I recently read Misery by Stephen King. The story is of a writer who has a car crash and is found by a crazy woman, Annie, who is also his Number One Fan. She brings him into her house, keeps him prisoner and nurses his severely broken legs. When she finds the manuscript for his latest book, she reads it and hates it. So much so she brings a BBQ into his room and puts the book on it, then hands the guy a lighter and tells him to burn it. He considers this book his greatest writing ever. It took him two years to complete and he just cannot destroy it, no matter how much pain he knows the woman will make for him by refusing, but she continues to harass him, telling him he must burn it. Eventually he throws the lighter at her and tells her if the book must be destroyed then she can do it, but she refuses. She insists it must be him who burns the book. With great terror and frustration he asks why, and she replies, “Because, it has to be your choice.” Annie, the crazy woman, believed it had to be a free will decision. But this of course is not a free will decision. This is what is called duress. When one is asked to make a decision with a gun to their head, this is duress, even if the person with the gun insists the victim freely chose to hand over their wallet and money. Or if the someone asked to buy your house for $100, but if you didnt freely sign over the deeds, then they would burn your house down. Thats not free will, thats duress. I think many Christians confuse the idea of free will with duress. The way the gospel has traditionally been preached comes from the mouth of the preacher with similar words of Annie, “It has to be your choice,” while pointing an eternal fire gun at them with the finger on the trigger if they dont choose correctly. A ticket to heaven but if you refuse youll be thrown in the eternal torture chamber, but its your choice... is such an offer free will? No. Thats duress. Its not only illegal within the worlds court system, it is, like Annie in Kings novel, nothing short of crazy. Surely the gospel is better than duress? Surely the gospel preached by the establishment for the past 1,800 years, the establishment that is guilty of the crusades and the Spanish inquisition to name but a few large scale atrocities, is simply wrong. What does putting people under duress have to do with good news?
Posted on: Fri, 17 Jan 2014 07:30:25 +0000
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