Tuesday:
Central to God's government, a government based on love, is freedom of choice. God wants us to serve Him because we love Him, not because we are forced to serve Him. "Satan insinuated that Job served God from selfish motives. . . . He attempted to deny that true religion springs from love and an intelligent appreciation of God's character, that true worshipers love religion for its own sake-not for reward; that they serve God because such service is right in itself, and not merely because heaven is full of glory; and that they love God because He is worthy of their affection and confidence, and not merely because He blesses them."-The SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 3, p. 500.
For some reason, the author was talking about freedom of choice, about not being
forced. Then he quoted the commentary about God's character, about serving God for reward.
So would it be proper to conclude he sees love and choice is more than love me and you're rewarded? Or love me or I'll kill you? I believe there is more to choice than just reward or penalty, for is that really choice?
You could say you have a choice to speed or not, but do you? If you choose to speed, you are penalized. But do you really feel you have a choice to speed?
Some taxation schemes are based upon rules which say that taxation is voluntary. They fail to understand what it means. That means, they don't come to the door with an ax and say pay up. While it has become they extract it from your work, any extraneous is still voluntary. You "voluntarily" submit the tax with paperwork. But it's not a choice to pay or not. You must pay, but they don't physically force you.
But coercion and penalty does not freedom make.