Davis Aurini - What does freedom mean when we are obedient to God?

Aug. 23, 2015 - Davis Aurini

03:53

What does freedom mean when we are obedient to God?

How can we be said to have free will if we are obeying the commands of God? My blog: http://www.staresattheworld.com/ My Twitter: http://twitter.com/Aurini Download in MP3 Format: http://www.clipconverter.cc/ Want to request a video? http://www.staresattheworld.com/aurinis-insight/ Just want to help out with a couple bucks? http://www.staresattheworld.com/donate/ Credits: I Feel You by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Music by the talented Matt Baldoni: http://www.facebook.com/baldoniguitar

Time	Text
	Free will and Christian doctrine.
	How do we reconcile these two concepts?
	You know, one statement you'll often hear from atheists is, why would God have given Adam and Eve free will if it allowed them to sin and create a fallen world?
	And implicit in that is also the question, how is it that you can be said to have free will if you are following the commandments of God?
	You know, on the surface, it seems like if you're doing what God likes, then can you really be said to have free will?
	And I think a good metaphor for this to illustrate how it is that you can be free and do what you're supposed to in life is the idea of a symphony.
	When you have a number of musicians in a symphony, they are all coordinated.
	They're all working together to create a piece of art, to create beauty.
	Now, every single one of those musicians is free.
	You know, if they want to start playing their own music, if they want to just make a bunch of noise, they can do that at any point.
	But if they don't follow the conductor, if they don't follow the sheet music, all you get is a cacophony.
	And yet all of these people, out of their individual free will, choose to follow the music, they choose to obey the conductor.
	And the result is harmony and beauty.
	And I believe that's what it means to follow God's will.
	God doesn't want a universe of autonomatons any more than you want to go listen to a guy program a computer to play the exact music that he wants.
	Seeing an actual orchestra is just so much more of a powerful experience than just listening to pre-programmed music, even though theoretically the pre-programmed music could be better quality.
	The reality is that when you have free individuals, masters of their craft playing instruments, it absolutely surpasses the best quality synthesizer because there's soul going into it.
	And I believe that's what God wanted when he created a world full of individuals with free will.
	Not that we should have the freedom to choose to make a cacophony, although we do have that freedom, but that if we chose to follow what is good, true, and beautiful, each of us as individuals, as unique people, doing our own sort of thing, working together to create a truly beautiful, amazing, and creative reality that one person on their own,
	one consciousness on their own, simply cannot do.
	You know, God doesn't want a world of automatons.
	He doesn't want a Soviet state where we're interchangeable cocks, but one where we realize our true individuality, our true freedom, and become the best versions of ourselves.

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Text

Free will and Christian doctrine.

How do we reconcile these two concepts?

You know, one statement you'll often hear from atheists is, why would God have given Adam and Eve free will if it allowed them to sin and create a fallen world?

And implicit in that is also the question, how is it that you can be said to have free will if you are following the commandments of God?

You know, on the surface, it seems like if you're doing what God likes, then can you really be said to have free will?

And I think a good metaphor for this to illustrate how it is that you can be free and do what you're supposed to in life is the idea of a symphony.

When you have a number of musicians in a symphony, they are all coordinated.

They're all working together to create a piece of art, to create beauty.

Now, every single one of those musicians is free.

You know, if they want to start playing their own music, if they want to just make a bunch of noise, they can do that at any point.

But if they don't follow the conductor, if they don't follow the sheet music, all you get is a cacophony.

And yet all of these people, out of their individual free will, choose to follow the music, they choose to obey the conductor.

And the result is harmony and beauty.

And I believe that's what it means to follow God's will.

God doesn't want a universe of autonomatons any more than you want to go listen to a guy program a computer to play the exact music that he wants.

Seeing an actual orchestra is just so much more of a powerful experience than just listening to pre-programmed music, even though theoretically the pre-programmed music could be better quality.

The reality is that when you have free individuals, masters of their craft playing instruments, it absolutely surpasses the best quality synthesizer because there's soul going into it.

And I believe that's what God wanted when he created a world full of individuals with free will.

Not that we should have the freedom to choose to make a cacophony, although we do have that freedom, but that if we chose to follow what is good, true, and beautiful, each of us as individuals, as unique people, doing our own sort of thing, working together to create a truly beautiful, amazing, and creative reality that one person on their own,

one consciousness on their own, simply cannot do.

You know, God doesn't want a world of automatons.

He doesn't want a Soviet state where we're interchangeable cocks, but one where we realize our true individuality, our true freedom, and become the best versions of ourselves.