Truth is, there's a lot of ch-ch-change going on right now. Not earth-shattering stuff necessarily, but change nonetheless. Things at church, things at work, and especially stuff with moi have me... well, befuddled is the word that comes to mind. I've just been sort of foggy lately so I haven't had much luck at putting thoughts together. But change is sometimes good, and even when it isn't you just have to pray hard and roll with it until something gives.
Let's shift gears. I'm reading a book that I think is really a cool idea. It's called Lucifer's Flood and it's about an ancient scroll that is found and determined to be the diary of one of the fallen angels. It gives the account of the war in heaven and the subsequent events of creation. The diary was written by a demon who had no special purpose or gifts and found himself guilty by association because he was too afraid to choose a side and aligned himself with Satan because he figured if things didn't turn out, God would forgive him. He quickly regretted his decision. But he was expelled just the same as the rest of the rebels.
Anyway, I'm enjoying it as light reading and find myself pondering just how much the future and final battle between good and evil will resemble the first one. I imagine it will be over quickly.
Here's an excerpt that I thought was especially profound. Adam has just been created and the demon has a very strong opinion about God's choice to allow man the responsibility of free will.
There were many trees in Eden, but only two that mattered: the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God told Adam, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. For when you eat of it, you will surely die."
Considering the consequences of the cosmic rebellion, surely someone in heaven must have tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to convince God that His insistence in giving Adam the ability to choose between one thing and another was a terrible idea that had no possibility of ending well. If God couldn't be talked out of the free will idea, He should have at least let Adam practice a little on something that had no consequences. Let him choose between an apple and a kumquat. Don't let a novice's first choice be one that could alter the balance of the whole world.
The choice to obey or not is far too dangerous to be experimented with. It should be banned from every universe. I could be the poster child for why free will is an eventual disaster for anyone who has it. The ability to defy God is the cause of all my misery. Lucifer decided he could rebel against God. One-third of the angels chose to follow Lucifer. And what did it gain for us? Loss of everything we once held dear - loss of our home with God; loss of our purpose for being; loss of our high place; nothing but loss with regret, despair, fear, and hatred becoming our destiny.
Why does God insist on imposing free will on creatures who cannot possibly use it correctly? He knows what is best for everything He creates. We would be so much better off if He just eliminated the choices. I would not be wasting my existence sitting on a perch in the service of a tyrant if God had only restricted Satan's ability to defy Him.
It is that part of God's nature I cannot understand. He created all there is and all there will be, and He made it perfect. Then, for no reason anyone can explain, He programmed in a fatal flaw. Into every intelligent life form, God deposited the ability to defy its Creator. Can someone help me understand why this was a good idea?
This, of course, is the (fictional) view of a (fictional) being that chose to separate himself from God. As someone who has chosen the other way, I can understand very easily why God chose to give the ability of choice. Because forced love isn't love at all. I think what the demon is experiencing is the reality of not being able to blame his actions on someone else.
Have a great week, you'uns.
