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An
interesting situation occurs between a dog and a dog-owner. Because dogs are
animals, and therefore instinct-driven, their behaviour is often entirely
inappropriate when brought into certain dog-owner’s property. A dog may chew
the furniture, drag dead things into the house, even ‘lift its leg’ on its
owner’s doorway. In order to rectify the situation, the dog-owner will
automatically begin to modify the dog’s behaviour, using rewards and
punishments. Dogs normally respond quite well to training, and after some time
the dog will be quite a reasonable sort of guest to have in the house.
But
what happens when a dog-owner and his wife produce a human baby? Compared to the
baby, the dog was a ‘piece of cake’ to train. At first the baby is totally
helpless, but after a few months three things are seen to be operating : freewill,
instinct and ignorance.
Freewill
shows itself in such things as refusal to lie down, refusal to eat, and refusal
to obey certain simple commands.
Instinct
shows itself in such things as blinking when something moves suddenly towards
the baby’s face, reaching out when something comes within the baby’s grasp,
tears at pain, laughs at tickling.
Ignorance
shows itself in such things as not knowing that a heater is painfully hot, not
knowing that a cat will scratch when picked up the wrong way, not knowing that
thistles have spines, salt is not sweet, water is not solid, ice melts.
Having
survived the amazingly interesting time of infanthood, a baby soon becomes a
child. If the child is in a well-balanced home, most of its decisions will be
made by its parents. Although it has a moral awareness already, it will still
not know clearly what is right and what is wrong. For example, the average
five-year old is not absolutely sure about the difference between truth and lies
(fiction), a characteristic which is often exploited by people who like to tease
children.
At
some point in a child’s life, perhaps around the early teens, a severance
occurs. Children gradually break free of the authority and responsibility of the
parents, and take that responsibility on themselves. Although this is often a
time of dramatic success and dramatic failure, teenagers are merely passing
through a normal and natural phase of life - as normal and natural as losing the
first teeth and growing the second. It is sometimes a very difficult time for
teenagers. Because the freedom they want - from parental authority, from
external guidance, from anyone older than themselves - often leads them into
situations where they have no idea what to do. For example the
boyfriend-girlfriend relationship, the party where drink or drugs are available,
the invitation to a late-night viewing of X-rated videos, the camping trip with
‘questionable’ company.
The
irony of this situation is that the adult world, in which the teenagers
wish to be ‘free’ and ‘autonomous’ is often just as confused and
ignorant as they are. A quick glance at any newspaper will show this in a few
seconds. World leaders spending more on armaments than their own poor, genetic
engineers promoting untested organisms, scientists teaching evolution and all
its repercussions, Freudian psychology and others all promoting Man as an
animal, Cults teaching twisted ideas, Psychics advertising fanciful and
misleading claims on TV and in magazines, New Age philosophies and New Age
medical practises, Heavy Rock music promoting rebellion, Advertising peddling
its materialistic message in young people’s lives with its hedonistic
lifestyle, hypnosis and acupuncture, Herbal remedies with dubious side-effects,
mystics, Movies depicting sick and insane characters, television shows promoting
immorality and so on . . . the result of adults having free will and autonomy
has been an endless succession of wars, ‘social experiments’, bad politics,
gas chambers, violence, destructive behaviour and degradation of the
environment.
Now
if humans were dogs, the remedy would be simple. Using a few basic rewards and
punishments, humans could be trained to behave well, to use and eat only what
they needed, to avoid soiling their environment, and so on. The world would be a
beautiful place if humans did not have free will - provided there was a divine
and all-powerful ‘Dog-owner’ who could do the training.
But
God has not removed Man’s freewill, or compensated for man’s ignorance,
and God has measured out only enough instinct in Man to help preserve his
life in certain situations. It is these three areas of Man’s make-up which
this little essay intends to examine.
1.
Freewill.
