Making Mistakes
It's a divine truth that people have the opportunity to make their own mistakes. This is why it is said that human beings have free will. This can be heart wrenching to watch when a parent sees their child mixing with the 'wrong' people, getting involved in drugs or simply taking bad advice. Unfortunately, there's nothing anyone can do about it. This is how we have the opportunity to evolve and whilst some people take the easy route, others take the hard road.
On the other hand we would all like our children to be obedient but if our offspring were simply mirrors of ourselves then where is the opportunity for evolution? Learning is gained from mistakes. This is the moral of the story of the Prodigal Son in the New Testament. In case you don't know the story, here is it:
KJV Luke 15:11-32
(11) And he said, A certain man had two sons:
(12) And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living.
(13) And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.
(14) And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want.
(15) And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.
(16) And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him.
(17) And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!
(18) I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,
(19) And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.
(20) And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.
(21) And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.
(22) But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:
(23) And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry:
(24) For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.
(25) Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing.
(26) And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant.
(27) And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound.
(28) And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and intreated him.
(29) And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends:
(30) But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.
(31) And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.
(32) It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.
The reason that the son who returned was given precedence over the son who remained is that the son who went off into the world and returned has evolved. He has made mistakes and learned from them. He had to make the mistakes in order to learn. The son who stayed behind hasn't been tested.
This story is actually similar to the story of being cast out of the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve sinned by eating the apple from the tree of knowledge and this caused them to be cast out. This is similar to the Prodigal Son going out into the world and in this way they, and the human race, were given the opportunity to learn. The return to God is the completion of the Ultimate Journey.
When God created Adam he told the angels to bow down before Him. They did except Shaitan, the Devil, who refused saying: "You have created me from fire and Adam from dust". I have explained this in detail previously ('The Creation and the Devil'). The angels do not have free will and so it's a journey they can't take. They are like the son who never left.
