FREE TO BE BAD

My friend and I continue to unpack C.S. Lewis, and some of his stuff is taxing our "seasoned" brains. Here's a peek into our discussion today:


"God created things which had a free will.  This means His creatures can choose to do right or wrong.  Some people think they can imagine a creature which was free but had no possibility of going wrong. I cannot.  If a thing is free to be good it is free to be bad.  Free will is what has made evil possible."  

OK, why then did God give us free will? 

"Because free will, although it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having.  A world of creatures that worked like machines would hardly be worth creating.  The happiness that God designs for his creatures is the happiness of being freely, voluntarily united to Him. God designed the human machine to run on Himself"

"Of course God knew what would happen if the creatures used their freedom the wrong way; apparently He thought it worth the risk."  (these thoughts are from Mere Christianity Ch. 3)


This morning we were also reflecting on many friends and family members who have died since we retired, just a couple of years ago.  These deaths have motivated us to get our physical stuff in order; like updating wills, securing cemetery plots, etc., but this is all secondary to making sure our spiritual plans are in order.  

Next week we will discuss Mere Christianity Chapter 4.....where Lewis writes; "We are told that Christ was killed for us, that His death has washed away our sins, and that by dying He disabled death itself. That is the formula. That is Christianity. That is what has to be believed."