by Adam J. Franklin

Created on: November 12, 2008

Instead of focusing on your judgment of my religious belief or disbelief, try to focus on the words you are about to read.

Does God grant blessings? Since there are many definitions of God and different types of Gods to different peoples in different periods of history, I will base this argument solely on the Biblical definition of God.

If all things were created by God and He is all knowing, then good and evil, saints and sinners and all things opposite were created by Him; even our problems and their solutions.

It is also true that according to common religious belief, God has given man/woman free will. So if it is absolutely true that we have free will, and that free will exists, then we have the ability to choose the course of our lives and their destinies. An intelligent person can choose to live a life of crime and violence or a life of peace and prosperity. God has given us that freedom according to free will.

A foolish man can choose to go to the wrong side of town wearing an expensive watch flashing his wealth without fearing being mugged at gunpoint. You may argue that some people go to the wrong side of town without knowing where the wrong side of town is. This is true, however, the fact that crime exists is also a human choice according to free will. If society chose to treat its own members justly, crime would be limited to the ones God created for evil; since He has created everything.

It is a fact that we do not choose to treat ourselves morally, ethically, justly or humanely. This is why there are those sad cases of human loss and agony we always hear about and wonder where God was and why He didn't interfere to protect an innocent child from molestation, rape or murder - free will on a social scale.

How could an all knowing God who created/creates everything, yet gives us the choices to lead our lives as we choose grant us blessings? I suppose He could if He wishes to do so, although that would not really make much sense because if He knows everything and creates everything, then He knows how things will turn out before we have made our choices.

Our destinies are written and spoken of in The Bible, according to those who believe The Word, yet those same believers think they have a choice in their lives. This doesn't make sense because God who knows everything will make His choices for humanity in accordance to His plans which are written in The Bible.

So again, does God grant blessings? Maybe, maybe not. Could it be that His plans are greater than our single individual plans and lives? That what we see as blessings are actually minor adjustments to counterbalance our choices to set humanity on track to where He has planned for us to go; according to The Bible?

This could explain what we view as the tragedies and blessings in life, even though God may not necessarily see these consequences of His actions on the large overall human scale as tragedies or blessings in our individual lives.

Learn more about this author, Adam J. Franklin.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.