Do we really have a choice? Are we, in fact, predestined to our fates? If you were born vermin, as Test Rat, do you have the option of rising above your birth? These are questions that flow well beyond comic characters and have pervaded life as long as there has been life on this planet to ask them.

Nature verses nurture is a very old question. It used to be predestination verses free will. The question has not changed, but the religion of the people asking has. I’m not asking the identity of the force that you believe determines your fate. I am asking if we get a choice.

The conflict between nature and nurture ended as a tie. Most people do not realize that. You will still see otherwise reasonable people holding the view that we are born blank slates onto which anything can be impressed. Other people still hold the view that we are the puppets of almighty DNA. Each side has enough valid input into the debate to end the debate with the same particle-wave duality that defines the modern view of light.

You have a set of abilities that coincide with a set of weaknesses. These you are born with. Left to yourself, you will gravitate toward a set of preferences that you have very little control over. There is nothing wrong with this. I see this as our creator providing guidance on which single path each of us should take. If you could do everything, you would neither have the time nor the desire to do so.

On the other foot, having an ability is not the same as knowing how to use it. We are flexible in our design. Not everything that we have the ability to do is desirable or practical. All other things being equal, you have to decide on which way you will go at many points in your life. You can rise above your passions when they are destructive. Just because we are born into sin does not mean that we are incapable of being anything else.

Like Test Rat, each of us has the seed of vermin within him. Our hunger for sin is driven by greed in many forms. Some greed is in the form of thinking that we deserve more because we are better than anybody else. Other greed is in the form of gluttony or jealousy over what other people have. We lust after using our neighbors for our own amusement without consequences to ourselves. Like Vampires, this hunger will utterly destroy all that we truly love and leave us hollow in our endless appetites. Law becomes the object of resentment because it puts expectations on us.

Do you not remember what it was like to be vermin? Some of the best men that I have ever known state that the Apostle Paul was wrong when he called himself chief amongst sinners. They take this title to themselves. But, they are not beaten down into depression by this belief. From this admission of sin, the life of being vermin, they gain strength of their conviction to become greater in the future. In conviction they find hope to do and be better.

So, do we have a choice in being vermin? Only the whole truth will set you free. Ours is the choice between being like unto angels or demons. This was always our choice as you cannot be condemned for actions without the accountability tacked to election. There is comfort in denial; however, truth is not accountable to men. It will always be easier to condemn the standards than to live up to them.

We are given a choice in being vermin even when born as vermin. You could say that you have this choice whether or not you like it. What you do not have is the option of not making a choice. Not making a choice is the same as not admitting to the choice that you have already made. And that is my time as a stand up philosopher for the week.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 24th, 2006 at 12:01 am and is filed under Eightballs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.