Freewill
is like a double-edged sword. On the one hand it is a unique and astounding
blessing to be able to say "I am me". Self-awareness means we may
choose, to a large degree anyway, a huge number of things. Such as whether we
sleep in or not, what we will have for breakfast, which magazine we will read,
whether we will believe the news on the radio or not (scepticism), how we will
spend the day, who we may write a letter to, or ring up, or speak to and how. We
choose our clothes, our hygiene, or haircut. We decide thousands of things for
ourselves, and we usually do this without even realising that we are exercising
freewill.
But
the blessing of freewill can also lead to our ill health and even destruction.
We may choose to drive too fast, eat too much, drink too often, or smoke (slow
suicide). We may refuse to obey someone and lose our job. We may be deliberately
bad-mannered and turn away our friends. We may harbour a bitter unforgiving
thought and reap the ill-health it causes. We may choose to play a dangerous
sport and end up in hospital. We may choose to go to war, or remain at home.
In
all these freewill choices there is a common law operating - whatever we
personally choose by freewill leads to a consequence which we cannot avoid.
This is a universal law, built into the fabric of our, and everybody else’s
lives.
And
just in case this is not complicated enough, there is a second law operating.
Whatever we personally choose by freewill will have repercussions in other
people’s lives. This second law is illustrated clearly in the situation where
someone sits in a restaurant and smokes. They damage their own lungs, and other
people’s lungs.
Extending
the second law, we can connect the cigarette being smoked to the retailer who
sold the packet, to the traveller who delivered the carton, to the wholesaler,
to the shipper, to the warehouse, to the manufacturer, to the grower, to the
planter and harvester. And lets not forget the people in the wings who collect
different taxes at each stage, and of course to do this we need paper,
computers, ink and transport for the workers, which draws in even more people
and more events. And all because of a cigarette being smoked in a restaurant -
how many thousands of lives are affected (even minutely) because of it?
Now
returning to the dog example, it has never happened that a dog has sat down and
considered its life in a reflective sort of way. If a dog did that, it might
realise that the best way to have a good life would be to please its owner. One
of the best ways it could do that would be to obey its owner - assuming of
course that the owner is a kind and thoughtful person. The dog could therefore
exercise its freewill and receive the best possible life for a dog. A pleased
owner would enjoy giving to the dog its proper food, correct exercise, and
recreational pleasures. Freewill plus obedience equals the best possible life.
On
the other hand, the dog might decide that it no longer needs an owner, and that
from now on it will make all its own decisions. Unfortunately, the world is not
kind to dogs with freewill. Food becomes scarce, shelter is hard to find, and
ill-health goes untreated. Freewill plus ignorance equals degradation.
2.
Instinct.
Instinct
is a wonderful blessing. Examples of this include : a ball comes towards your
face and you shut your eyes, dodge and raise your arm. You come upon a dark cave
and something inside you tells you to be wary. You fall into a swimming pool and
you instantly hold your breath. You start to choke and a fit of coughing takes
over. You breath some dust and your body blows air up and out through your nose
and mouth (sneezing) at great velocity. You are walking on ice and you hear a
crack - you retreat carefully. You have an in-built instinct for
self-preservation.
Occasionally
instinct can be a nuisance, such as when your body suddenly reacts to a stimulus
resulting in accidentally hitting someone else, or breaking something.
But
instinct by itself is not wisdom. It is simply an in-built response, which
usually works in your favour. (Such as when a worm is uncovered, it immediately
starts downwards away from the light, or when you swat at a fly and it takes off
to avoid your hand).
Instinct
was placed inside humans because there are times when careful thought and
time-consuming consideration of a danger may actually increase the danger. In
the same way that a dog-owner may put a fence around the yard to confine the dog
from straying into harmful areas, God has placed a fence of instinct around
humans, to help them stay out of harm.
Instinct
usually overrides freewill.
3.
Ignorance.
This
is quite often a derogatory term, but its meaning is quite ‘neutral’. An
ignoramus simply means someone "who knows not". It means to lack
knowledge, or to be uninformed. (gno = Latin for know).
Obviously,
humans would be a lot better off if they did two things. First they ought
to know more truth - that is they ought to understand more clearly how things
really are.
And
secondly, humans ought to act responsibly towards the truth they know.
