SKIP AHEAD
There is a hunger in the human heart for freedom. But the freedom so ardently desired by men cannot be merely a power of free choice that is as universal as human nature itself. It would seem that the freedom men deeply desire is even more than a freedom from external or internal constraint, though this is not unimportant. Is there not a more profound meaning of freedom: the freedom to be all that one can and should be, the freedom to fulfill the true human vocation?
"Our destiny, our being's heart and home,
Is with infinitude, and only there;
With hope it is, hope that can never die,
Effort, and expectation, and desire,
And something evermore about to be"
". . . [I]t seems all men make unqualified judgements, if not about all things, still about what is better and worse. And if this is not knowledge but opinion, they should be all the more anxious about the truth, as a sick man should be more anxious about his health than one who is healthy; for he who has opinions is, in comparison with the man who knows, not in a healthy state as far as the truth is concerned . . . " ---The Philosopher, (Meta, bk.4, chp. 4)
Now then, I am expecting many Bible-thumping people to shout at the top of their lungs that I am evil, or some such rubbish! Yes, please DO quote: "Man's steps are from the Lord; how, then, can a man understand his way?"--Prov. 20:24. . . . . . I do not claim to know that Divine Truth that IS God's essence. I cannot comprehend God in His totality. However, I have some truth, because He enables me to know truth....after all, if truth WERE NOT knowable to MAN--then the Lord would have no justice in judging mankind!
...but on with what the Mephster believes, right? I suppose you are mostly religious-minded folks, so therefore I SHOULD include some treatment upon my faith. I believe in a Supreme Being, that is Infinitely Good. Now, don't forget that if we speak of God, we are speaking of that Being in which esse=essence and therefore God IS His attributes. I stress GOOD. . . I could merely say GOOD instead of God, you realize. God is GOOD, He doesn't merely possess goodness. Do you truly understand the consequences of saying that GOD IS GOOD? I believe in the infinite goodness of God and also the goodness of mankind. We are created in His Image, eh? Ever WONDER what that means? I will explain these points further because they are at the heart of what I believe.
Yes, God IS good! And it is a principle of reason that Good is Diffusive of Itself. God, being good, creates in order to "share" His goodness. This is a difficult thing to understand, because it is SO opposite of typical human thinking. Yet, it DOES make sense. God never gains or loses a thing.... but He is also All-Good, and so He must "do" good and "share" good. It is, let us say, part of His nature. Now, following this, anything that IS... IS GOOD. Yes, even Satan--insofar as he exists is good. To BE is good. Existence is good. That is seen in nature--survival is one primary instinct that no one dares deny. Brute animals desire to BE... because they "know" to BE is good. And so, man, if he exists, is also GOOD. For two reasons, one: because he is in God's image (ie. he has some of that attribute of God called goodness); and two: because he exists, simply being a creation of God.
Yes, God is free. He IS freedom! He is not merely FREE, but He actually IS freedom. And once again, IF YOU BELIEVE that GOD is infinite and good, you MUST admit that He is free. Further, you must admit that mankind has free-will.
"Free-will" ---is a common buzzword that everyone seems to understand fairly well. I don't prefer it, but it will serve our purposes. I KNOW that "double-predestination" and "pre-determinism" DO NOT EXIST, ie. man is not bound by such concepts. I imagine that many "born-again" christians and Calvinist types will argue with that. They can, and will, but then my reply is simply---if you believe in those things, you also believe in a limited, non-good God. My God IS GOOD and man was created in His Image. Man is a rational creature with "free-will." In light of what I have said...... to say that God created a being (thrust a substance into existence), for no other purpose than to damn it, or to be inherently evil...is absurd! I reckon I am dangerously close to being a universalist in that I believe that there are only three possible persons (that I can see) that would deserve eternal "non-change" (ie. hell). Those persons are:
Suffice to say, I add Calvin, not because he is not Roman Catholic, but because he was a major proponent of this "pre-determinism" rubbish. Anyone who dares to damn creation by spreading such filth ought HIMSELF to be eternally DAMNED. Further, let me add this: . . . . . IF Jesus came to redeem and save mankind..... then He came to do so FOR ALL MEN. Argue with me and quote scripture.. do what you will. My response remains, my GOD IS GOOD....
Sin . . . . . that is the problem with the world today. Agreed? Well, listen up. Maybe if you'd stop focusing on it, it wouldn't be such a problem. William Blake rebelled against the theory that all literature was simply a "re-telling" of the story of the Garden of Eden. The Fall of Man don't we love to ponder that? And I read it and I watch man blame woman, woman blame snake... and then Cain says he is not his brother's keeper, etc. I read Romans and Saint Paul is ranting about sin and judgement. Well...SAVE IT!!! I have had enough. For 2000 years we have sought to understand BLAME, SIN, and the GARDEN. I LIKE the ROMANTIC poets... they had a sense of truth that is far beyond what I find in most persons today. No, sin was not "knowledge" per se, nor was it against God. Sin, according to the poets, was a loss of Imagination and a reliance on "reason." Now, by reason I don't mean logic. I mean science and all the laws and rules that we expect people to break and so not measure up.
I am not impressed. . . . . I am sick of the concentration on damning, on sin, on fault, on blame. I am man. I will make mistakes. But perhaps the biggest mistake I can make is the rejection of the feelings of my heart and the dreams of my soul. I believe in GOOD. I want to SEE the good in ALL men... and I dream of a better place, a better time. I will keep my sights set on that DREAM... but I will not damn this world in the meantime. I take responsibility for my faults. But I refuse to dwell on them. My God is Good.... is yours?
... do you see how swtiching the focus from damnation and blame to goodness and hope changes the world? If I am expected to fail, and I believe I will fail, I WILL fail. If I am expecting judgement and condemnation, I will get it. BUT. . . if I believe anything is possible...if I have hope and see the goodness in creation... I CANNOT FAIL.
It is true that Lincoln never did join a church, although he attended church services regularly while President. The reason he gave for never joining a church was that he could never be satisfied with all the dogmas and creeds that the denominational churches of his day required. On this subject Lincoln wrote:
One of Lincoln's earliest statements on the subject of his faith came in 1846:
"The Faiths of others all deserve to be honored for one reason or another. By honoring them, one exalts one's own faith and at the same time performs a service to the faith of others... If a man extols his own faith and disparages another because of devotion to his own and because he wants to glorify it, he seriously injures his own faith." --Asoka