Tag: consequences

Freedom & Responsibility

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Freedom and Responsibility are the key to our society. No law will stop evil. There is evil and there is no replacement for personal responsibility. Undermining freedom undercuts responsibility. Lack of freedom and responsibility undercuts community. Lets focus on the problem and restore freedom & responsibility.

Mental health, not guns
There is a pattern: people struggling with mental health issues performed evil acts. We can blame guns, but that isn’t the problem. In a free society we have a responsibility to help (not condemn) those struggling with mental health. Such struggle does not make one evil, though its also no excuse for performing evil acts. We must deal with the problem of evil and not the tools used for evil. Tools can change: box cutters, pipe bombs, airplanes, fertilizer, etc.

Flight Schools, Apple & NRA
Based on current logic, Flight Schools enable terrorism, Apple enables manslaughter via distracted driving. Why you may ask? Because the NRA promotes the 2nd Amendment. In the bill of rights, it is listed second, right under freedom of religion, assembly and free press. Blaming gun advocates for enabling the tragedy is ludicrous. Attacking a freedom isn’t the answer to the evil that occurred. Labeling law abiding citizens as enabling an act of evil is bullying, not civility. It’s polarizing, not healing.

Freedom
Freedom isn’t free, nor is it the absence of personal responsibility. Perhaps the recent tragedy shows how we’ve squandered our freedom in the name of convenience. How? In further reliance on government or allowing such we undermined what is critical to freedom: community & responsibility. An inward focus on self combined with outsourcing our responsibility leaves us baffled in tragedy. As community and responsibility drop so does prudence & wisdom. Further removing freedoms will only exasperate a growing problem.

Responsibility
You are responsible for your actions. There are choices. There are consequences. In our culture’s avoidance of consequences in the name of compassion or fairness, have we undermined the skills needed to recover from failure? Said another way, have we eroded our sense of ownership for our actions? Is our wanting compassion really about our own personal fear of failure? This is why responsibility is so important. Robbery of failure robs the responsibility required for a free society. Lack of community robs us of wisdom & prudence required for a free society.

Community
The value of community is to wisely and prudently help people rise from failure and champion success. It takes responsibility to another level. Community needs freedom and freedom needs responsibility. If nothing else, perhaps the recent tragedy should focus us back on these critical elements, for here lies the problem. A hundred years ago there wasn’t regular mass shootings and many owned guns. Compassion wasn’t void either. But, a hundred years ago there was a sense of community, of freedom, of responsibility.

God is not stupid

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I understand the plight to focus on essentials and not have a hostile environment when it comes to theology or the deep questions of life. In these conversations I cannot help but sense an eerie feeling. Do we think God is stupid and or modern man is evolved and enlightened?

Creation:
Instead of creation described poetically, what if God poetically created?

The creation account is written poetically. Days 1-3 God creates spaces and Days 4-6 He fills them. Upon completion God creates rest on the 7th days, and hence our week. The debate over creation vs evolution within Christianity will likely not go away, and should always be congenial. I have to ask, why can’t God poetically create?

While we may not like the way some defend the young Earth view, creationists do show plausibility of a young Earth and catastrophism. Are all discussions sound, bulletproof and complete? No. Neither is evolutionary thinking, which has changed demonstrably since its inception. Early humans maybe naïve, but I don’t think God created humans as intellectually inept. Why do we often view earlier humans as incapable of clear or deep thought? Who is to say that God created in the way He did for no other reason than the discussions about origins today?

Bible:
If an all-etc being, can He not communicate both timelessly, accurately, and use man at the same time?

We act based on what we believe. I wonder if we truly believe God is all-powerful or all-knowing. I mention this because we don’t seem to apply that to the Bible. Why can’t God use fallen man to communicate accurately and sufficiently?

Words and language move people. How many movements start based on an idea? Putting ourselves in God’s shoes, if we wanted to communicate who we are with clarity, how would we do it? Based on history, it seems we prefer to write things down: narratively, poetically, playfully. We learn best through narrative, it gives context, tone, color, and a depth mere bullet points or technical writing cannot. Are not the best story tellers those who are both cunning and correct and the greatest of these stories true?

Grace:
Isn’t freedom of choice as much an act of grace as freedom from consequences?

In hard times we yell at God, asking why He could allow bad things to happen. He could have stopped tyranny, death, destruction, but He has not…yet. While Naive, knowing neither good nor evil, God gave Adam the ability of choice, much like a parent knowing what the outcome will be. There was revealed, demonstrable and verifiable evidence of God’s existence, and yet Adam chose pride. Would we do better?

We often think of grace covering the consequences of our actions, but grace also covers our choices. Even in good times we often forget where they come from or worse that we are deserving of them. God hates sin, but yet he allowed people to sin and create the mess we’re in today. Do we not value our freedom above all else?

Rights:
Why does pursuing our rights lead to so much frustration?

Over the course of human history we, both big and small, pushed for our rights. Wars and quarrels, pain and suffering resulted and resound over rights. We either vocally or deep down demand them. We feel entitled to them. We blame God for allowing the violation of them. If He is love and peace, then why…?

I sense we wish God was more like us. Maybe we should reverse that and look at how He wants us to be more like Him? God has the right to wipe us all out, but He patient. God has the right to shun accusations or anger towards Him, but He listens. God has the right of full worship, yet He came humbly and unjustly executed as a criminal. God has the right to make us all puppets, but He gave us a choice. Maybe the answer to much of our suffering isn’t for God to be like us, but for us to be like Him?

The bottom line:
God is not stupid. When discussing the deeper questions of life and theology, we must not forget that. Human depravity and naïvety is a variable, but truth and God are a constant. If God is truly who He claims to be, then perhaps He overcame people’s problems while still choosing to communicate through them. We may not like or understand how or why God chose the path He did, but we should remember that God is God and we are not.