The Opening Statement
A Discussion of Life, God, and Our Natural Order
Free Will
This leads to another important realization—one that took a long time to understand and accept.
The concept of free will came with loose ends that were difficult to reconcile. Once finally squared, they revealed some uncomfortable truths, along with a major insight that helped confirm my understanding of life’s meaning.
In His wisdom, God created a universe governed by consistent laws—laws humanity is only beginning to understand. Within that universe, humanity was given free will. This gift allows creativity, innovation, and progress to emerge over generations for the betterment of the world.
Free will can produce extraordinary outcomes. It can also produce terrible ones.
- Terrible things happen to good people.
- Good fortune sometimes falls into the laps of bad people.
Equally tragic is how our interpretation of these outcomes can lead to confusion, the loss of faith, or even the rejection of God’s existence altogether.
Consider these examples.
Example One: A shooter enters a church during prayer and kills twenty people, most of them children. Almost immediately, people ask, “If God is real, how could He let this happen?”
Example Two: A boy on a bicycle veers into an icy pond. Hypothermic and drowning, he is rescued at the last moment by a neighbor who happened to be passing by. Locals call it a miracle from God.
Example Three: A popular religious figure was shot by a would-be assassin in the middle of an event in front of thousands of people. Millions more watched in horror on TV, triggering prayers to ring out from around the world for his recovery. Sadly, he succumbed to his injury and died.
We’ll return to these examples shortly.
The Gift and the Risk
Free will is a remarkable gift and an essential part of God’s design.
Pause for a moment and consider where humanity stands today.
Innovations in agriculture, medicine, engineering, and information technology have transformed our world. With the resources and knowledge currently available, humanity could feed, house, and care for every one of God’s children on this planet. That is difficult to deny.
Now consider the time of Moses. Or the time of Jesus. Could the same be said then? I believe not.
Look at how far humanity has progressed in the last two thousand years. Consider what the next two thousand—or even twenty—years might bring.
These achievements were accomplished by the hands of Man, made possible only by the wisdom of God. Free will affords the freedom to think, act, create, and innovate—the freedom to achieve and the freedom to fail. These accomplishments arose not in spite of free will, but as a direct result of it.
Like any good parent, I believe God would feel pride in what His children have accomplished to date. Yet this same freedom carries risk. We possess the power to care for the entire world—and the power to destroy it. Both statements are true. The question is not whether we can do either, but which path we will choose.
Intervention or Natural Order?
There are times when humanity seems to drift far from the course God intended. Moses may have arrived at such a moment, bringing commandments meant to restore alignment. Over time, however, layers of hierarchy formed, elevating a few people to great stature while burdening the many, expanding ten simple commandments into over six hundred.
Then came Jesus, over fourteen hundred years later.
His primary message was that all of us fall short—including, perhaps especially, those who claimed spiritual authority over others. His second message was that faith, not rituals or deeds, is the pathway to God.
History suggests this message was not well received by those whose relevance depended on hierarchy. The cross bears witness to that.
Fast-forward to today. Two thousand years later, a familiar pattern has emerged. A simple message has accumulated layers of structure, authority, and ritual. There are now hundreds of Christian denominations alone. It is reasonable to ask whether we have wandered off course again and are in need of another intervention.
Was it God who intervened directly, by sending messengers or prophets, or was it the natural order of the world bringing it back to order? Once the pendulum swings too far out of balance, it struggles with all its might to swing back. Miraculously or by design, the forces step up in the nick of time to return the world to order.
Before returning to our earlier examples, let me summarize this point:
God created humanity with free will. In that sense, God is responsible for everything. But I also believe God does not directly intervene on our behalf, on behalf of our friends, or against our enemies. (!!!)
Reconsidering the Examples
The church shooting: The God I know would grieve deeply—for the victims, for their families, for the shooter, and for those who cannot see that Man, not God, was responsible.
The rescued child: While it is honorable to thank God, I believe God Himself would be most honored if the credit were given to one of His children. Nothing shines brighter than a proud parent watching a child act with courage and compassion.
The Slain Leader: As millions mourned the loss of their leader and friend, many lost confidence in their faith and the power of prayer, despite assurances by well-meaning comforters that it must have been God’s will. The tragedy was magnified by confusion and doubt as they tried to find purpose in his death. The pendulum swung wide in the wrong direction with this huge loss. However, it should not be surprising that what we may be seeing now is a big swing back with a surge of, especially young people, discovering and rediscovering faith. This, I believe, is the true meaning of God’s will.
Free will makes sense when viewed within God’s design. Believing that God controls every action in the world can unintentionally undermine faith or even the existence of God.
Prayer and Relationship
I respect those who see prayer differently. For me, prayer is a private, ongoing conversation with the Spirit within. It has no formal beginning and does not end with “Amen.”
I do not believe I deserve the blessings I already have. I would never ask for more from a God who has given me the greatest gift of all: the freedom to be imperfect, paired with unconditional love.
As Jesus often said, many righteous people pray in public to draw attention to themselves. They want to be relevant, but when they do, they lose relevance in the eyes of God. However, I do not believe that this applies to most people who pray outwardly. Only God knows their heart.
Sometimes I use the word prayer to mean a solemn hope—hoping for rain, healing, or peace—without expecting intervention. I do not believe God answers individual prayers through direct action.
Faith, Community, and Civic Life
When we gather—around a meal, in fellowship, or in conversation—it honors God. Shared time is blessed time.
My vision of a church is less about sermons and more about discussion: round tables where people wrestle with real issues together, learning through shared perspectives rather than passive listening.
Faith does not absolve us of responsibility in civic life. In democratic societies, government actions reflect collective choices. By extension, we must accept responsibility for actions taken on our behalf. We must stay informed, participate, and speak thoughtfully. We may not change every mind, but if each of us changed one mind, it would make a big difference.
When we believe that we cannot make a difference, it turns out to be a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Discussion Recap
At this point in the journey, we’ve established:
- We must clear our minds and hearts of bias when examining new ideas or revisiting old ones.
- Understanding requires listening to both the intellect and the voice within the heart.
- The spiritual fulfillment that comes from being a Humble Servant is real, profound, and undeniable.
- The universe is not a random collection of matter, but the result of ingenious creation, governed in part by a natural order that seeks harmony.
- The voice within us is the Creator, who asks only that we treat others as we want to be treated ourselves.
Free will is an essential part of God’s plan, allowing diversity of thought and action to shape a better world over time.