Hello, it's been a while... and I agree it was never your fault, that's even why I am much more glad you're reading this. I am honestly grateful to Jess who wrote something I read today that drew me back to this page again... thanks Jess.
So why this title... I was thinking this afternoon about our free will as human beings. And then I thought about some things I believed in and others I did not. Then I realised I arrived at these sets of beliefs and unbeliefs because somewhere along the line, I chose to believe them. All human beings, as a lot of research I can not name (because I don't know who researched on it) has proven, are born with a "blank" mind. hmmm... okay... so if I was born with a blank mind how come at twenty-something I have a whole set of beliefs and unbeliefs?? And why do I say I chose to believe them...
I also thought about what I thought is allowably possible and what I thought was totally impossible and what I held as my convictions, my unwavering beliefs. And then it also occurred to me even more that I had come to these lists by my choice... hmmmm...
I do not disagree that our external environment plays a high role in an individuals list of beliefs, unbeliefs, convictions, what is thought as possible and what is thought as not. In fact it is one of the greatest factors that affect the list above which comes in many forms including parental and family influence, peer pressure (good and bad), experiences: personal, general and those of others, what we see, hear, touch, taste... the list goes on and on. But in the end, as our actions boil down eventually to what we chose or choose to do, our school of thought is also a choice we made and continue to make...
And I love using examples... so here's one...
As I said before, I believe the research that human beings are born with blank minds and pick up a lot along the way to fill it. When I was two, I may have been convinced that lying was wrong because those around me, which may have been mostly my siblings and age mates apart from my parents and their age mates, who were caught lying were punished. So I may have had an equation:
lying = punishment
punishment = wrong thing has been done
lying = wrong thing
And then, when I was about seven I may have thought lying was smart, because all the smart kids lied without getting caught. So my belief equation changed to this:
smart people = good thing
lying = wrong thing
punishment = wrong thing has been done
lying - getting caught = no punishment
no punishment = no wrong thing has been done
no wrong thing has been done = good thing
lying - getting caught = good thing
smart people = lie - getting caught
I chose to believe this. Even at that age, I had a great hold on what I believed in, but I'm sure I had no idea I had. But it wasn't my fault that the children that happened to surround me lied...environmental factor?? But I chose to believe that those who lied escaped punishments because they were smart, and no punishment was a good thing making the act that came without punishment itself good, though by then I had been taught at home, school and my Chidren's Sunday School class that lying was a wrong.
Before I was twelve, I believed a lie was wrong. It had bad consequences that were not always immediately experienced but could easily and evidently be traced back to the lie. But then I believed that lying could be good in certain circumstances and God still approved of those lies... why then would He add the account of Rahab in Jericho in the Bible which helped the Israelites win...??? So because of these, I chose to believe that it was possible that lying could be both good, approved by God and bad, not what God wanted you to do then.
Now some time after the age of twelve, I was convicted that lying was wrong not only because smart people sometimes got caught which disproved my theory when I was seven, but the Bible told me so. It told me God could not lie, so He always told the truth which is the main conviction that brought me to the particular conviction that lying was wrong. I chose to believe God was always right, no matter the "good" examples of how sad or unfortunate "good" people could get, like Job. I chose to believe that God's Word was true and told us the truth, and that's why it wouldn't hide the failings of the saints just to be a good book. I chose to believe that God would not lie, and therefore if He said disobeying His commands was wrong, then lying too was wrong... YOU SHALL NOT LIE... is part of the Ten Commandments and mentioned in other places of the Bible as wrong as well. I chose to believe that lies, especially unconfessed lies, had bad consequences (punishments) even though the Bible shows instances where lies were part of things that led to victorious battles, like Rahab in Jericho, but did not change the fact that lying was wrong. That even made it more of a conviction than any other; irrespective of examples and theories in the Bible, books, and my world around me... I chose to believe lying was wrong, even if justified. My conviction was my choice even more than ever.
So I could be brainwashed, blackmailed, threatened, wooed, persuaded, deceived, seduced to be convinced to accept a belief... but in the end if I accept that belief, it is my choice no matter how hard or easy the situation is. And my convictions: the same, even more so because I can allow a lot of things around me to justifiably disprove my convictions, but I still decide to stand firm in my conviction.
God gave me a free will to choose what I will do and go on to do it... and He also gave me the free will to choose what I believed in, what I thought was possible and permissible, what I held as my convictions, at any point in time. And because I believe this, I now decide to choose to obey God irrespective of whether circumstances, past, present and future... my environment is favourable or not... My God is good and won't lie when He says
But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.
Jeremiah 7:23 (KJV)
My walk includes my schools of thought, they always affect my actions... I choose to obey God even in my schools of thought...
and you....
what about you??
