Lecture 36

From the very beginning of this lecture, I could tell that there was going to be some controversy in the posts for this week. Because most of us are Christians or something similar in this class, we struggle with a few of the ideas in the lecture. One of them is that God has created all things, and that includes evil. He mad certain men evil with relation to His will. Although His will is what causes them to be evil in their actions, their actions go against His commands. With this, it basically is saying that He is condemning them from the start. Another thing sure to cause some controversy and ill feelings is predestination. This is the idea that one cannot choose whether or not he goes to hell or heaven, it has already been decided since before his birth. There is no way to decide that you will go to heaven, no matter how pious, virtuous, or religious you are. Personally, I do not believe that this is the way things work. I have always been taught that God created all things to be good in nature and gave men the power of free will. While He is still omniscient and knows what is going to happen to us in the end, it is not His choice. He gives us the ability to choose sin or virtue, and that is our greatest test. With that, when we choose to sin, it is our own fault. And the same goes for when we choose Him and choose to be virtuous: it is our choice to be closer to Him and following His will- and that is the greatest thing about it.