"Free Will" debate

Today in my "Problem of Evil: In a Biblical Perspective" class the professor took a poll of the class. The question was: "How many of you believe that human beings have Free Will?" In a class of nearly 30, all but two people put up their hands. He then asked: "How many of you do not know whether we have Free Will or not?" Jolene and I raised our hands.

I heard my girlfriend behind me *gasp* "Dylan?!" I couldn't help but smirk. And so there I was, defying what seemed to be the obvious to the class. I had to say something, some sore of explanation. So I said that I am not entirely sure that we have Free Will over every aspect of our lives. This also carries over to humanity and God's ability to intervene in our history for a greater and higher good that we, as humans, sometimes cannot understand. I will admit that this theology is problematic in some instances, but so is the notion that we always have Free Will and that God only brings about silver-linings after our sins have been committed.

For me, there are two fundamental principles about God which, in my opinion, justify my rationale. 1) God is omnipotent, 2) throughout scripture there are examples of God intervening in the lives of human beings (Job, the prophets, Jesus of Nazareth)

These fundamental principles coincide with the birth of every human being. No one wills himself/herself to be born. Our births are not of our decision nor are these lives we were given. We are to make the best of them and to somehow make it through without sinning (as God hopes we will do). If I knew beforehand, that it is impossible to be perfect in this world and that pain and suffering is inevitable, I do not think I would have chosen to be here. Then why am I on this earth? Why did God choose me to be here?

Some would argue that biology has put me on this earth. I would agree that perhaps my physical body is as a result of pure science and biology; but my soul and the reason why my soul was chosen for this body being on this earth (which is more than just the result of two people having intercourse) should be, and is, as a result of a higher being's ability to know me and my purpose in this world. That being, is God our Creator.

I am willing to give credit where credit is due, and given the choice of believing that my being here is as a result of pure science and randomness, or, the divine plan of God - I would choose God. This theology has it's drawbacks as lends itself to the idea that our free will is limited and that God plays an interactive role in our lives, directing us how He wills us in some instances.

I do not believe that we were NOT given free will, as it is explicitly given to us when God gave Adam and Eve the choice to choose to eat from either the Tree of Knowledge or the Tree of Good and Evil. Of course, He gave them his advice and it was under the choice to follow through with the temptation of the serpent that we disobeyed God's command. Our free will to choose temptation or God is given to us at the time of birth. But it is exactly in our birth in which God gives us both free will and demonstrates his ability to intervene in our lives.

The discernment of which is God's action in our lives and which is simply consequence of the natural laws this world has (gravity, weather patterns, the shifting in tectonic plates) is up to our own personal theology. One may say that there is meaning and a purpose for every death, whether that be by cancer, murder, or a natural disaster - every life is taken to heaven by God for a reason.

In my belief that we cannot control which day or circumstance we are born, I believe that we are also not in control of the day we die. Our death is the inverse of our birth and if we cannot control one what makes someone think they can control the day of the other. We may have a hand in how we die, for example, bad health choices may result in a heart attack, stroke, or cancer. But on that particular day, I believe, we are called back to the Lord whether or not we are in the hospital dying of lung disease, or struck by a vehicle crossing the street. I can admit, there are times even I think this is radical.

The focus of my theory are the acceptance of universal truths. The one truth being that we have no control over our birth, and if our birth is the inverse of our death, then therefore, the day we die must too be just as uncontrollable by ourselves as our birth. The day of our death and our birth is what is of importance, not the way in which we die.

In life we have control, or free will, to choose to give into temptation and fall into sin or to live in God's righteousness. It is our choice as humans to give into temptation which leads to our ultimate deaths, as sinning is inevitable. Our first sin is the first and last nail in our proverbial coffin. After that the day we die is in God's hands just as our birth was.

Perhaps I am making no sense at all. Formulating these thoughts, with some degree of passion and belief, can be difficult and further explanation may be needed. Upon request, of course. Any other different thoughts on free will or divine intervention are welcomed. It is through discussion we affirm, reject, or build up our beliefs and theologies.

CMUSC Presidency

Between writing papers and working at the pool, I have mused about running for the presidency of the Canadian Mennonite University's Student Council. Right now I am the Returning Student representative on CMUSC and my accomplishments reach beyond voicing student concerns at council meetings.

The Canadian Mennonite University is approaching, what I believe, to be a very complex and critical junction in it's history. With Mennonite Church Canada cutting it's funding to CMU considerably over the last three years, and further cuts foreseen (from around 350,000/year to 180,000/year) and the Mennonite Brethren Conference of Manitoba already cutting their entire funding to CMU (leaving funding the responsibility of individual churches, which is a loss of 200,000/year - that is, unless the churches can make all this up) the administration is at the very whim of the churches who support our institution and therefore, the direction in which our growth is going to take is a particular one.

Some debate on whether or not churches are going to support CMU has to do with the types of classes CMU is offering. If we are going to offer more "secular" classes then some churches may not be so inclined to donate money to us, or they would be apathetic (or encourage) funding cuts to CMU because of such programming. Some churches want us to be a bible college again, others wish us to be a music college, a select few wish to see us as a University with a multitude of degrees varying in the arts, theology, philosophy, and the sciences.

For the reasons above, I was not too surprised when our Computer Science B.A was cut from our programming this year and to see the expansion of our Music department. Also, there are rumors of our Athletic dept. cutting a varsity team from their budget simply because they do not have the funding necessary to keep up all their sports. Meanwhile we are short two full-time biblical and theological professors.

How to make up all this money? More students. How to attract more students? Offer a variety of courses and degree programs! But in this process we may dilute our Mennonite student population and replace it with more protestant/Anabaptist students of various denominations. I have no problem with that, as long as our Mennonite identity does not go out with the decrease of Mennonite students.

This is where my candidacy for President of the CMUSC comes into play. As a concerned student about the rise of tuition, cuts to programs, and decreased funding from MC Canada and MB Manitoba; lead me to believe that our growth is not going to be decided how the students and the administration want it to, unless we get involved.

Preserving our Mennonite identity is central to the issue of what kind of an institution we want to be. That being said, we cannot limit ourselves to Biblical/Theological/Musical programming if we wish to gain MORE students. For us to gain more students we need more programming, and for more programming we need the conferences support. Christians receiving a B.A in Computer Science from a Christian institution will not only give them the education they need to find work in the secular world, but will help their spiritual lives grow and make them better witness' to their workplaces. Not to mention that the better educated a Christian is in theology, the better Christian they will be.

On March 15-16th students will have a chance to vote for me to be their next student council president. Advocating for more dialogue between our institution and the conferences who support us, to give CMU the support we need to become Canada's best Christian University.