Moral Agency

Circumstance may establish many factors in one's life, for good or for ill.  At any given point in our lives we are faced with an infinite variety of environmental influences and personal compositional aspects that make up what most would consider our lives.  We may have financial stability (or we don't), we may have poor health, a supportive family, or live our lives free of (or steeped in) controversy.  We may live in a country that respects privacy, free expression, justice and ingenuity, or not.  

Other aspects can often have a more significant impact on our lives that cannot be readily discerned with the naked eye: our experience, religious beliefs, mental/emotional predispositions, or traditions.  One significant contributor is our fears.  Great or small, our fears often dictate much of what we do in this life, constantly at odds with our wants and desires.  Genetic influences can play a key role in many of these instances, particularly as it is associated to the brain and the brains response to certain stimuli (anger, fear, substance abuse, perception, etc.).  Much is learned and much is forgotten as we mold our character throughout our lives (or have it molded for us).

Some would argue that if you knew everything there was to know about a person (their circumstances, loves, fears, desires, experiences, resources, abilities, limitations, predispositions, personally perceived future prospects, connections, perception of self, beliefs, etc.) that you could anticipate their responses to any given situation.  The argument is extended to justify the omniscience of the Almighty in that He can "read the source code" and therefore can "anticipate the outcome.  

God broke the "source code" the moment He perfected it, when He created our moral agency.  In a nutshell, moral agency says that in spite of all or none of the aforementioned environmental factors, preconceived notions, predispositions, whatever; we have the opportunity, ability, and responsibility to choose for ourselves.  We can act or we can be acted upon.  

The gift of moral agency is one of the most precious endowments ever bestowed upon mankind.  This explains why the Lord opts not to "interfere" in may aspects of our lives.  God has not forsaken us, He is giving us the opportunity to grow.  He is ever mindful of us and our situation and loves us with a perfect love.  As such, He perceives the eternal consequences of action or inaction and directs His attentions towards that of greatest worth or faith.

When Adam and Eve partook of the forbidden fruit, and were gifted with the ability to perceive the differences between good and evil, they entered a realm of physical existence previously only inhabited by God; for "man is become as one of us, to know good and evil" (Gen. 3:22).  This existence is and always has been built upon the exalting principle of moral agency.  Adam and Eve ought not to be vilified but honored for their entry into the unknown abyss of pain, loneliness, despair and death so that they (we) might enter and participate in the exalting lessons and experiences of mortal life.  This earth was created with the express purpose of giving mankind a place where they might dwell, learn, grow and establish themselves.  This is where we plant our roots of eternal character.  This is where, in our perceived independence and solitude, we determine, for ourselves, who we wish to become (outside of and often in spite of any or all external influences).  

We are not mean't to overcome this world, only One did that.  We are to endure the world.  We are to rise above the debasing influences of the world and claim a much greater prize.  We are not to be flawless.  Perfect character does not equate to perfect performance.  We are all very distinct individuals, perfectly known by a loving Father in Heaven.  He is mindful of us and of our circumstances.  

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding" (Prov. 3:5).