I Will...I Won't...Who Cares?

My wife and I have been working our way through the Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel series on DVD through Blockbuster online. Its been a lot of fun, and much more enjoyable than waiting week to week to watch the next episode. We're nearing the end of Angel and we'll need to find a new series to follow. One of the really enjoyable aspects of watching TV like this is that it enables us to have more critical discussions--as we watch in one continuous flow the story is easier to encompass and the storyline is easier to see and think about. All in all, I'd say they were very well done mini-movies.

That being said, one of the more recent episodes, at the end of the 4th season of Angel dealt with an interesting question, revolving around free will and peace on earth, which made me wonder; at what price will we accept paradise? In terms of lives...would we sacrifice someone to afford others peace? What if the world would know peace but 12 preople would have to be sacrificed? Is it worth it?

And when it comes to our will...do we need to retain it for paradise to be paradise? In the show, Angel and his co-heroes end a higher being's attempt at global domination through love, peace, and good feelings...because this higher being removed "free will", and ate about a dozen people a day to sustain itself. Now, clearly, this being wasn't good...but it did bring happiness with it, or so it seemed. The price was some people to feed it, and our collective free will...weighed against the thousands that die around the world every moment, subject to our free will.

How important is free will? Without it, love cannot be real...but with it, men kill each other. We believe in its necessity, yet pray that our wills will be conformed to God's will. Why do I need a free will so much? One day, I will not have a will to hold onto sinful desires...the battle between the dueling wills within me will end...yet I cannot help but wonder...dear God why is my will important enough to die for?

I think in the end, the show got it right. No peace can be peace under those circumstances. If God's own son would die to give me my will, then the price cannot be weighed with simple numbers. We need to be free...even though our freedom affords too many merely fresh versions of hell on earth. We that have seen what a righteous Man may do with His will perfected should use our lives towards correcting the flaw two people once created when they allowed their free wills to divide humanity from our Creator.

Father, forgive me, a sinner, for clinging to sinful wickedness instead of your redeeming hope.