From the readings that were selected for this week, and for all of the other readings that I've done throughout my life, it seems to me that the majority of biblical authors had determinism as the number one theme when it came to how ones life was to play out.
Jonah attempts to leave the grips of God but ends up damning everybody else on his ship to death until he finally relents to the will of God. The other writers take a similar view with regards to Gods role or the overall role of the higher power when it comes to how one persons life turns out.
This definitely splits from my interpretation of not only the readings of the bible that I have come across in my time and my overall thought on Gods role in the individuals everyday life. I have no doubt that God is responsible for the higher functions of life. Meaning that reason that we are here, the fact that we are alive, and living on Earth, etc. Where I find the biblical readings to be a bit hypocritical is where it converges with the everyday individual. Joe Average is you want to give him a name. God and Jesus are both known to have stated in the bible that man is to have free will and determine what he/she believes. Without that free will, you really can't tell he actually loves and believes in God or who is doing so out of fear, peer pressure, or whatever reason of the time.
It has always been my understanding that since God gave good will, that meant that one could live their own life how they saw fit, and make the decisions that they felt like making. But when life was over, when it came time to be judged for the decisions that were made during that life, that is when God came around to judge you and your decisions throughout your life. It seems as if these readings are trying to tell the reader that not only does God judge you at the end of your life but also has a say during your life in that if you make the wrong decision God has the ability and the desire to punish you or others for what you have decided.
I find that to be a very dangerous slope to go down when it comes to who God decides to interfere with and who is left at their own accord. Because if one is to believe that God is there to determine where your life leads and is going to punish those who stray and reward those who do right, then the only logical conclusion to that is that those that are rewarded with Lottery wins are doing exactly as God has wanted them to, yet those children who somehow are inflicted with Cancer and die at a young age have done so because they have angered God. I refuse to believe in such a God or the prosperity theology that belongs to those who do.
Overall, I believe the readings were of little influence to what I believe and how I feel about what I believe when it comes to free will.
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