The Skinniest Bible in All History Part 1

Last night (at the time of this writing) I participated in a dinner meeting called Alpha. (If you’re interested, you can learn more here: Alpha.org.) And during that dinner we were asked the question: “If you knew for certain that God exists, and you could ask Him anything, what would you ask Him?”

Several of us around the table had similar answers. In so many words, we would ask Him what He wants us to do, and we would ask Him for the strength to do it.

Blaise Pascal and God’s Will

Blaise Pascal once offered a prayer that communicates this idea that God our Father in heaven knows best. A part of his prayer is quoted below.

“Thou alone knowest what is most expedient for me : thou art the sovereign master do what thou wilt. Give to me, take from me; but conform my will to thine; and grant that in humble and perfect submission and in holy confidence, I may be disposed to receive the orders of thy eternal providence, and that I may adore alike all that comes to me from thee.”

Pascal went on to write:

“Conform my will to thine . . .” (I don’t want to misrepresent Pascal here. While he’s obviously asking, maybe even pleading with, God to conform his will to God’s will, Pascal was a Christian but also a believer in Jansenism which holds a Calvinist leaning view toward free will. (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy))

Where God Committed to Our Free Will

Kathy and another favorite family member of mine, and I had an interesting discussion awhile back, about God and free will.

During the discussion the question was asked: When God dispatched Adam and Eve from the garden, how much free will did they have then?

In our last post I wrote about how God’s desire to preserve everyone’s free will, is one of the reasons why there is evil and suffering in the world. If someone chooses to impart kindness and blessings unto me, life is wonderful. But if someone chooses to commit evil against me, then I endure suffering, then I’m a victim of that evil. But the free will of the person blessing me or the person harming me is what makes either situation possible.

And this astounds me. I’ve written before about how amazed I am that God affords us such an abundant measure of free will:

The people of the Gerasenes were afraid of Jesus and they “asked him to depart from them.” So, Jesus got into a boat and left. (Luke 8:34–37)

When the people of Samaria asked Jesus to stay with them, he interrupted his itinerary and stayed with them for two days. (John 4:39–41)

Ever notice Jesus never went out looking for individual Pharisees to engage? Nicodemus had to come to Jesus. (John 3:1–21)

And then there’s the man driving demons out in Jesus’ name: “Master,” said John, “we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we tried to stop him, because he is not one of us.”

“Do not stop him,” Jesus said. (Luke 9:50)

And there’s the synagogue official who told the people not to come on the Sabbath to be healed.

But Jesus said, No! Let them come! (Luke 13:14–17)

Even his own disciples tried to constrain the will of certain people. They refused to let the little children come to Jesus. And when Jesus saw this, he was indignant. No! He said, Let them come! (Mark 10:14)

Finally, there’s Judas objecting to Mary pouring her perfume out onto Jesus’ feet. How did Jesus respond? He said, Leave her alone! (John 12:3–7)

Even when it broke cultural convention, Jesus gave people the freedom to do what they wanted to do.

When the prodigal son demanded his inheritance, his tone was more bitter and cold toward his father than most people realize. In that culture, at that time, when a son demanded his inheritance in that way, what he was saying to his father was, “I wish you were dead. Your being alive, your very existence, is getting in the way of my inheritance.” But what does the father, who represents God in the parable, what does he do? Amazingly, he lets the prodigal do what he wishes. (Luke 15:11–32)

I think the reason I’m so impressed with God’s interest in our free will is because my own personal tendency is to do the opposite. I’m the kind of person who likes to arrange things so they can’t miss. If I were in charge of Adam and Eve (Thank God I wasn’t!) I would have put a fence around the forbidden tree in the garden. I would have taken Samson on a retreat until he cooled off on Delilah. I would have made sure Bathsheba’s bathtub wasn’t in view of David’s palace.

From my perspective, God doesn’t do things that way. From my perspective He set things up exactly the opposite. God ensures choice. He arranged the universe so we have freedom. He’s completely committed to this idea of free will.

But What About When Adam and Eve were Expelled from the Garden?

Continued next week.

Kurt Cameron Bennett best known for his book Love Like Jesus. After attending church and studying the Bible for most of his adult life, he was challenged by a pastor to study Jesus. That led to an obsessive seven-year deep dive. After pouring over Jesus’ every interaction with another human being, he realized he was doing a much better job of studying Jesus’ words than he was following Jesus’ words and example. The honest and fearless revelations of Bennett’s own moral failures affirm he wrote Love Like Jesus for himself as much as for others. He currently lives in Hillsboro, Oregon, just a few miles from his son Gabe, daughter (-in-law) Charise, and grandson Andrew. He has another son Nate and daughter (-in-law) Anastasia who live in Sammamish, Washington. His blog, God Running is a place for anyone who wants to (or even anyone who wants to want to) love Jesus more deeply, follow Jesus more closely, and love people the way Jesus wants us to.

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