You are not Detemined

We are not determined. We have free will, we are responsible for our choices and decisions. We can choose right from wrong. But we are also born with a selfish instinct. We are selfish by nature. It is a fact of human existence. This selfishness we call “original sin”. Our being conditions our choices and resulting actions. We do bad because we have badness within us. We also do good because we have goodness in us also. But we have a free will to choose. We can choose goodness over the badness within us. We are not determined but are led, pushed and pulled by our selfish condition. We are not victims of conditions or conditioning.  We can choose to obey our instincts or resist our instincts. This is the great battle of living. We are responsible because we can choose our response to life. We respond through our thoughts, words and actions. We can confirm this reality by external and internal experience. The external world is drawn to what is wrong. We see it in politics, business, economics and society. The “means justifies the ends” philosophy. Today more then ever the world seems to be overwhelmed with problems of it’s making; it’s own sinfulness We also confirm it when we look into our hearts and our tendency to do bad.  But we can choose alternatives that are contrary to our conditions and conditioning. All living is a relationship with God. Every thought, word and action, every moment of our lives are solely in the context of our relation with God. There is no other way to live. People whether they are ignorant of God, ignore, avoid, try to hide or accept God all have a relationship to God. We know this because all of creation and man in creation cannot exist without God. There are only two possibilities in this relationship; faith or sin. All that is not faith is sin. All that is not sin is faith. Faith is belief but more so; it is trust and fidelity. Sin is breaking the trust and infidelity. We are not determined because we can choose with our free will either faith or sin.