Main news for 2 January 2025

Looking at the life of fallen humanity, a thought sometimes involuntarily enters the mind: what if God, either Himself or through people specially appointed by Him, immediately rewarded and encouraged good deeds, and just as immediately stopped evil deeds and punished them? Would we not then find ourselves in a world that, if not ideal, was at least much better than the one that now exists? At first glance it may appear that this is exactly how it would be. Who, indeed, would want to do anything bad knowing that he would be punished immediately? Except that people themselves would hardly become better because of it. After all, a person's spiritual life is determined above all by the choice he has made. And that choice must be voluntary. A choice made only out of fear of coming punishment cannot in any way be called voluntary. Strictly speaking, it is not a choice at all, because only a decision made freely, without any external pressure, can be considered a choice. Of course, pressure does not always lead to the desired results. Inner freedom often overcomes external influence, and a choice is made despite the situation, which does not in the least encourage a free decision. But in our hypothetical world, lack of freedom guaranteeing correct behavior would be the very source of goodness. And then it would turn out that people in such a world had not become better at all; they only seemed good, being forced to play the appropriate role. But in the Kingdom one must not play a role, but live. And God refuses to force people to do good. Paul, as a man of God, cannot fail to understand this, and he too does not want to make anyone do good deeds under compulsion, even if that compulsion were not by force but, for example, by authority or the pressure of public opinion. After all, his goal is not to force his addressee to behave well, but to point out to him the way into the Kingdom. A way that can be traveled only freely.