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“Ask a Priest: Does God send people into my life, or is it free will?”
Q: I consider myself religious and believe god has a plan for us with regards to who he brings in and out of our lives .
But I have a question. On earth, do each of us have free will to do what we want ?
Does God control people’s actions ? Or do we all have free will?
How can I know that God will place people in my life for a reason without it just being their free will to come and go ? Which is it?
Answered by Fr. Edward McIlmail, LC
A:
Thanks for your note.
It might help to think of life like a football game.
God gives us a rulebook (the Commandments, etc.), but he doesn’t micromanage every play. He lets the quarterback (each of us) call the plays.
We certainly have free will. God can work with that to bring about certain things. It could happen that he sends little inspirations here and there to nudge people in a general direction.
But our free will remains. That is why we are responsible for our sins. God won’t force his will on us.
That’s an answer in a nutshell, but one that I hope is helpful.
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