I’ll make another post later about free will Vs. God’s will and why I believe his love overcome all. I’ll explain why everyone will choose God over their own way and a hell of their own making.

I used to really wrestle with the question of free will vs. predestination. Some Bible verses used to point to free will and some seemed to point towards predestination. I think that conversation is flawed because it presumed a view of hell that I no longer believe. This post is also about duality and Oneness. Let’s start with talking about Good Vs. Evil.

I think the symbol of light and darkness is an apt one for Good and Evil. Evil is not the opposite, but the absence of good just as darkness is not a thing in itself, but merely the absence of light. Tolkien picks this up well in that Orcs, Balrogs, Trolls are not races that were created, but tortured and perverted versions of good races such as men, elves, dwarves, and Maia spirits.

Where am I going with this? I don’t think its helpful to label people as good or evil. Everyone is good at the core, because that is the only thing that truly exists. But we also have the illusion of an ego which perverts good for our own gain – evil. Everyone has varying degrees and different ways of perverting or not identifying as this good.

I don’t believe that anyone wants to truly be evil. Everyone has an idea of good and strives towards that. Even Hitler had an idea of what good was. Some may have a grand vision of what good is for a large group, and some may just have an idea of what is good for them and be solely focused on that.

I see evil more from a psychological perspective. Evil comes from trauma. It comes from not being given or understanding love. It comes from bad coping mechanisms, etc. How many people do you know that grew up in a very loving environment have grown up to be “evil” people? This understanding helps me have more empathy, patience, and love for other people.

What do these things have to do with free will vs God’s will? I believe that everyone has free will, but at the same time we cannot escape God’s will. Everyone is free to make decision, but not free to be free from influence. God, along with everything else in the universe is influencing us. We have the free will who to let influence us and to what degree.

There are choices we can make that pervert God’s will for us, but God always makes good out of these choices. We cannot get outside of the will of God. The small details of the plan may change, but the end result is still the same.

What is the will of God? I believe its that all will be reunited with him in love. I believe that the more we experience and understand the will of God the more we will choose God’s will. At some point, whether that is in this life or after, our will will choose God’s will and the two will merge into one.

Some people hold out against universalism in that some people will always choose their own way over God’s. I can continue to make intellectual arguments, but the truth is is that I’ve experienced a very powerful union with God in my life and that experience has led me to believe that no one, no one experiencing the full love of God would ever choose their own way. On earth, we may temporarily forget that feeling, that remembering that we are one with God. We may choose our own way sometimes. But eventually everyone will be one with God. There will be separation, no forgetting, and only God’s will. But I believe there will be many beautiful ways of expressing his love. I like forward to that time beyond time.