For a Christian this can be simplified into the primary theology of understanding the nature and purposes of God the Creator.
Most Christian theologians through history have made the assumption that - in the beginning - God's creation was wholly Good (e.g. the angels in Heaven, the Garden of Eden); and that the purpose of God through history has been to develop Man's agency, or freedom.
Thus - Man began as Good but unfree; and God has worked through history to develop in Man a freedom that then chooses Good.
I believe in contrast, that reality began with (meaningless and purposeless) chaos - but a chaos that included God the Creator and also Men.
Thus both God and Men began as Beings with agency.
Men began as free - but unconscious.
God has worked through history to develop Man's consciousness aiming at the point when man would (from his innate agency) consciously choose to align with God.
2 comments:
A very clarifying post that also addresses the subject of spiritual freedom.
If one stops to think about it -- really think about it -- the first assumption eventually crumbles into incoherence because it contradicts the very definition of agency. If man begins unfree, then the agency he develops is contingent upon God. If man's agency is contingent upon God, he is not truly free.
I believe in innate agency, but I know that the idea of freedom not being from God is incomprehensible to most Christians. Moreover, the very thought terrifies and stops them in their tracks, which is the exact opposite of what they should be choosing in this time and place as far as consciousness development goes.
@Frank
" If man begins unfree, then the agency he develops is contingent upon God. If man's agency is contingent upon God, he is not truly free."
That argument convinced me, permanently, as soon as I was able to formulate it - which took me about four years! I first need to read the Philosophy of Mormon theology (by Sterling M McMurrin) which gave me an alternative overall understanding - reinforced by William Arkle's direct-intuitive discussions of God's motivations wrt men.
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