to follow, but he can show them the way and offer the free-will choice to take it.

791 posted on 03/11/2005 9:04:28 PM PST by supercat ("Though her life has been sold for corrupt men's gold, she refuses to give up the ghost.")
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