Free Will at a Price





The Governing Body claim that God gives us free will.  But that 'free will' in the end is, if you accept their beliefs, is the choice between serving God by becoming a JW or death.  It hardly seems to be 'free will' in any normal understanding of freedom.  On the JW.ORG website under the editorial;

 Bad Things Happen to Good People—Why? they write;

If God coerced people into following a certain course, would he not be nullifying the gift of free will? Why, humans would be reduced to nothing more than machines, doing exactly what they were programmed to do! The same would be true if fate, or Kismet, dictated what we do and everything that happens to us. How glad we can be that God dignifies us by allowing us to choose our own course! 

The problem with this claim is that God, through the Bible, has been prophesying certain courses for humans since the beginning of the Bible.  Think about the predictions of Cyrus as discussed on JW.ORG;

An outstanding example.
Strategically built astride the Euphrates River, ancient Babylon has been called “the political, religious, and cultural centre of the ancient Orient.” About 732 B.C.E., the prophet Isaiah penned an ominous prophecy—Babylon would fall. Isaiah provided specifics: A leader named “Cyrus” would be the conqueror, the protective waters of the Euphrates would “dry up,” and the city’s gates would “not be shut.” (Isaiah 44:27–45:3) 

As it would be 200 years later that Cyrus routed Babylon by diverting the Euphrates River it appears as though this is a clear example of God coercing someone to follow a certain course - or to put it more succinctly - not giving them free will.

In fact the Governing Body actually state that God DOES foreordain;

JW.ORG FOREKNOWLEDGE, FOREORDINATION
Factors to Recognize. To understand the matter of foreknowledge and foreordination as relating to God, certain factors necessarily must be recognized.

First, God’s ability to foreknow and foreordain is clearly stated in the Bible. Jehovah himself sets forth as proof of his Godship this ability to foreknow and foreordain events of salvation and deliverance, as well as acts of judgment and punishment, and then to bring such events to fulfillment. His chosen people are witnesses of these facts.

So he predicts and then brings his predictions to fulfilment.  So he DOES coerce people into a certain course if it suits him, which means humans ARE reduced to nothing more than machines of his will.

Where does that leave us?  Well the bible predicts that Armageddon is coming and very few will survive it. The bible also says that God loves us and doesn't want any of us to die - yet the two statements are incompatible.  He already knows that he is going to murder most of us so why bother saying he loves us and wants us to survive.  If he really did he would coerce us to do his will just as he coerced others to do the things he wanted.  Or, at the very least, he would give us absolute proof as to his existence and clear evidence of which organisation or way of serving him is the right one.

When somebodies life is at stake ambiguity is the last thing they need.  It's like sending ten different ropes of various colours, thicknesses and designs down to a stranded mountain climber and telling them to choose the right one because nine of them will snap when they gets halfway up.

I know that I'd be wary of the rope that had a Watchtower logo attached!

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