Did anybody read the poem by... I think it was Walt Whitman? It's about a guy walking in forest and he decides to take the grassy path because it looked like nobody else had. It is pretty easy to see the analogy here between the path and life. We all made choices and different choices will lead us to very different places.
That's one of the topics that JP2 brings up: choice. We all have the choice to choose right and wrong. God gave Adam a tree that he was not supposed to eat from. And for the time, Adam chooses not to eat of it.
If any of you have read my little bio, you know that I'm a Criminal Justice major. Well I just finished a Criminology course, it's amazing some of the theories. Some of them imply that you're bound to commit crime because you have these forces inside (or outside) forcing you to make this particular choice. The funny thing is, we still have the option to choose otherwise. Unless somebody has put some sort of brain-bug in your head and uses a remote control to force your hands to kill someone... it's your choice. We all have the capability to choose between right and wrong. Inside, we all at least have a basic understanding of that is good and what is bad. Do we choose to go through with it?
That does not mean the choice is easy. It can be very hard to make the right choice. It can be very hard to stay at home instead of going to the party where you know there will be heavy drinking and sex. It can be hard to go to a party and tell people you're not drinking. It can be hard to speak up when you watch your friends act in ways that you think may very well come back to haunt them. But do we still have the choice? Yes.
Second point, a point that I think I've been senselessly beating into your heads since the beginning of this blog: humans are not animals. Yes, I've taken basic biology and I know we belong to Kingdom Anamalia. But we are more complex than ordinary animals. JP2 puts that into his talk again because, in a world mixed with mechanism and relativism, we need to know. Here's one new piece of evidence he gives, though:
If you read Genesis 2, it lists out tilling the ground and making the waters rise (thank you Ancient Egypt!). What does this mean? I was confused until I thought about monkeys. Scientists have observed how monkeys, chimps, and several other animals have learned to use tools to help them survive. But, as far as I know, none of them actually farm. None of them have actually worked to grow their own food. Only beavers manipulate the water to help with food. There's a difference, in my opinion, between tools and technology. Tools (my definition) are the small things we use to help ourselves. Technology is changing, so I can't really think of a definition. Anyway, while humans have moved from pyramids to skyscrapers, animals are still hitting oysters with rocks.
My point, and I think JP2's point too, is that humans are much more special than animals. We are capable of so much more thanks to our Heavenly Father.
Dear Lord, please bless us as we live out this week! Help us all to develop our consciences so that we may make the right choices always. And help us remember your Son for His birthday next week! Amen.
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