I've been reading "Farewell Summer," by Ray Bradbury. The main character, Douglas, a teenager fighting growing up and old, decides the old men playing chess outdoors in the town square are his problem. He believes he's being moved around a chessboard by these old men and it has taken his freewill. He steals the pieces, but finally has to give them back, and succumbs to growing up in the end.
Some say we are in a simulation and have no freewill, but I see us as pawns. Not of old men, but basically the machine of political and media power. I believe we have a choice whether we play the game or not. We are not black or while pawns, but creations of God made for freedom. We are told as Christians to love our neighbors as ourselves. We have lost our way when we start to identify each other as a category instead of our neighbor. We are not a political party, race, gender or religion. We are neighbors and we are to love each other. Christ didn't come to overthrow governments or choose a political party, but to conquer the hearts of men.
"By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." John 13:35
We don't need to steal the pieces from a chessboard, but we need to use the power of our freewill to choose whether we love or hate one another. When we choose love and really care about our neighbor and community, the rest falls into place. We stop seeing each other as different sides on a board, but fellow humans all trying to live, be happy and free. I choose freewill.
God is good!
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