Quote:
Originally Posted by aron
Gubei, I like your ideas on a "person" posessing "agency", or will, or the capacity to choose. I have long felt that only God has the capacity to act. Satan merely reacts. When we are in Spirit, we act. When we are being religious, with our scriptural rule books, we merely react. Only God is a "person". All other entities are either agents of God or agents of Satan, who by definition are "not".  Question: do we act by "instinct", merely reacting, or by God's grace do we turn and open to the only One who "is"?
|
Dear Aron,
1. Before I get into answering your question...
My 2 cents for ontology most of posters are discussing now.
Aristotle is said to have tried to define everything by such a systematic way
as
apple (lower concept) = red (difference) + fruit (upper concept)
And at the zenith of upper concept is "existence."
Some posters in this thread seem to be trying to say
"at the zenith of upper concept are "existence" and "non-existence". God created only existence, and non-existence (including sin in it) is from nowhere."
However, with a second thought, the assumption of non-existence is existence itself. In other words, when we say non-existence, it means non-existence existes, thus non-existence is included in existence.
Of course, I'm not a devil's advocate. But the afore-mentioned logic is very troublesome.
2. Now answering your question...
Actually you are asking so difficult questions a lot of theologians have debated so long, in vain... I'm no better or smarter than those.
Anyway, my humble answer is as follows;
a. Man is a person
I'd rather say man is a PERSON who has his own freewill and purpose than an agent. God is (a) person(s), having HIS own will. If we are made as per his image and likeness, we should have our own will with which they are for or against God's will. How many wills are there in the universe? If you follow my definition of person, you get at least 1.6 billions (the current population size on the earth). Of course we should add Satan and his subordinates' and angels.
b. instinct and will
Man has both instinct and will, and in general will is superior to instinct. Let's say I haven't eaten meal for three days. I would feel some basic urge to eat apples displayed when I get by a discount store hall. That is of instinct. I would not be blamed for that urge by God. I, however, may want to steal some to eat. That would be because I am sinful. Most of people just suppress that strong urge by using his will. His moral standard is high.
In summary, the urge to eat apples – reacting to my instinct, the urge to steal apples – reacting to my sinful nature, suppress of the urge by using will – acting independently.
c. Judgment by God
In above-mentioned case, I should be judged by God to be guilty despite actually not stealing apples. That's because God cannot accept even sinful nature, let alone sinful action.
d. Salvation
Even though I have a freewill, my freewill is so weak (or defected by fall), so I cannot turn to the Lord. Only those who are selected by God can turn to the Lord by HIS grace.
In short, we, human beings, can make decision with their own freewills except for one thing – salvation. The universe is "deterministic" in regard to salvation. In regard to other incidents, it seems to depend. - Gubei.