How @KiernanShipka & #CAOS on @Netflix (@sabrinanetflix) Revealed Christianity's Dark Secret - #FreeWill #Will #Willing #WillPower

Wow ... I guess I'm 'still processing' the powerful episode of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina ...

You remember the TGIF sitcom Sabrina the Teenage Witch (starring Melissa Joan-Hart); I thought this would just be 'a higher production-quality version of that,' but no. Although it may wear down into 'a high pro-q version of the '90s/'00s sitcom,' this episode dealt with a highly crucial issue—Free Will.

Before I get 'too far into it,' I think it's time for a ...

... and–just in case you don't think I'm going to give away any SPOILERS, and you went ahead and scrolled-down too fast– ...

See: at the beginning of the episode, Sabrina still hasn't decided to go through with the Dark Baptism that's planned for her Halloween-birthday—when she'll be sent to a 'Dark Arts'-school and will never see her mortal friends again.

So the high priest comes to visit her, to assure her that her Dark Baptism will simply be her 'graduation' into a life under The Dark Lord, whose foundation-principle (the cornerstone of his church) is Free Will—she just has to write her name in The Dark Lord's book (mostly for 'appearances'), and she can leave the church and do as she likes at any time.

But then–after she's seen all her friends one last time–Dark Baptism ceremony vows she is given a) make her swear devout obedience to The Dark Lord's whims, and–most-importantly–b) make no mention of 'Free Will' or her option to disobey his commands.

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And I'm reminded of my- and other Christians'-insistence that we have Free Will as a gift from God. But now I'm seeing that it's not exactly a 'free will'-choice he gives us ... it's more like "a threat"—life or death, pleasure or pain, blessings or curses. 

Maybe it's just this simple human brain, but it seems the idea is 'you make one choice and that's it for the rest of your life.' But any experienced person can see that each person is given many choices—you make some good decisions, you make some bad decisions; and hopefully the good ones will help you navigate through the bad ones....

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The word “Will” is a verb (meaning "|Determine by |Act of Choice" ... if not "|Dispose of by |Last |Testament") that comes from a noun (meaning "Mind, Purpose, Desire, Wish") that comes from another type of verb (meaning "to Wish" (built on ancient words that mean "Chooses, |Prefers, Eligible, |Excellent, Hope; to Command; |Favor, Better").

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Where do we Christians get the idea that 'God gives us free will'? It's like people who sign up for the armed forces—oh, it's totally by 'free will' that people sign up (except in harsh times when they're called into service by The Draft); but once you're enlisted, they start training the 'free will' out of you so that you can become a trusted tool for your commanding officers!

Christians are essential 'told' (i.e. not in so-many words, but more in the over-arching message) "being in the family-of-God means following all his commands without question, and choosing not to obey one of those commands means you are no longer in the family-of-God (and are thus eternally locked outside the gates of the family-property)."

(This is why I think it's important to note that Lord Jesus Christ condensed the 'commands' down to two guiding principles–Love God with All Your Power, and Treat Your Neighbor as They Ought to Treat You–so that you can check any other 'commands from God' against those principles.

(But "Christians" think they qualify as 'saved' by "believing Jesus died-&-rose-again," and kinda stick with that no matter what they do ... oh, they're generally not too heartless; but neither are Satanists or Muslims or Pagans!)