Chris Jepson: Less brute in the beast

I’ve had two recent Facebook exchanges with good folks who see God’s infinite planning and handiwork everywhere. It’s simply a canard to me. We were just reminded of exactly how far afield people go seeing themselves as agents of God’s handiwork. George Zimmerman, the self-appointed neighborhood protector (as well as judge and executioner), attributed his killing of Trayvon Martin as being a part of “God’s plan.”

This presents, to me, the rich dichotomy of seeing God’s work in all that personally touches us. It is sweet that your faith finds the touch of God in all that is beautiful, righteous and inspirational. But an innocent lad has a hole blown in his chest because he is black and suspicious. That, too, is God’s plan? Or, last week’s Colorado movie massacre?

My normal response is one of incredulity. How can anyone rationally rejoice in God’s handiwork in the intricate, complex beauty of, say, a diaphanous butterfly wing, yet dismiss Zimmerman’s brutality as not attributable to the same source. I miss the disconnect.

Before considering free will, I’d like my more clear-thinking believers in a personal God to explain the following: Go back to a “time” before anything has yet been created. God in His omniscience and omnipotence knows all that ever was and all that will ever be. He knows the last gust of wind that will land Columbus in the New World and that in less than 100 years, most of the uncomprehending native populations will be wiped out by disease and many survivors will be enslaved. God knows that during the Vietnam War, napalm will drop and melt the skin off children. He knows this.

My question is, having all this horror in mind, why not tweak humanity ever so slightly? Why not take a little of the brute out of the beast? You’re designing the cog (humans) to be “key” in your intricate wheel of life. Why not put more humanity in humans? Arguably, why not put more of yourself in your “ultimate” product? Hmmm?

The counter argument is always the same. It’s a two-part response. We, as mere mortals, cannot know the mind (intentions) of God and human beings were given a free will. For the sake of this discussion, I’ll concede the first point. Yet if cause and effect are in play, one might seriously question the cause (the Creator) because of the murderous impact of His creation.

But free will? I’ve never subscribed to this argument because, as limited as my mind is, if I were tackling the task of creating a species from scratch and knew exactly the beast I was creating, I’d still include “free will” but with a whole hell of a lot more humanity, too. Less brute in the beast.

But now even free will is suspect. I’m reading an unsettling new book by Sam Harris titled “Free Will.” According to Harris, “People are mistaken in believing that they are free in the usual sense. I claim that this realization has consequences — good ones, for the most part.”

Consciousness is “literally” separate from other brain functions. Science demonstrates that the brain’s motor cortex, for example, is active prior to a person determining to (willfully) move. Also, we are all products of our genetic make up and all the a priori events forming our lives.

This discussion on free will is just beginning.

Please, freely join in. God willing?