Is this a path of will up ahead?
Or are we just destined to get what we get?

Are we free, or are we entombed by genetics and circumstance? The question matters, and it has an answer whether we ask it or not and whether we care or not. Can we change ourselves and our circumstances, or are we determined. For Christians, this is a question that must be answered. If God is omniscient and omnipotent then He not only knows how things will go in a life but He also makes it happen that way. Can we save ourselves?

Augustine’s formulation captures it best: opera mutas nec mutas consilium, or “You change your works and do not change your plan.” Jonah helped to save Nineveh even though he didn’t want to. Why would God waste his time with Jonah? Because He works with us on our story even though He knows how it ends. We matter, and although life is highly determined, we are still playing the music, writing the lyrics, and singing the song.   

Is this a sign of will in our heads?
Or are we predestined to get what we get?

Inanimate Objects
Molecules
Atlas Genius
2015

<– Day Three: Freedom’s Just Another Word
Day Five: Power is Hard to Get and Harder to Keep –>