10.
FREE WILL VERSUS PREDESTINATION
     I BELIEVE IN FREE WILL, NOT IN PREDESTINATION.  MY UNDERSTANDING
IS THAT ANGELS ARE ESSENTIALLY YES-MEN.  THEY LOVE AND OBEY GOD
BECAUSE GOD MADE THEM TO BE THAT WAY.  THEY HAVE NO FREE WILL.  I
THINK THAT MUST BE AN EMPTY KIND OF LOVE.  I THINK GOD DECIDED IT
WANTED INDIVIDUALS TO BE LOVING AND TO OBEY GOD BECAUSE THEY
WANTED TO, NOT BECAUSE THEY HAD NO CHOICE.  THUS GOD MADE HUMANS,
BUT BY EVOLUTION OR CREATION?  MAYBE GOD CREATED THE
EVOLUTIONARY PROCESS TO CREATE MAN.  I DON'T KNOW.  IT DOESN'T
MATTER!  WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?  DO YOU HAVE TO KNOW
THAT?  WE ARE HERE, ARE WE NOT?  I HAVE TO ADMIT THERE IS A LOT OF
SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE FOR THE "THEORY OF EVOLUTION."
     ONE WAY I THINK OF GOD IS AS A SYSTEM DESIGNER AND BUILDER. 
AFTER GOD DESIGNS AND BUILDS IT, GOD LEAVES IT ALONE AND LETS THE
SYSTEM RUN AS IT IS DESIGNED TO DO.  THUS, GOD WANTS TO MAKE ONLY
VERY MINOR CHANGES TO THE SYSTEM, SO AS NOT TO UPSET THE SYSTEM.
     LET US SAY THAT GOD SET UP A SYSTEM ON A 4' X 8' BOARD WITH A 4"
RIM.  GOD PLACES 100 MARBLES AT ONE END OF THE BOARD AND TILTS THE
END OF THE BOARD WITH THE MARBLES ON IT UP INTO THE AIR AND
WATCHES THE MARBLES ROLL DOWN TO THE LOWER END OF THE BOARD. 
EACH MARBLE IS A PERSON AND GOD IS WHISPERING TO EACH PERSON, VERY
LOVINGLY, "ROLL STRAIGHT DOWN HILL AND YOU WILL NOT GET HURT OR
HURT ANYONE ELSE."  HOWEVER, EACH PERSON HAS FREE WILL AND CAN
ROLL LEFT OR RIGHT IF HE WISHES TO.  IF HE ROLLS LEFT OR RIGHT, HE MAY
ROLL INTO OTHER PERSONS HURTING OTHERS AND MAYBE HIMSELF.  THIS IS
CALLED FREE WILL.
     THIS ALSO BEGINS TO EXPLAIN WHY BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD
PEOPLE.  SOME PEOPLE IGNORE GOD AND DO AS THEY WISH AND IN THAT
PROCESS MANY TRAGEDIES HAVE HAPPENED.  I SOMETIMES WISH IT WAS
NOT SO, BUT WE DO HAVE FREE WILL.  ALSO, THE BOARD HAS VARIOUS SIZE
HOLES POSITIONED RANDOMLY OVER THE BOARD SO THAT MARBLES FALL
THROUGH OCCASIONALLY BEFORE THEY GET TO THE BOTTOM, SO YOU CAN
SEE THAT DEATHS AND DISEASES ARE JUST BUILT INTO THE SYSTEM.  IF THE
BOARD HAD GROOVES FROM THE TOP TO THE BOTTOM, THEN THE MARBLES
WOULD ONLY ROLL IN THE GROOVES AND WE WOULD HAVE NO CHOICES
ABOUT HOW TO LIVE OUR LIVES.  THIS WOULD BE PREDESTINATION, A LIFE
WITH NO CHOICES.
     GOD HAS A PLAN FOR US, BUT ONLY A VERY GENERAL PLAN.  GOD
WANTS US TO BE HAPPY, TO PRACTICE SPIRITUAL PRINCIPLES, TO TREAT
OTHERS THE WAY WE WOULD LIKE TO BE TREATED, AND TO DO THE BEST WE
CAN.  THAT IS THE PLAN, THE REST ARE JUST DETAILS.  GOD LETS US DECIDE
THOSE.  GOD DOESN'T CARE IF WE DRIVE A FORD, OR A CHEVY, WHETHER WE
LIVE IN TULSA, OR DENVER, OR IF WE DO THIS OR THAT, ALTHOUGH ONE
OPTION MAY BE BETTER THAN ANOTHER FOR US AND WE CAN ASK IF WE
WANT TO.