Free Will

[from my parish bulletin]

Two Sundays ago I visited the youth group to answer questions they had prepared beforehand. There were so many good questions that I only got through a handful of them. I didn’t get a chance to answer the question I thought was the most thought-provoking, so I decided to answer it here. The question goes like this: “If God is all-knowing, why didn’t he stop Eve from eating the fruit? He seemed to be oblivious to the event.”

God truly is all-knowing. Absolutely nothing that happens goes unnoticed by him because he actively sustains all that exists. In his infinite wisdom however, he created us with a precious ability, an unmatched gift: free will.

We have the ability to determine our actions without external interference. For example, this morning I ate a bowl of cereal but I very well could have eaten a banana. No one forced me to pick one or the other; I was completely free to choose.

God has created us with this great ability to choose. Why? Ultimately because he wants us to freely choose him above all other things. If we had no free will and automatically always chose to do good and automatically chose to be faithful to him, there would be little merit for us since we would be like robots. Love that is chosen is always superior to love that is forced.

God was aware of Eve’s eating of the fruit, but respected her free will and allowed her to fall into sin. God respected her free will even though it meant making the wrong decision and suffering the consequences.

It is the same for us today. God has given us the ability to choose him yet does not force us to do so. How will we respond to his great love and generosity? Love is the appropriate response.