Chapter 16
Free Will
The First Baptist church of Wildwood was a busy place on Sunday mornings. The most popular activity, other than worship service, was the Sunday school class “God in the Modern World,” a discussion group led by Christopher Hagan. Chris was the youngest class leader ever sanctioned by the church.
Matt attended worship service each week despite his crisis of faith. He sat with Brian’s sister, Jamie, while mentally picking apart the pastor’s sermon. Showing up for Sunday school class was another matter. He hadn’t attended in years.
Matt wasn’t an Atheist. Despite his outbursts, he never stopped believing, but he did have questions. “Why does God allow suffering? Why are we here? ...”
Chris referred to Matt as “God’s work in progress.”
The Sunday following Matt’s second encounter with the Indian Chief, he decided to visit Chris’s class. It was no secret Chris was spiritually gifted, but Matt still felt awkward discussing religion with his childhood friend.
Chris’s class was large enough to allow Matt to hide in the crowd. His recollections of Sunday school were blown away by the class packed with enthusiastic followers. The conversation wasn’t a routine scripture lesson. It was a serious exchange of ideas considering how the teachings of the Bible could help people deal with human weakness. Matt found it difficult to reconcile the Chris he knew with the person leading the session, as if Chris had channeled the spirit of an old professor.
He wondered, “Could it be a coincidence that the Columbine High School massacre is the topic of conversation?” Despite his intent to sit quietly, Matt felt an uncontrollable urge to speak.
“If God is the all-powerful being you claim, then why is the world so screwed up?” he asked.
The class was silent for a moment as everyone was stunned by the outburst, everyone except Chris. He wasn’t surprised that Matt was in the class, and he wasn’t surprised by the question.
“Our brains function within a ‘Selective Information Network,’” Chris answered.
Some of the class attendees chuckled, having heard it before. They knew what Chris meant, but it was nonsense to Matt.
Matt looked at Chris with confusion, “What?”
Chris continued. “It’s my way of saying we don’t have enough information to make perfect decisions. We’re not omniscient. The Selective Information Network acronym stands for SIN, get it?”
Matt shook his head, “Yea. I get it. It’s in man’s nature to sin, but the question is why? Why did God deliberately create flawed people?”
“Flawed isn’t the best word,” Chris replied. “We’re unfinished. You might say humans are like students who haven’t graduated. The world is our classroom with an incomplete grade until we get our degree in ‘free will.’”
“Free will?” Matt sneered. “Didn’t free will result in the Columbine massacre? If we’re being graded on free will, we’ve already failed.”
“Exactly the point,” Chris replied. “Only one man has ever passed the test.”
“So why are we here if we can’t pass the test?” Matt asked.
“To help us understand why we need God’s omniscience. We do have a choice; he’s asking us to choose him. There is an old saying, ‘Nobody is perfect.’ Thankfully, God doesn’t ask us to be. We need to recognize our imperfection, then ask for help. When we accept Jesus we don’t give up free will, we choose to accept the will of God.”
Matt was encouraged by Chris’s words but wanted more. “I understand what you’re saying Chris, but is there any tangible evidence that God exists? Is our religion based solely on faith?”
Chris walked to the white board and picked up a marker.
“First I think we need to acknowledge that if God is powerful enough to create everything in our existence, we may never be able to prove it. It may be like trying to draw a picture of a whale from within the whale’s belly. Do you understand what I’m saying Matt?”
“I think so, but isn’t that just another way of saying faith is all we have?”
Chris turned to the board, “That may be true, but I believe the signs are there if we open our eyes.” He wrote:
“In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God
– John 1:1.”
“Like you, many of us struggle to reconcile our faith in terms of modern science. This passage from the Bible was written over a thousand years ago. Yet it explains God’s relationship to quantum physics in a way modern scientists are only beginning to understand.”
“What’s scientific about the first chapter and verse of the book of John?” Matt asked.
“Glad you asked,” Chris smiled. “Word in this verse refers to Jesus. It is important to note that both biblical and secular scholars agree on that. This verse was originally written in ancient Greek. ‘Word’ in ancient Greek means ‘information,’ so a more scientifically accurate translation of this passage would be…” Chris wrote on the board:
“In the beginning was Information (Jesus)
and Information (Jesus) was with God
and Information (Jesus) was God”
“What is the foundation of the universe?” Chris asked rhetorically. “Many scientists say information is the only thing capable of explaining quantum mechanics by unifying wave-particle duality and the Heisenberg uncertainty principle.
“Simply put, scientists have figured out that according to quantum physics everything in the universe boils down to information, in other words God.”
The class broke into applause with scattered laughter. A couple people said “Amen!” Chris added an “Amen,” and continued to speak.
“This isn’t a clever play on words. Rene Descartes put it this way, ‘cogito ergo sum’ which means, ‘I think therefore I am.’ Some people believe the Bible is no more than a collection of myths, but this verse explains what modern scientists are only beginning to understand.”
Matt felt optimistic for the first time in months. It wasn’t the logical arguments made by Chris or the wise words of an old Indian. It was realizing other people were struggling with the same questions; he wasn’t alone.
As Matt scanned the room for familiar faces, he felt an unexplained connection with one particular person. It was the compassionate gaze of a beautiful girl with pale complexion, blonde hair, and emerald green eyes.