God gave us free will, along with common sense and intelligence

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Intelligence vs. Free will


… God gave us free will, but that can also doom us”


Sometimes, I hear the statement, “All we have to do is pray.” Prayer certainly helps, but God also gave us something else to use: Common sense. 


When choosing whether or not to take the Covid vaccine, I did not pray. I just did what the medical science people told me to do.


Does that make me an atheist?


No. It means that God gave me some intelligence, and I intend to use it. 


Pastor defied taking the vaccine


A pastor was not so fortunate. He told his parishioners not to worry about Covid,


A beloved Kentucky pastor has died from COVID-19, after his church advised members on its website "not to worry" about the coronavirus because "God is in control."


Tim Parsons, senior pastor at Center Point Church in Lexington, died one day after the church embarked on a period of prayer and fasting asking the Lord to restore him "back to his normal self," the Christian Post reports.


Center Point Church had been meeting in person but temporarily switched to online worship — "out of an abundance of caution" —after Parsons was hospitalized earlier this month, according to a report from the local CBS affiliate.


In a frequently asked questions section on the church's website, one of the topics is, "Should I be worried about COVID-19?"


"We don't want to be worried because the Bible tells us not to worry," the site states. "We know that God is in control and that He can use all suffering to draw people to Himself.


John Wright, “Pastor dies from Covid after church told members ‘not to worry’ 

about virus because ‘God is in control’,” Raw Story, August 27, 2021


God also gave us free will


The problem is that the story of the Garden of Eden resulted in God giving people free will. Not everyone believes in that story, but it basically meant that both Adam and Eve were given free will by God and chose to disobey him. 


As a result, they were punished. To a certain point, this could have been a parable. 


If people use their free will and not their common sense that God gave them, like deciding to forgo taking a vaccine, then they will be punished. 


I do not believe in a punishing God but one who loves, but most fundamentalists disagree. As a result, I am reading more and more about pastors and people who preached against using the vaccine ending up in the morgue. 


God gave us common sense, and we should use it. I feel no remorse for people who choose to do the dumb thing. God gave me intelligence to do the smart thing. 


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