Free Will and Its Consequences

Free will is always one of those weird questions when it comes to philosophy. On the strictly mechanistic side, there is the question if we are actually making decisions, or if we are merely reacting to stimuli in pre-programmed ways. On the spiritual side there are those that believe that our fates have been pre-destined, and so our decisions don't matter, as they have already been made and we are merely carrying them out. Others believe that we do have free will, and that we exercise every moment when we are awake.

The problem with worshiping an omnipotent being is that free will is often seen to be an illusion at best. At any time God can tell us what to do, and we must do it; that necessity to act would therefore eliminate our free will, and God's willingness to punish those that don't do what he says is proof that He is willing to enforce His will regardless of the will of the petitioned. The problem is that this is a simplified version of what is going on.

What's being ignored is that worshippers enter into a contract with a deity when they choose to worship that deity, be it god or devil. We can choose to void the contract at any time, of course, but being under contract means that we expect certain things from the other side, ranging from prosperity to protection, and in exchange the deity should be able to tell you what to do. In this respect, God is within his rights asking someone to do something and then getting annoyed when that person doesn't do what he wanted. After all, almost all of the biblical examples have someone that has definitely prospered from the situation but is not willing to uphold his end of the bargain; wouldn't you get annoyed if someone did that you? If you had the power, wouldn't you enforce the contract?

In this respect, God going after those that broke their word to him like some sort of cosmic bill collector makes some sense. He needed something done, the person was unwilling to do it, and the contract needs to be enforced. Part of having free will is recognizing that there are consequences, good or bad, to every decision, and we need to weigh those consequences before we do something. That includes knowing that we may suffer for it, but if what we gain is worth it, we may just try to break the contract, but that has its own consequences.

Ultimately, it is our decision whether or not to do what we are told. We just need to decide if the consequences are worth it or not.