The Evangelical Universalist Forum

Does God "respect" the freedom of one not mentally healthy?

Featured Writers Dr Richard Beck
#1

Hi Richard

I realize we (on this site especially) have danced around this question many times before, and it may be your intent to address it further and in depth in the future, but I’m very curious to hear your opinion, as a mental health professional, what you make of the “solution” offered by ECT/annihilation believers to the problem of why God does not save all, when they say things like:

“God will give them (the lost) what they really want…”
or
“God saves those who want to be saved…”
or
“God lets them go where they will be most happy…”
or
“God loves them too much to force them to live where He knows they’d be miserable…”

I mean if we don’t believe it’s rational to “respect” the freedom of choice of the kid about to put his hand on a hot stove, or a depressed friend about to commit suicide, or that it’s reasonable to accept self destructive behavior as “normal” or “healthy”, why is it so easy for so many to find refuge (from a mental health professionals perspective) in this kind of excuse for GOD allowing people to “freely choose” hell (or annihilation)??

Thanks

Bobx3

#2

Freedom is relative and even if we obtain a small scope of freedom but restricted in the wider sense, we still have freedom within the scope we are limited to. The free-will arguments that believe otherwise, do not believe in freedom but anarchy and absolute self-determination and fail to recognize it.

So in respect to mentally unhealthy individuals, if their cognitive reasoning skills are compromised by their illness, even in the human courts we do not hold them accountable or responsible for their actions and decisions made under such circumstance. If the inferior human race can exercise such grace and mercy, the God who is described Just and Loving would operating more perfectly.

#3

For my part, though I don’t know if this gets after the issue, I just default to seeing God as a parent. Thus, I don’t think that God “sits on his hands” while his children engage in destructive activities. But neither is God going to “get in our heads” and make/force us to do something we don’t, ourselves, choose to do. So this means that God has to be 1) using a light touch in directing us and 2) playing the long game.

Biblically, the best picture of this, in my opinion, is the Parable of the Prodigal Son.

#4

Who besides God knows why we’re born into such differing situations with such differing levels of health (emotional and physical), lengths of life, wealth or poverty, advantage or abuse, high or low intelligence, and on and on and on?

That’s one reason UR is such a huge relief to me. The Judge of all the earth WILL do what is right. He will not allow even one of these little ones to be lost. The mentally ill will (I believe) be sound in their time, and when sound will be able to make rational choices and will do so.

Blessings, Cindy