This past Wednesday was AJ's birthday. I decided to take the day off from work but ended up getting sick the night before. I was able to make it to AJ's party but I spent most of the day in bed. That sort of turn of events would normally bother me but it didn't that day. I had a sense it was happening for some reason beyond my comprehension and I simply accepted it. It was an interesting feeling.
In my world view post, I stated that one of my spiritual beliefs is that "everything happens for a reason – even if the reason isn’t immediately apparent." A couple of weeks later, I did a post on good and evil that included Zoroastrianism and free will. I've been thinking about this topic a little more since then and I'm beginning to converge on a concept I like that's ironically based on computer chess. Let me explain.
When I was at MIT, one of our programming assignments was to write a computer chess program. The way that a computer plays chess is that it looks at all the permutations of moves it could make along with all the permutations of moves the opponent could make in response and scores each board configuration. Also, like the best human chess players, the computer looks a number of moves ahead - so it might be willing to sacrifice a piece now to maximize its advantage in the future.
So here's the concept. What if all human beings on Earth are part of an elaborate multi-player game of computer chess? God's objective is to get as many people as possible to use their free will to choose good over the long term. At each moment of time, God looks at all the permutations of moves that he can make. He can change environmental factors (like the weather) and also plant ideas into each person's head. Let's say the Devil can plant ideas in people's heads as well. Now, God looks at all the moves he can make at that instant in time along with all the choices that people could make in response and looks ahead an infinite number of moves (scoring each board configuration relative to his objective). He then makes a move with each person simultaneously. An instant later, each person makes their move in response - using their free will to embrace or ignore God's suggestions (or the Devil's suggestions) or do something entirely different. With these decisions made, entire sets of possible future outcomes are eliminated but others are created. Then God picks his next set of moves and the process continues instant by instant.
Now, the thing that is interesting is that God can plant ideas in one person's head about someone else and the decisions that one person makes can influence the circumstances or outcomes of other people. So it's an impossibly complex analysis / optimization problem to perform in real-time - as there would be an infinite number of permutations to consider. But God conceivably has infinite computing / parallel-processing capacity and could actually pull this off. Also, in chess, both players share the same objective. In life, individual people might be trying to optimize for a different outcome than God. Therefore, when considering the range of moves that people might make, God would need to probability-weight the person's set of possible actions. The only way to accurately do this would be to know what's in (or could develop in) the person's mind and heart - which only an omnipotent God could know.
Coming back to everything happening for a reason, something bad (or good) could happen in my life now because it's relevant to a situation 2,000 moves in the future. Alternatively, something could happen in my life now not for my benefit but for the benefit of someone else. It might be important that other person observe and learn from my life now since it will be relevant to them 1,856 moves in their future.
None of this explains (1) why people have free will in the first place and (2) why the Devil exists and why God allows him to persist and influence human beings, but it does potentially explain events that might otherwise seem random to us. Also, it might begin to explain why bad things happen to good people. For example, in chess, you may choose to sacrifice a piece to lure the other player in. In life, God may give people hardships to prepare them for future challenges or to motivate them to seek his fellowship. Or he might actually give one person a hardship to act as a wake-up call to a number of other people (either direct acquaintances or people who hear of the hardship second-hand). Again, he's maximizing a (very) long-term, not short-term outcome.
Just a theory at this point. Needs more work and refinement. Feedback very welcome!
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3 comments:
A friend of mine who is a pastor sent this quick comment via email:
My own feeling is that God is a little more selectively involved in our lives. I mean God isn’t involved in every move but only in some moves. The tricky thing is that we rarely know which moves God is involved in. Or which one’s we make in a way that God feels good about. Or which ones we make that are just plain stupid. I guess that is the challenge (and the joy) of living a life of faith...
A comment from MP via email:
Christians believe the ultimate game has already been won and the Devil's days are numbered. After the tribuilations desribed in Revelations, Jesus will return to usher in what we pray for when we say the Lord's prayer "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."
Here is another theological question for you. You have one man who has lead a pious life ever since he was a small child. You have another man who has commited murder. The pious man assumes he will get into heaven and is close to God. The murderer prostrates himself before God and begs for forgiveness. Who gets into heaven? Different religions and I don't know the answers for all of them think differently.
For the Christian the answer has to be both because Jesus died that all might be forgiven, that all might be saved. On the cross there was a murderer beside Jesus and when he cries out to Jesus he is reassured he will be in heaven with him.
This is a very big stumbling block for some because it goes against the world view of you deserve what you earn. You are responsible for your actions. What fairness is there in both getting into heaven. Is Christianity the "feel good religion". So why don't I just go out and pillage and plunder and then beg forgiveness at the end.
Moses killed a man. Abraham sent one of his sons with his mother into the desert to possibly perish because his wife Sarah couldn't now stand the handmaiden she had pushed on her husband because she thought she was past childbearing. Paul persecuted Christians mercilessly until he suddenly had a transformation. King David blatantly committed adultery and one of his sons raped his own sister. Cain slew his brother Abel. Joseph's brothers sold him into slavery. Job lost everything - his family his health and all that he owned. There are so manys stories in the Bible of man's inhumanity. Moses, Abraham, Paul, David, Joseph, Job all because of their faith and humbleness before God were forgiven and used by God. Forgiven does not mean they did not face hardships and heartaches but they perservered and God did not forsake them.
What do you say to the child who has been raped or physically beaten daily and they lash out and kill the aggressor when they are older. What do you say to the altar boy who has been used by a priest. What do you say to the masses of people in countries who are starving and yet there is enough food in the world.
Under the right circumstances I am capable of murder. If I had a gun and someone came brutally at someone in the family would I not shoot to kill.
Freud said that Christianity was a crutch for the weak. I don't think so. It takes a strong person to come to the reality of the depravity they are capable of doing under different circumstances. It takes courage to realize how frail our human experience can be.
When we come to the end of our thinking, controlling and doing we find that God is really in control. Grace is so freely given by God to those who humble themselves before him. Man is totally incapable of that measure of grace. We continue to strive to do works when I think what God really wants is our love, devotion and desire to be obedient. When we go to God each day with love and devotion that day will flow with the works he wants us to do. Not through our will but because our will is being guided by his.
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