I wonder -- if God created everything, would that mean he created the angels as well, with free will? And if their free will led to rebellion in heaven, does that suggest free will isn't truly compatible with a perfect heavenly existence, especially if it leads to disobedience and harm? Then perhaps causing some angels to be banished. Some might then consider God is out of his depth due to the situation his actions created in heaven.
When we consider the billions of people who have lived with their own sense of right and wrong, shaped by the political and cultural contexts of their time, what’s the likelihood of a rebellion in heaven being even more significant? Then through into the mix of different religions and religious beliefs here on earth. What kind of heavenly war would all this cause? How might this be avoided? Perhaps in heaven, humans -- or even angels, would need to abandon their earthly personalities, or at least most aspects of their own personalities, and adopt a collective personality given to them by God. Would that kind of transformation allow for harmony in heaven?
It almost seems like the act of creationism might be an experiment that went awry. I agree with you that if humans were created without free will, it could have saved a lot of the pain, suffering, and rebellion. Free will gives us the ability to choose our actions, but unfortunately, the human race has made a mess of it.
Some people believe that everything about the individual is preordained, which would imply that we have no true sense of free will -- and therefore no genuine sense of right or wrong either.
I've mentioned in other threads (the reincarnation thread?) that as a 5-year-old, I had a sense that I had been here before, perhaps many times. I imagined a cycle of birth, earthly life, death, heaven (or some similar place), and then birth again. It felt as though I was continually being tested and developed until I became the person that God, or some higher force, would deem worthy to remain in heaven. Perhaps it’s only after many cycles on Earth -- developing both my personality and free will in a way that might be compatible with heaven, that I might be ready for that next step and stay there.
Me neither, or at least in the way it's described in the bible.
Then that would suggest that god is formless, which may be the case. In turn, it throws into question that we were created in the form of God, which I personally struggle with anyway. Could God as a formless universal energy, explain the continuation of life and death and life again in a natural cycle?
If we are indeed one with this creative energy, does that mean our personality, consciousness, and or soul is somehow preserved within it, even if it transforms into something else after death? Or does it simply dissolve, as part of the ongoing process of nature? In that case, what about the unique aspects of who we are, our memories, thoughts, emotions? Are they just temporary or something more eternal? Part of the energy you mention?
I read Genesis and I think, "Who on earth has written this?! It doesn't seem like something that has been sent down to us." It seems to be mostly written in the wrong order. Written in the imagination of humans, as their first attempt to get to grips with science.
