Are you familiar with the concept of God having a ‘will’ for you?
A specific plan for things God wants you to accomplish? A way to move through your life according to a long list of do’s and don’t’s?
The folks that seem to talk about this give the impression that you should know what God’s will is and comply with it, because after all, it’s God we’re talking about.
The incredibly tricky part is that although you are supposed to abide by God’s will, there are almost never any clear indications of precisely what God’s will is for you. This leaves you in a powerless position and opens the door for others to be the authority and speak on God’s behalf.
How can one person know what God’s will is for another? What source of wisdom allows them the clarity to inform and dictate what another person is to do with their life? Is their claim that God speaks directly to them and provides specific insights about all the people of this world and what each one should be doing?
You may have guessed by my questions and word choices that I don’t see life this way.
I’ve had many conversations with god and am a true believer in one of god’s greatest gifts, ‘free will’.
Free will is an open invitation from god to experience everything possible in this life. No are no exceptions, expectations, demands, requirements or strings attached. Free will is pure.
I believe logic would like to have a say in this discussion. If one of the tenets in life is that we each have ‘free will’, how can it be that there is another force called God’s will? The two would be mutually exclusive by nature, since surely there will always be conflicts, and any override of free will, voids it completely.
What proponents of God’s will have to offer is that God’s will is supreme, therefore, any instance where we use our free will in opposition to God’s will, must be abandoned or relinquished.
Of course, our free will allows us to make choices that create pain and suffering for ourselves and for others. It also provides us with the power to make choices that create healing and loving actions.
How we use our free will is entirely up to each of us.
I fully recognize there are dilemmas involved here.
How is anyone to know the truth?
How is anyone to know what God’s will is for them?
How does free will work if it conflicts with what one is told is God’s will? How does God’s will work if it is in conflict with our free will?
The answers depend greatly on what one has been told during their life and their willingness to explore new territory. If there is a strong belief that God’s will is sacrosanct and that someone else has been given the wisdom to explain what it is, there may be little room for an alternative view.
However, if one has been told these things but has never felt comfortable with them, there may be an open door to enter to consider the importance of free will.
Ultimately, I believe that having your own conversation with god, whatever your concept is for god, is the pathway to your own certainness.
I am a firm believer that sitting in stillness, breathing in and out, until a calm center is reached, and opening our mind and heart creates an opportunity for divine connection.
This is the place where all is known.
“God’s will” has always been a problem point for me, particularly with those who fervently believe it. Often, what they believe to be “God’s will” is what they perceive it be, and anyone who does not see eye-to-eye with them are wrong and going to hell. It also discounts emotions and feelings. It was “God’s will” that your loved one died, as if I have no right to grieve the death. I’ve come to understand that life is about the experiences we choose – that God rejoices in our choices. To follow blindly the will of another, especially when we don’t know what that will is, makes for an empty life. It still helps to have faith, to get us through the difficult parts, but that is a very different thing.
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We’re certainly on the same page about this one aren’t we and isn’t choice a wonderful thing!
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