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Summary of Question:	Free Will And God
Category:	General Sikhism
Date Posted:	Friday, 6/18/2004 6:43 PM MDT

SAT SRI AKAL

I HAVE BEEN CONFUSED ABOUT FREE WILL AND GOD. EVERYTHING HAPPENS AS GOD WILLS, SO WHY DOESNT HE JUST MAKE US WORSHIP HIM? THOSE THAT DONT WORSHIP HIM.....ITS CAUSE OF HIS WILL? IF ITS HIS WILL THEN ITS NOT THOSE PEOPLES FAULT THAT THEY DONT WORSHIP HIM. THERES BAD IN THIS WORLD BECAUSE OF GOD AND GOOD BECAUSE OF GOD? IT DOESNT MAKE SENSE. THOSE TERRORISTS ARE BECAUSE OF GOD'S WILL. PPL DIED BECAUSE OF GOD'S WILL. PEOPLE ARE GOOD BECAUSE OF GOD'S WILL. PEOPLE GO THROUGH HELL BECAUSE OF GODS WILL. PEOPLE SIN BECAUSE ITS GOD'S WILL. IF ALL THIS IS GOD'S WILL THEN WHAT ARE WE? JUST PUPPETS FOR GOD'S AMUSEMENT...TOYS? I DONT UNDERSTAND. I REALLY DONT WANT TO THINK LIKE THIS. PLEASE HELP ME.

FORGIVE ME IF I SAID SOMETHING WRONG.
SAT SRI AKAL

(REPLY) Sat Nam.Philosophers and scholars have debated this subject for centuries! It is a paradox. Yes, everything that happens is God's will, and yet we each have free will -- because God lives and breathes in us, and gave us the freedom of choice, within the boundaries of the karmas that we create/d ourselves by our past actions. The way out of this dilemma is to meditate, go within and discover the reality that is beyond the intellect. Good and evil are relative, finite terms. These opposites are the things we experience while in the human bodies that we earned for this lifetime. Ultimately, we leave these bodies, and hopefully, we have learned the lessons we came to learn, so that we can merge with Akal Purkh. Please read Siri Guru Granth Sahib! Of course we strive to make this a better world while we are here, but we have to keep in mind that we are only here temporarily. To resolve this paradox requires going beyond the intellect and EXPERIENCING the Unknown, the Infinite. You are not your body, and you are not even your mind! These are tools, vehicles to use while on Earth. Guru Nanak said in Japji Sahib that thinking and thinking will not solve anything. May God bless you and Guru give you wisdom. SP