Saturday, January 27, 2007

Omnipotence and Free will

I recently had a conversation with an atheist that rose this objection to the existence of God:

It is impossible for God to be all powerful and at the same time for man to have free will.

The false assumption is: If God has the power to do something He will do it.

Let's go to the garden of Eden where there was a multitude of trees to eat from but one where God told Adam and Eve not to eat from. Adam and Eve had the choice to obey or disobey. God being all powerful could have made the choice for them, but He is loving as well. Love is a two way street that requires the freedom to choose. He decided in His wisdom and love to give Adam and Eve the choice to obey Him and love Him. In the same way God gives everyone the option to choose Him or to continue in disobedience to Him.

What about suffering? God's omnipotence implies that He has the power to stop suffering but doesn't. How is that loving?

I am not able to do justice to this objection, but here is a thought that I had. We saw that God allowed Adam and Eve to disobey Him. As parents if we shield our children from the consequences of their mistakes they will never learn. The consequence of Adam and Eve's sin was that death and suffering entered the world. So first of all we should remember that the reason there is suffering in the first place is not God's fault but man's disobedience.

But granted that, "haven't we learned our lesson? Why doesn't this all powerful God put an end to suffering?"

No, we have not learned our lesson. We continue to choose to disobey God; however, He has done something to put an end to suffering. He defeated death and suffering in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. The reason there is still suffering is because in His kindness and patience God is waiting for more people to learn the lesson and turn to Him to receive forgiveness for their innate disobedience. If he would reinstate all things now and put an end to this order of the world then time is up and no more choice can be made.

In all this discussion about suffering I don't want to ignore the fact that many because of what family or country they were born into will experience much more suffering then others born into other circumstances.

It is not God's will that thousands of children die every day from starvation and AIDS. God is not deaf to these peoples cries (although, many times we are.) It is interesting that we point to the existence of extreme suffering to argue the non-existence of God but where there is deliverance and relief from these conditions or times of abundance we attribute it to men or natural phenomenon.

God has an enemy whose goal it is to destroy and steal. The current world we live in is ruled by an occupying enemy that is in rebellion to the rightful owner. The all powerful God has not incarcerated this enemy and taken control over the workings of this world yet because of the same reason as before: to do that would close the window on all humanity from changing allegiance. He is not willing that any should suffer eternally. We are too short sighted. We want world peace now without making peace with God. In other words we want His kingdom to come, but we don't want His will to be done.

VISUALIZE WHIRLED PEAS

image from http://flickr.com/photos/pandarine/45824656/

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