Unfortunately FREE WILL turns out not to be the fun and freedom that we thought it might be. Like our kids who can’t wait to leave home and BE FREE, they soon discover that there’s a COST to life: food, insurance, lodging, gas, car payments, ad nauseum. So it is for all of us. Napoleon Hill put it this way, “No one can escape the responsibility for their life”.
Since we’re FREE WILL agents, we can’t blame God for life: though we do!
We have a CHOICE here. We can choose life in CHRISTOS (the Spirit), or we can choose life by way of our EGO. Since most start off life being told that they’re a dirty rotten scoundrel, because God created them that way (original sin), going to God-route gets off on the wrong foot. Then we’re told stories of how God (the Old Testament version) put the hurt on seemingly everyone for major stuff and then minor things.
What’s up with THAT?
It’s even scary to be near anyone because as an example, we’re told that God killed 70,000 people just because David took a census when God told him not to! How does one work with that scenario? The answer is, most don’t! The MIND goes to work on us, speaking to us non-stop, telling us how WE can do it better and be fair (or mostly fair).
The COMPASSION of the EGO seems logical at first- our best friend.
Slowly but surely, the ego begins to take over. Look at the ego as a software program that runs day and night, 24/7. Before long we can’t tell if we’re doing the thinking or not. What psychologists will tell you is that it’s your subconscious mind (can you say EGO) that’s directing 95% of our day and decisions.
In essence, unless we force ourselves back to the TRUTH of who we are and what we are (spirit beings tied to the Creator), the ego will turn pathological, dislocating us from our humanness, and GOING ROGUE on us! And you thought Sarah Palin went rogue? You haven’t seen anything yet- or maybe you have!
Had enough yet?
Those that adhere to surface-level interpretations of the Bible will undoubtedly quote those scriptures you cite above as proof that “God” is a vengeful God. In fact, the prophet Amos even asks ths question, “Does evil befall a city, unless the Lord has done it?”.
Unfortunately, we fail to see in our illumined interpretation of this passage (among others) that Amos was not referring to an outside God. He was simply stating the fundamental Law of Consciousness. If Consciousness (the Lord) is the only Reality, what Amos says, is that we have no one to blame for the events in our lives–be they good, bad, indifferent or the like–save Consciousness itself! “No one comes to me save I draw him” Ouch. And yet, somehow Grace fits into this picture in ways and means that we cannot possibly fathom. This is inherently GOOD NEWS, but we’ve made it something quite different entirely.