The Field of Life Is Not a Field of Lava

I want to blog more about "Commandments VS Agency" later, mostly because I don't think our situation is quite as bleak as I made it sound, but first I want to take some time to flesh out my thoughts and decide which of those thoughts I want to blog about first.

Actually, I think I've decided which of those thoughts I want to blog about first. I want to blog about how the commandments help protect our freedom and how keeping the commandments is the wisest way to use our freedom, but first, I would like to play Devil's Advocate for a few minutes and admit that breaking the commandments isn't the end of the world.

Yesterday, I compared our plight to standing on a rock in the middle of a field of lava, with a narrow bridge, representing God's plan for us, as our only way to safety. The implication was that if we don't follow God's plan perfectly, we would die. Today, I'm willing to argue that our situation isn't quite as extreme as that.

It's more like we're standing in the middle of a regular field which is overgrown with weeds. True, the path to our destination is still narrow, but there are branching paths that we can take at our own discretion and still be safe. But if we find these paths too restrictive, we always have the option of walking in whichever direction we choose, and it won't immediately kill us. Sure, the going will be rougher since we're not on a trail, and it'll probably be painful, too, when we get burs stuck in our socks, but it won't be anywhere near as difficult, painful, or deadly as trying to walk or swim through molten lava.

And when we're done trying to blaze our own trails, we can always make our way back God's trails, pick the burs out of our socks, and proceed from there. That's called repentance, and as long as we're still breathing, we will always have that option. God doesn't shut us off completely as soon as we step foot off His path. He just steps back, lets us do our own thing for as long as we want to, and welcomes us back with open arms when we realise how much better it is to follow His path than our own.

We can take any path we want through the field of life. There are multiple paths that God has laid out for each of us as valid options, and if we don't like any of those, we can make our own choices instead. Straying from God's path still isn't a good idea. It's painful, difficult, and not likely to get you much closer to where you want to go. But it's always an option, and even if we choose that option, we can always come back later. God's commandments, and the consequences for breaking them, do not limit our freedom to choose.

Later, I would like to blog about why keeping God's commandments is the best choice and why we should choose to stay on God's path, but today, my message is that we don't really have to. We have the freedom to go wherever we want. We just might get burs in our socks if we do.