Free Will & The Spirit Within

I believe that you are a container of soul. We don't know where in your body the soul resides. We don't even know how, or when God sends the soul that gets into your body. I suspect that it lives in the brain. The ancient Egyptians thought it was in the heart. I vaguely remember that some group thought the soul lived in the liver. You are a carrier, you carry your soul. God is going to get that soul back when you die.

In the meantime, since you are infected, how would you take care of a part of God? God alone will know if your life has been worthy. You certainly will not ever know. You must decide how you will live the life allotted to you, and live it. This means you have to take the time to think about your decisions, and your choices. God will decide your worthiness, or lack thereof, after your death.

Only our souls are of God. Our bodies are ours. We may use, abuse, or consume them as we wish. Any effort to convince you that your body does not belong to you is wrong. It is ultimately derived from a social morality which defines “good” narrowly. It defines “good” in the favor of society, not you.

If you are not physically fit, you are less able to serve as a soldier to protect society. If you are not fit, you are less able to work and pay taxes. If you are not fit you are less likely to be able to pay a tithe, or make donations to the church. If you are not fit you are less likely to breed and keep society populated. If you are not fit you are less likely to keep society militarily strong and safe for the “leaders”. Worse, they might have to spend funds on you which could have a better use somewhere else, like a nice bottle of wine with dinner.

To find God, and to find the connection of our own soul to God are the most important accomplishments of any human’s life. If you truly buy into the concept of God, and soul, what else can be as important?

Free will is the keystone of both faith and belief. The individual must have free will to be able to choose to have faith. The individual must have free will to be able to choose to what to believe.

Faith, to be real, must be put into action. Faith, to be real, must implement the golden rule. Faith must be expressed in action that exhibits and exercises the golden rule. Living the golden rule is your connection to your soul. Faith, if it is to exist in, and for you, must be observable in your service to others, and without a reciprocal expectation of something in return. “Faith without works is dead.” (James 2:19-20).

A wall without a foundation falls. Don't build your house on a foundation of sand. In this context, sand is belief without reason, and faith is your house. If it is possible to quantify faith, and we accept (Matthew 17:14-20), then very little faith is necessary to accomplish great things.

This may be your opportunity. O ye of little faith, use your belief, and by joining with others; each also with a little faith, you will be able to accomplish great things together. Combine this with the previous idea. Although you may have vast quantities of faith, if you do nothing with it, it is lifeless. To do something with your faith, you must choose. You must exercise free will.

For you to have free will means that the future cannot be known. It is unknown. To know the future is to destroy it. Take away the mystery of the future and you take away the hope we have for the future. Without hope, there can be no zest for the struggle for the future.

Do not misunderstand, God is not going to get personal with you. God is not going to seek you out. God is not going to bother you. God is not going to even irritate you. You must do all of the work. You must get personal with God. You must make the search for God and the search for bliss a part of your life.

You can do this in many ways. You can meditate. You can pray. You can do volunteer work in your community. You can join a service organization. You can vote in elections. You can live honorably. You can take responsibility for your actions. You can teaching your children and grandchildren to do the same. You can live a whole life. You can pay your dues to society.

You have many choices of ways to get personal with God. You have many ways of implementing the golden rule in your life. You can do one, a few, or all of the above. It is your choice.

Free will also gives you the ability to choose to ignore God. Free will gives to you the decision not to seek a relationship with God. Free will allows you to behave for all of your life in exactly the way you choose in all things. Free will also allows you the right to disbelieve. Believe Not in God. Believe Not in the existence of your soul. Believe Not in the need to live a “good life”.

You might be right the whole time. And you might just be in error. God’s gift to you is the ability to choose and believe as you see fit. Either way, God is not going to punish you for making your decisions and acting on them. I believe this is because He wants to learn from the decisions you made in your life. This is my assumption.

Free will, personal responsibility, and independent decision making are recurrent themes and important areas of discussion.

Article Source: http://www.religionarticlelibrary.com

(c) Copyright 2006: George Wallace completed an MA and taught in the public schools for 28 years. He recently published a book on religion which lashes out at nearly all of the comfortable ideas about God, the trappings of organized religion, the layers of money sucking priesthood, and their departures from the fundamental ideas and messages of Religion. His pithy comments and suggestions for a return to a God-centered personal religion will outrage everyone. www.OhGodIsThatYou.com

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