Why Doesn't God Do Something?Sýnishorn

The freedom of love

Lyn: Sam, there is another problem to be considered if God just chose to intervene in our affairs regardless. What happens to free will? 

Sam: Hang on, Lyn, I wasn’t meaning that God can just take over whenever he feels like it. 

Lyn: Ok, I know. But even if he did so sometimes. Or even once, our freedom to choose would be diminished. 

Sam: Yeah, I suppose so.

Lyn: Also, there would be no place for love. By definition, love involves the freedom to choose. If it doesn’t, then it’s not love. 

Sam: That’s true, Lyn. You can’t be forced to love. It has to come from the heart.

Lyn: And the will. True love is primarily a decision. Furthermore, love demands someone to love. It’s meaningless in isolation. 

Sam: Well, yeah. That’s pretty obvious.

Lyn: So if we are to keep on loving, we need to sustain our free will. And that means that God cannot just overrule what we do, even if we sometimes complain that he doesn’t.

Sam: (puzzled, counting points on fingers). Wait a minute, Lyn. Let me get hold of that. If we keep on loving we are sustained by… what was the next bit? Oh yeah, um, even if God complains… no, God doesn’t complain, that’s our job. Um, even when God breaks a rule… no, that’s our job, too. Oh, what was it you said? 

Lyn: You work it out, Sam. Or would you like God to just fix it for you?

Sam: But you just said—

Lyn: Just joking. Look, Jesus told us to love one another. Everyone needs to be loved. But it has to be without coercion. A world without freedom of choice would be a world without love. Love’s power lies in our freedom to choose.

Deuteronomy 7:7-9; Romans 5:1-11

What next? Which verse or verses really stand out to you from these passages? Why?