Let the Sin Begin

Leibniz was a really interesting read this week.  It didn't really make me stop and evaluate anything that I hadn't already considered, because lets face it, having been in a legal studies academy I've argued almost every controversial issue in the book and been a sufficient ass about it on the way.  This reading though centered on one of the topics that I really enjoy debating, whether I'm offering my true views or playing devil's advocate (no pun intended).  Leibniz talks about how god created sin and how everything is predetermined.  This of course presents the quarry of whether or not our actions matter, seeing as how we're already deemed worthy for heaven or discarded and sent to hell.  Without getting in to the subject of whether or not there is indeed an almighty power that watches over us and occasionally offers up some divine intervention, lets just all operate under the assumption that God exists.  Even if you don't agree with me, for the sake of argument, just roll with it.  So for the sake of this blog, there is a god. End of story.  Let's examine the first point about god having created sin.  I don't believe there is such a thing as sin.  Yes, I believe that God created everything, (not saying that there is no evolution, because I am a firm believer in science).  I think that there is nothing taking place on earth that God disapproves of.  I think that God wants us to live in such a way that makes us happy, and expresses our own free will.  It does not affect God in one way or the other if you gamble your paycheck away in Las Vegas and have sex with prostitutes.  I think that he wants us to be happy, and if that sounds like the perfect week to you, then God is content.  If fighting religious wars in the name of God makes you happy because you feel like you're doing something meaningful with your life, then I think he'd say go for it.  I don't believe that there is some ultimate meaning to life that we have to search for.  I believe that the only point of life is to live it, and how we do that has no effect on our afterlife.  Predestination is where my explanation of life begins to get a bit wordy and I talk myself in circles, so I'll try to keep it simple.  I do not believe in hell.  I think everyone goes to heaven because there is but one afterlife, at which point we become one with God.  I also however believe that before we become one with God, we relive life over and over until our souls have learned the needed lessons.  This is why I believe that everything happens for a reason, and everyone is brought into your life for a reason.  To quote the Beatles, 'there's nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be.'  These lyrics completely describe how I feel about fate and predestination.  I don't believe that God plans out our lives to a 't' before we live it, I think we make our own choices.  But at the same time, I  believe that nothing will happen that isn't supposed to.  This blog is already getting absurdly long, and I could continue on for hours about my religious views (don't even get me started on churches now a days), but  I thoroughly enjoyed reading Leibniz's thoughts on the matter.