This second part is frequently missing. For example, take the anti-smoking
campaigns. All the horrible truth about the effects of smoking are made
graphically clear to people, yet they still take up the habit, and always suffer
for it. Education is therefore only half the answer. Knowledge must be followed
by correct action if any good is to come from it.
Now
that we have come to the area of truth, (or true information), we can divide
truth into its several branches.
The
book of Proverbs opens with a summary of the ten different types of
truth. Logically, since humans can do nothing by freewill without acting in some
way on knowledge (correct or incorrect knowledge) truth leads to wisdom. The
more truth we understand, the wiser we become.
The
following list uses the Hebrew meanings of the words to gain a definition for
each type of truth.
1.
Wisdom = skilfulness. The ability to use knowledge correctly.
2.
Instruction = by chastening, or disciplining.
3.
Understanding = intelligence, or discernment.
4.
Wisdom = learning through the unhappy experiences of others.
5.
Justice = righteousness, or right living, or right behaviour.
6.
Judgement = decisions, trying things that differ
7.
Equity = uprightness, moral integrity, the principles of right living.
8.
Subtlety = prudence, as in Matt.10:16 being as "wise as serpents".
9.
Knowledge = information.
10.
Discretion = thoughtfulness.
Just
a casual glance through this list shows how wide the net goes to catch the
fully-instructed human, and also shows how deficient most humans are.
To
pull just one word from the list - Knowledge - is enough to show the extremely
distorted shape of Man’s attempts to exercise freewill without obedience to
God. There has probably never been a time in Man’s history when
"knowledge" was so abundant, yet most of it is distorted by the lies
of Evolution, or corrupted by Man’s philosophies, or subjugated by Religion,
or diverted by Advertising, or manipulated by Politics, or exploited by
Business. Man is presently gathering knowledge at an astounding rate, yet at the
same time that knowledge is being pressed into other shapes and being used for
ignoble purposes.
Now
it is common practise, whenever we purchase some highly complex (and usually
expensive) machine, that it comes with a manual. In the same way, when God
created Man, He gave them instructions, which were eventually written down and
passed along to the next generation. The Bible, now complete, contains the
precise and complete instructions, sufficient for all people - if they follow
them - to live complete and full lives. Unfortunately, the bulk of humanity has
preferred to do one of several things : Read other manuals, Read blends of
God’s Manual and other manuals, Read everything but God’s Manual,
Read God’s Manual selectively, Refuse to read any manual, Read
manuals but refuse to respond to any of them. Some humans have tried to read
God’s Manual and the results have usually been impressive, but that point will
be touched on below. (See Reading God’s Word)
The
title of this essay was "Freewill and Available Wisdom" because it is
important to realise that by giving the world His Word, God also gave humans the
opportunity to make or ruin. The choice is ours because we have freewill. We (as
a whole world) are responsible for the wars, the crimes, the bad politics, and
vandalism, the exploitation of people and resources, the broken homes, the
abused children, the alcoholism, the sexually transmitted diseases and all the
other horrors which the media reports on continually. We (as a whole world) have
no excuse other than our collective rebellion against God. We have been given
all the truth we need to make earth a sort of paradise. We can feed, cloth, and
house every person on earth, but because we reject the Manual, we reap the
repercussions (the first and second laws).
Bu
what would happen if people took up God’s Manual and used their freewill to
obey what they read there?
For
example, take marriage. The rules are simple. No sex before marriage. No divorce
except when there is adultery. Children are a blessing from the Lord - abortion
is murder. Total fidelity in marriage. Christians may marry only other
Christians. Marriage is to last until the death of one party. Stay away from
unequal yoking - that is Christians must avoid close personal associations with
unbelievers. Children must be brought up in the knowledge of God - that is, they
must be taught the Bible.
Another
example is health. Christians must treat their bodies as "temples" of
God. This means no deliberate harmful actions - no harmful drugs, or activities.
Good food, plenty of sleep, avoid sunburn. Care for your body because it is
God’s hands, feet and mouth in a lost world.
