Free Will

To some the mental image of God is a blur of disappointment. “Here,” they say resentfully, “is One whom I trusted, but He let me down.” The rest of their lives is shadowed by this letdown…God is a Disappointment. Some, of course, rather enjoy this never-failing well of grievance. The years by no means diminish the details of the Prayer that was Unanswered or the Disaster that was Undeserved…finding this the best possible excuse for those who do not wish to be involved in any moral responsibility.…People who feel that God is a Disappointment are wanting a world in which good is rewarded and evil is punished—as in a well-run kindergarten. But they misunderstand the conditions of this present temporary life in which God withholds His hand, so to speak, to allow room for His plan of free will to work itself out. Justice will be fully vindicated when the curtain falls on the present stage, the house lights go on, and we go out into the Real World. — J.B. Phillips, Your God is Too Small, pp. 48-50

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