We love free will when it means that we can do anything we want. Don’t we hate it when it means that we have to suffer the consequences when we or someone else choose the wrong thing?
It’s the perennial question – why doesn’t God allow evil in the world? I thought of that as someone told me about a concept of God as a watchmaker. He sets everything up to work correctly and steps back to let it all run as designed. If that was the case, then all evil would be designed in, and wouldn’t God be pretty unjust?
So, maybe evil’s not designed in, but why wouldn’t God create us to be good and do the right thing? Why wouldn’t He create us so that we couldn’t make the wrong choice?
I liken it to the difference between a watch and a child. If you lose your watch and find it again, you’re happy. If you lose your child, because they have wandered away physically, morally, or mentally, and they come back because they wanted to return, you’re happy, but on an entirely different level. In this scenario, good for God. He gets people who come to Him because they want to. But, I think there is just a little bit more to the story.
If you are the watch, what kind of relationship do you have to the one who found you? If you are the child, what kind of relationship do you have with the one who loves you so completely? Which would you prefer?
Amazing Graces 