"William George Ferguson" <wmgfrgsn@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:3icm219c8dq4pea4ditvjnoqi09ct26rjs@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>> "Sharpe Fan" <sharpeseagle2003AntiSpam@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote
>>>> I think it was a great episode except that God took away Joan's free
>>>> will.
>
> No he didn't, at least not more so than it is always taken away, for
> everyone.
>
>>>> He framed her. He asked to pick up some trash knowing it would get
her
>>>> accused of something she didn't do and get punished for it. It is
also
>>>> on
>>>> her record when she applies to college and reinforces Price's already
>>>> bad
>>>> opinion of her.
>>>>
>>>> God should have given Joan a choice in the matter.
>
>>"ottomatic" <spamout@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote
>>> hello, JoA... have you heard the one about JOB?
>>> it's God, he works that way
>>
> "Sharpe Fan" <sharpeseagle2003AntiSpam@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>>The God in JoA constantly says free will is im****tant and that Joan can
>>always say no. But she can only given an informed yes or no if she
knows
>>what is really being asked.
>
> A very large point from day one is that Joan can't know all the
> ramifications of what is being asked of her. For the time that the
point
> was most explicitly driven home, see my sig.
>
> God has spent 41 episodes now, working to get Joan to just accept what
he
> asks of her on faith. In many ways this episode was a culmination of
all
> that. God gives Joan an assignment, assures her that good will result,
> gives her interim assurances that she's doing it right and that good is
> resulting, and at the end tells her she did good and good resulted, but
> Joan never got to see the good consequences and, per God, won't see the
> good consequences of this particular assignment. Helen and Luke got a
> cookie after their lesson, but God has obviously reached the point with
> Joan that he doesn't feel it necessary to give her a cookie every time
she
> does what he expects that she should be doing.
>
> As for the 'free will' question, when was it taken away? God did not
> march Joan down to that house like an automaton. God did not even give
> Joan community service. Price did that, and he has free will just like
> Joan does.
>
> When you come up to a red light, you have the free will to stop or
> continue. If you continue, the police have the free will to write you a
> ticket. You then have the free will to not pay that ticket, and the
judge
> has the free will to put you in jail. Legal and society rules, and
> awareness of others reactions to your actions, don't take away your free
> will, they just inform your choices.
>
> Also, for some strange reason, people confuse the ability to observe and
> predict behavior with controlling that behavior. God may know what you
> will choose, but that doesn't mean that you don't choose. A more
mundane
> example, if I run a red light in front of a police car, I am not taking
> away the police officer's free will, just because I can accurately
predict
> what his action will be. Flipping on the lights and coming after me is
> still his choice.
>
God asked Joan to pick up trash saying it was a safety hazard. When he
did
this he knew (being omniscient) that she would be accused of egging the
car
and punished for it. If God wanted Joan to do community service to get
the
ripples, he should have explained that so she could decide if she would or
not. Joan has never turned down his requests, although she has not always
been happy with it.
He could have even asked Joan to egg the car, so she would have had some
fun.
Asking her to do a simple thing, knowing it will cause her a lot of
problems
is not honest.
Sharpe Fan
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