From Dust to Divinity: Part 5

Free Will, Sin, and the Possibility of Return

Deuteronomy 30:19
I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live(ESV)

God could have created robots—beings that obey without question, love without resistance, and serve without fail. But that wouldn’t be love. That wouldn’t be relationship. That wouldn’t be return.

Instead, He gave us a gift as dangerous as it is divine: Free will.


Scriptural Foundation

Genesis 2:16-17
(16)And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, (17)but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”(ESV)

Romans 5:12
Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned(ESV)

John 3:19
And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.(ESV)

Free will made sin possible—but it also made love meaningful. Without the power to reject God, the return to Him would be programmed, not pursued. And though we chose rebellion, God made a way back.

Romans 5:17
For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.(ESV)


Theological Reflection

Sin is not merely doing bad things. Sin is deviation from design—operating in a way that contradicts the character and nature of God.

If we are created to reflect Him, then every act of sin is like bending a mirror—obscuring the image we were meant to show.

Isaiah 53:6
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.(ESV)

But God’s plan was not to destroy the broken mirrors. It was to restore them—through the only One who could walk the path of limitation without ever deviating.

2 Corinthians 5:21
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.(ESV)


Theoretical Expansion

If creation is a divine experiment in limitation, then free will is the core variable.

It introduces a level of chaos into the system—because now, the vessels can not only receive experience, but shape it. This makes every soul’s journey completely unique—Not only in external variables, but in how each person responds to those variables.

Some resist the veil. Some surrender to it. Some rage against it. Some try to transcend it. Some return home by faith.

And this diversity of response is essential—because it proves that love cannot be coerced, and return cannot be fabricated. It must be chosen.


Closing Thought for This Post

Sin did not surprise God. Rebellion was not an accident in the system. It was a permitted possibility—because without it, there could be no true return.

You were created with the ability to reject your Creator. But even more, you were created with the ability to choose Him.

And that choice, made from within the veil of time, echoes louder than the choirs of angels.

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Who am I?

I’ve walked a path I didn’t ask for, guided by a God I can’t ignore. I don’t wear titles well—writer, teacher, leader—they fit like borrowed armor. But I know this: I’ve bled truth onto a page, challenged what I was told to swallow, and led only because I refused to follow where I couldn’t see Christ.

I don’t see greatness in the mirror. I see someone ordinary, shaped by pain and made resilient through it. I’m not above anyone. I’m not below anyone. I’m just trying to live what I believe and document the war inside so others know they aren’t alone.

If you’re looking for polished answers, you won’t find them here.
But if you’re looking for honesty, tension, paradox, and a relentless pursuit of truth,
you’re in the right place.

If you’re unsure of what path to follow or disillusioned with the world today and are willing to walk with me along this path I follow, you’ll never be alone. Everyone is welcome and invited to participate as much as they feel comfortable with.

Now, welcome home. I’m Don.

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