Existence in Terms of Religion, Part I

The lives we lead are tailored to a purpose. This purpose of ours, do we fully comprehend it? Probably not. From the time of our conception to the last breath we take, we fulfill something. Every step in our life leads up somewhere to that final destination. No matter the mistakes, each one leads us to that place, we are headed somewhere all the time. This destination, many call the destiny, may not always be a place or thing. It could possibly be a state of being, content, for example. The fact remains that the lives we lead are all going somewhere, and that there truly is no one with no place to go.
I find that the purpose of our lives is to ultimately choose God. Beneath that, lies a subpurpose. This subpurpose is distinct and unique for each individual. The ultimate destiny, referred to from now on as the inevitable destiny, is to either end up in Heaven with God or in Hell eternally separated from Him. The destiny that humans have on earth, henceforth referred to as the temporary destiny, is what humans are set to achieve in the time that they have on the earth. Because actions in this life determine our standing in eternity, the actions undertaken in the temporary destiny decide our fate in the inevitable destiny.

If that is so, however, then free will is called into question. By definition, free will does not refer to freedom to do as one pleases. The true meaning of this is to choose God. Using this power as otherwise violates our free will on the grounds that we hurt ourselves in the process. Free will does exist. But to what extent? I find myself questioning not only the limits of free will, but also the mechanism of it. Free will, according to the Catholic teaching that I recall, is what allows us to choose right and wrong based on reasoning that has hopefully stemmed from a well-developed conscience. If we are allowed to choose, then it is therefore able to be concluded that we control who we become in the temporary destiny. The Catholic Church teaches that God has created every human being to be special, however, God knows every choice that the human is going to make. How then, does one apply the concept of free will? Humans may choose what they want, but God already knows what they will choose and what they will be. I can not wrap my mind around the concept that we are able to choose everything if God already knows what we will choose. If God already knows, then we won't do otherwise. Where is the free will then?

Kuya and I were reasoning this out in class today: the concept of no divine intervention in Deism, the Enlightened religion. The Deists believed that God did not intervene in the lives of humans. Like a clock maker, he simply put the universe together and then stepped back to let time run its course. They believed that God did not do anything to make the world change, he did not intervene or step in. Catholics, if I interpret correctly, do believe in divine intervention. Prayers of supplication are one way that it is seen how Catholics believe that God will be able to change things in their lives for the better. I truly believe that God does intervene. However, the Deists brought up a strong point in their argument: Why are there countries that allow so much killing to go on, and yet those who pray for a good harveste not answered equally? Naturally, those suffering major violence would pray. And yet, violence continued. The Deists argued, Where was God ? Why did He not intervene when those people prayed? Either there was no divine intervention, or God did not answer all prayers. Why then , would God differentiate? The Deists did not think God differentiated, because He was just, and therefore came to the safe conclusion that He simply did not intervene at all.

Kuya and I came to the conclusion, that God does intervene, but we could not explain why not everyone in dire need was answered. We then reached the concept of free will, and this is where we started to exhibit signs that we did understand what Reformationists had stated about the concept of the "elect" and not a genuine "free will." The two of us came to the understand that free will was not genuinely free based on the grounds that our temporary destinies are already decided. God knows what we are going to do, so there is no way to deviate from it. From this, I concluded that free will is simply the situation in which one may choose between right and wrong. However, the choice itself may not exhibit free will on the grounds that the choice was already made and decided when God thought us into existence. Kuya concluded that it did not matter what the choice was, deviate as a human may, they will still end up in the same place at the right time that God has planned.

To Be Continued....