A thought experiment for Christians:
One day, God sends an angel to you with a unique gift - the opportunity to wear what the angel calls "God-Glass". The idea is similar to Google-Glass; it's a pair of glasses you can put on and wear around, and they'll present information (to your eyes only) based on what's happening around you. The difference is that God-Glasses will display messages directly from God, and those messages will spell out the exact actions that He feels are the best way for you to serve Him. Through a steady stream of messages, he'll feed you the exact manner in which you should conduct yourself so as to live a life that best serves Him.
The angel explains, "This is a gift from God to you, for accepting Jesus' sacrifice. It is the removal of all doubt, in all situations, of what is *actually* the best way to serve God. It's a gift offered with no strings attached - you can take it, or not, and use it, or not. The device will in no way interfere with your thoughts or your heart, and will not infringe on your free will: you'll always be able to freely choose to do anything other than what God tells you is the best action to take."
"Only you would be aware of the glasses. Nobody else would see them, and they'll integrate into your life seamlessly. For split-second decisions or complex instructions, God-Glass will actually freeze time, giving you all the time you need to contemplate the path He recommends and whether you'd like to follow that path. Once you've made your choice, time will unfreeze and to everyone around you, it will seem as though you've come to your decision in a very natural way."
"The key to the glasses is that they'll give you direction for everything," the angel continues. "You see, at every single turn of your life, there are many options which may be varying degrees of "okay" with God, but there's always one option that God would deem as "the best" way to serve Him. It's kind of like in chess - you may have many good moves, but an infinitely wise chess engine would always be able to tell you which one is truly the best. And in life, there actually is a "best" choice for everything: what outfit to wear, what to have for breakfast, what to watch on T.V., where to go on vacation, what words to say to your spouse, etc. With God Glass, you can get it all, every minute of every day... it's literally a live-feed of the script of the best possible life you could lead in servitude to Him, and it'd be completely up to your freewill to choose to follow the script."
"If you'd like to use it," the angel tells you, "there's also an autopilot mode that you can turn on/off whenever you'd like. With autopilot on, you'll still see and have time to consider the actions God wants, but unless you switch autopilot off, your body will automatically carry out those actions for you (you'll be able to just "go along for the ride"). In short, with autopilot turned on, you won't even need to lift a finger; if a finger needs to be lifted to serve His divine will, God-Glass will lift it for you."
The angel continues: "You've already accepted Jesus's sacrifice, and so long as you don't rescind that, your eternal destiny in God's Kingdom is sealed. All that remains is living out the rest of your life here on Earth however you see fit. God-Glass is simply an opportunity for you to know EXACTLY the best way to use that life to serve Him, every step of the way."
You spot a red button on the glasses, and ask what it's for. "That" says the angel, "is autopilot lock." "You can press it of your own free will, but doing so is effectively choosing to give up your freewill for the rest of your life. If you press it, autopilot will turn on and stay on for the rest of your life - all that will be left is to keep your faith in Jesus, and enjoy the ride that is your life being lived out exactly as best serves God." The angel pauses again. "Well, there is one way to undo autopilot lock: at any point from now until the day you die, you may choose to reject Jesus's sacrifice and accept eternal separation from God... with that choice, you would lose your God Glass, autopilot and all."
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So, the thought experiment: would you accept the gift? Would you wear it occasionally? Always? Would you ever use the auto-pilot mode? Would you be willing to dedicate your life, once and for all, to serving God - and just press the red button?
If you answer "no" to any of these, under what circumstances you would not want to know the best way to serve God? Under what circumstances would you want to be able to override autopilot, and do something other than serve God as best you could? If you wouldn't press the red button, why not? What alternative fate would you prefer to living your life in God's service?
One day, God sends an angel to you with a unique gift - the opportunity to wear what the angel calls "God-Glass". The idea is similar to Google-Glass; it's a pair of glasses you can put on and wear around, and they'll present information (to your eyes only) based on what's happening around you. The difference is that God-Glasses will display messages directly from God, and those messages will spell out the exact actions that He feels are the best way for you to serve Him. Through a steady stream of messages, he'll feed you the exact manner in which you should conduct yourself so as to live a life that best serves Him.
The angel explains, "This is a gift from God to you, for accepting Jesus' sacrifice. It is the removal of all doubt, in all situations, of what is *actually* the best way to serve God. It's a gift offered with no strings attached - you can take it, or not, and use it, or not. The device will in no way interfere with your thoughts or your heart, and will not infringe on your free will: you'll always be able to freely choose to do anything other than what God tells you is the best action to take."
"Only you would be aware of the glasses. Nobody else would see them, and they'll integrate into your life seamlessly. For split-second decisions or complex instructions, God-Glass will actually freeze time, giving you all the time you need to contemplate the path He recommends and whether you'd like to follow that path. Once you've made your choice, time will unfreeze and to everyone around you, it will seem as though you've come to your decision in a very natural way."
"The key to the glasses is that they'll give you direction for everything," the angel continues. "You see, at every single turn of your life, there are many options which may be varying degrees of "okay" with God, but there's always one option that God would deem as "the best" way to serve Him. It's kind of like in chess - you may have many good moves, but an infinitely wise chess engine would always be able to tell you which one is truly the best. And in life, there actually is a "best" choice for everything: what outfit to wear, what to have for breakfast, what to watch on T.V., where to go on vacation, what words to say to your spouse, etc. With God Glass, you can get it all, every minute of every day... it's literally a live-feed of the script of the best possible life you could lead in servitude to Him, and it'd be completely up to your freewill to choose to follow the script."
"If you'd like to use it," the angel tells you, "there's also an autopilot mode that you can turn on/off whenever you'd like. With autopilot on, you'll still see and have time to consider the actions God wants, but unless you switch autopilot off, your body will automatically carry out those actions for you (you'll be able to just "go along for the ride"). In short, with autopilot turned on, you won't even need to lift a finger; if a finger needs to be lifted to serve His divine will, God-Glass will lift it for you."
The angel continues: "You've already accepted Jesus's sacrifice, and so long as you don't rescind that, your eternal destiny in God's Kingdom is sealed. All that remains is living out the rest of your life here on Earth however you see fit. God-Glass is simply an opportunity for you to know EXACTLY the best way to use that life to serve Him, every step of the way."
You spot a red button on the glasses, and ask what it's for. "That" says the angel, "is autopilot lock." "You can press it of your own free will, but doing so is effectively choosing to give up your freewill for the rest of your life. If you press it, autopilot will turn on and stay on for the rest of your life - all that will be left is to keep your faith in Jesus, and enjoy the ride that is your life being lived out exactly as best serves God." The angel pauses again. "Well, there is one way to undo autopilot lock: at any point from now until the day you die, you may choose to reject Jesus's sacrifice and accept eternal separation from God... with that choice, you would lose your God Glass, autopilot and all."
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So, the thought experiment: would you accept the gift? Would you wear it occasionally? Always? Would you ever use the auto-pilot mode? Would you be willing to dedicate your life, once and for all, to serving God - and just press the red button?
If you answer "no" to any of these, under what circumstances you would not want to know the best way to serve God? Under what circumstances would you want to be able to override autopilot, and do something other than serve God as best you could? If you wouldn't press the red button, why not? What alternative fate would you prefer to living your life in God's service?
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