The Catalyst

Good day to you,

Recently, I got into a heated debate with one of my friends. Don'tworry we kept it civil. I don't believe in raised voices or losingfriendships over ideas. We were disagreeing on the parameters of freewill in the Biblical sense. My friend was telling me how God giveshumans the gift of free will to choose between good and evil. Mystance was that we couldn't possibly have free will, using herexplanation, if God orders our steps and there is punishment forstepping outside those boundaries. I informed her that according toher interpretation of the Bible, free will wouldn't exist. Let meexplain further (read all the way to the end before you cast the firststone).
Now, when we talk about free will what comes to mind? Free will bymy definition means that I get to make my own decision based off mycurrent knowledge and/or belief system. Now, I won't argue the factthat I can make my own decision. However, according to various"rules" set by the Bible, I can't do everything I want to do becauseGod may not like it. Depending on what it is, He may even deny meentrance into Paradise if I don't conform to His wishes. This iswhere my argument starts because to me that's not free will. I havethe freedom to make any decision I want but depending on what God hasto say about my choice, I may be condemned to everlasting suffering. So if that's the case I ask you, do we really have free will? Let'slook at it this way. When the American Civil War was over, the slaveswere "free". However, most of them couldn't read. No one would hirethem. They still couldn't vote or attend schools. They were stillgetting lynched by an establishment that didn't want to progress. So,were they "free"? I guess it depends on your definition.
You may be wondering why I brought up the subject of free will. Ibelieve that some of you never exercise free will because you arescared of what God will have to say about it. Your decisions may notfit into God's plan for your life. You have let these televisionpimps, oops I mean, preachers tell you that your choices have to beapproved by God. You think that God will punish you if you make the"wrong" choice. Fear of consequences will keep you inside theproverbial box your entire life if you don't shed your stinkin'thinkin'. Don't get me wrong. I believe in God. But the God Ibelieve in is more than likely different from the God in which youbelieve. Your God will reject anyone who doesn't fall in line withHis strict guidelines. My God accepts everybody as is. You have toinvite your God into your heart before you see change. My God isinescapable. He's there whether I invite him or not. Your Godpunishes you for stepping out of line. My God encourages me to dowhat I want. That doesn't mean that I will steal or smoke crack orkill anybody I don't like. I don't want to do any of those thingsbecause for one, I know there are consequences for those actions andtwo, it doesn't help me advance towards my goals. It won't be Godpunishing me; it will be the ramification of my actions that willpunish me. What would you do if the fear of condemnation weren'tinstilled in your mind since you were 5 years old? Where would yougo? What type of people would you hang out with? Here's the bigquestion: Would you have more fun?From my understanding of God, He wants to experience life with me. God is everything. We are all just little pieces of God roamingaround inside God trying to experience all that God has available forus (<-- it will make sense later). Most people will never experienceeverything that is available because they are so caught up with goingto Heaven they forget there is a world in front of them waiting to beexplored. We constantly worry if our plan is in line with God's planand little do we know that God wants to do everything we want to do. Our will is God's will. God wants us to follow our heart. Whateverwe decide to do God co-signs on it. Your pastor doesn't tell you thisbecause it's bad for business. I know all this sounds like blasphemy.We have been taught that God has a plan for our lives and if we don'tfollow it we will be miserable. We've been taught that Satan makes usdo bad things. This is convenient because now we don't have to acceptresponsibility for our actions seeing as though the devil makes uscorrupt. However, the only Devil you should be concerned with is theone you see on your driver's license. That is the one who is makingbad decisions. That is the one who impedes your momentum. Nothingforces you to do what you don't already want to do. I believe weestablish our own destinations in life and God gives us thedirections. That, my friends, is free will. You are the author andGod is the editor. Your life will be what you make it. Here's tohoping you will finally do what you want not what you are told. Iguarantee your life will be better when you stop concerning yourselfwith God's approval. This may be an alarming statement but I will sayit despite how I will be *anathematized. You already had God'sapproval before you were even born. What you've really been waitingon is man's approval. Wake up and live, people!

"The goal of the Creator is for each entity to make a consciouschoice to again seek Oneness, out of our own free will -- not becauseanyone else forced us to. If we are told what to do and what tobelieve, then we have learned nothing and will not make any progress.Perhaps the single most basic realization to make is that we live in aloving Universe. If we are all One Being, then it is foolish for us tohate anyone, as we are only hating ourselves."--David Wilcock

Dream Big. Live Bigger.

The All-American
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*Word you've never heard...

Anathematize /uh-NATH-uh-muh-tyze/ verb -- to curse or denounce