The
above examples are but two of a long list, which is sometimes found at the front
of Bibles, or as a separate book. There is no useful subject missing from
God’s Word.
Reading
God’s Word.
To
many Christians, the suggestion that they actually "study" the Bible
can be enough to put them off for life! The Bible seems, they say, to be such a
huge, complex book. It is full of seeming contradictions, vague areas which can
mean two or three things depending on how they are viewed, it is also the
subject of complicated debates between people with degrees, and it is a
physically large book - it contains almost too much information to digest - and
it takes about a whole year to read, at three chapters per day.
But
when these ‘excuses’ are seen in the context of a person’s normal day,
they dwindle away to about the size of a dot. Most people always make time for
the following things : eating (at least three meals a day - about an hour),
sleeping (perhaps another 8 hours), daily pleasurable experiences, such as TV,
reading a book, watching a video, exercising, conversation, etc. If a person
were to miss out on, say, one meal a day, they would think of all sorts of
extremely good reasons why they should regain it. The same can be said for other
‘normal’ daily activities.
So
why is it that, when the subject of Bible-reading (or dare I say it
"study") is mentioned, the response is so negative?
The
answer is involved with the fact that all Christians have inherited the
Adam-nature, the rebellious inner desire to oppose God. Despite all the
wonderful songs sung in church, get the average Christian home on Sunday night
and give them a choice between Bible-study and television and its pretty certain
which they will choose. (freewill again) By nature humans run from the light.
They make many a profession to loving the truth, and they recite many a confirmatory
prayer, but deep down there is always a reluctance to actually
physically sit down, open a Bible, and concentrate on it for a reasonable length
of time. (If you disagree, please write your defence)
Some
relevant Bible statements :
"And
you has he quickened (made alive), who were dead in trespasses and sins;
Wherein
in time past you walked (lived) according to the course of this world, according
to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children
of disobedience: (the unsaved people of the world)
Among
whom also we all had our conversation (lifestyle) in times past in the lusts
(desires) of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and
were by nature the children of wrath, even as others". Ephesians
2:1-3
"Howbeit
that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward
that which is spiritual. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that
which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
The
first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.
As
is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such
are they also that are heavenly.
And
as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of
the heavenly". 1 Corinthians 15:46-49
These
verses do not say that Christians are still totally natural and of the earth,
but what they do say is that God has started a spiritual work in Christians,
which will culminate in a total transformation. The general resurrection has not
yet happened, neither has God given to all the saints their pure, sinless,
resurrection bodies. Christians still live with the fallen, inherited bodies
which Adam and Even passed on, so there will always be a conflict within
Christians between their new, spiritually alive nature, and their rebellious,
inherited nature.
An
illustration or two might help here.
Picture
an old, stony, rutted and ancient road, still in use after hundreds of years.
See the carts wobbling along its bumpy surface, slowly making their way through
the hills. Suddenly, along comes a brand new highway, soaring over the obstacles
on graceful concrete posts. Some of the locals steer their carts to the highway
and continue their journey in style - others prefer the old road.
In
the same way, this world has been travelling along the old road, where the ruts
and holes lie, where the sides give way and many fall to their deaths, and where
the light is poor. But its an ancient, and familiar road, and most people prefer
it because it is familiar. Suddenly, along comes the resurrection, and a highway
of Christian living soars over dark and furrowed road. Some people abandon the
old road and leap on to the highway - others try it for a while, perhaps find it
too disciplined, and then slide down the bank and continue on the old road
again.
God has presented his Manual to the Church - that means every individual Christian is offered the chance to find untold treasures of truth for themselves in this single volume. Open the pages, resisting the temptation to do something else. Read and take notes. Use a concordance. Meditate on what you learn. The old Adam inside you will protest loudly. He will gabble inside your head, trying to break your concentration. He hates the truth with tremendous enthusiasm! He prefers the old road. He will suggest all sorts of ‘necessary’ things you need to do (eat, bath, clean something, finish a job, do homework, ring a friend, watch a great TV show, etc.) But you always have a choice. Your freewill is the greatest gift you have. How will you use it - and how important to you is your ignorance?