An Exercise In Free Will

An atheist friend of mine was recounting to me his short stint in a protestant church. It was a pentecostal church and he didn't have too good an experience there. The leaders of the church had been to controlling and interfering with his life, attempting to dictate what he could do and what he couldn't. It's not an unfamiliar tale, having many other friends from these 'church of bob' places recount such an experience to me too. I couldn't help but think that I'd have never ever had such a problem in Catholicism.

That might sound strange to many a modernist ear! After all, the Church is full of rules, has its own codex of law and lawyers, on top countless documents which provide instructions on many a situation. Many things are clearly spelled out as grave sins, some even excommunicable. Yet, I have never even heard of such strategies of coercion before. Politics, yes. Scandal, yes. But, to be coerced into following rules, no.

Okay, to be fair, there is a lot of gripe from those who have fallen away from Church or those who live in a constant state of mortal sin. Many of this groups are fronts for political agendas and want to change the truth that Christ gave His bride to guard jealously; mostly because they want to continue living in sin. That aside, one certainly doesn't hear stories of priests giving ultimatums to people to stop cohabitating or they have to stop coming for Mass. Rather, there is generally a gentle and loving encouragement to continue coming for Mass, and to stop offending our Lord, and seek his reconciliation in the sacrament of Penance.

This is all do to with the gift of free will. It is through this great gift that God has given Man the power and potential to love, and at the same time made Himself powerless to Man in this aspect. God cannot force Man to love Him, though God loves Man unconditionally. No, He has given Man the ability to be his own agent, and to make that choice. And, that transfers into the Church which He established as well.

The Eternal Father, ever the perfect parent, knows our fallen our human natures are, and how foolish, hence He allows us to choose Him, or to continue making mistakes and offending Him. Yet, ever the loving Father, He has been there always, waiting to receive us back. He knows that to learn all these on our own would probably be fatal, knowing how silly we are, and how addictive the evil one has made the temptation of worldly things, hence He has given us Holy Mother Church so that She will provide us with the guidelines to Eternal Life. Even then, He is constantly giving us undeserved graces, and cajoling us at every moment, hoping that we will abandon our sinful ways, and return to His merciful embrace. However, we must choose to do so, and to then submit to His perfect ways.

Well, God, who is perfect, understands free will and human nature better than anyone. However, original sin has made us stupid, disordered our appetites, and weakened the resolve of our wills. Hence, I can understand why church of Bob has attempted to do what it does, as will anyone trying to parent rebellious adolescents. Pastor Bob sees the soul in trouble, and attempts to stem the damage. I know this all too well, for I have been guilty of it. Being an ENTJ, I naturally have (some) foresight, many plans, and many high expectations. I have forced the people that have come to me for help to conform to those expectations, sometimes overestimating their abilities. By the grace of God, and through many mistakes, I have come to accept that gift of free will which God has given all His children, and more importantly, to have a greater faith in Him, to be patient, to trust in His providence, and to pray more for those I wish to help. After all, it is God who will help them and not I.

In another sense, it is that of authority. Pastor Bob is trying to be a good father, and authority that he doesn't necessarily have, in the sense he isn't actually the father of those people in the way real fathers have authority through natural law, and also without Holy Orders and hence without divine authority. On the other hand, the Church, and her priests, being granted authority by God, do, and She chooses to use it in the way of the prudent parent, to bring her children to an understanding of responsibility and virtue. Hence, Hers is always the gentle, but firm approach. Rarely, does she perform a slap on the face, but only so that her child will recognise the hysteria of sin that she has been in. On the hand, I am similar to Pastor Bob, and I can only play the physician, to provide advice where possible, but it is ultimately up to the patient to choose to comply or not.