I know I have referred to William Glasser's choice theory a couple of times. I have no wish to canonise the theory or make the claim that it is the panacea to all problems, but I can't help noticing that today's Bible readings have much of the shape of choice theory in them. Here are the extracts from the readings:
Reading 1
Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and called for the elders of Israel and for their heads and their judges and their officers; and they presented themselves before God. Joshua said to all the people, "...If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." (Joshua 24:1-2, 15)
Gospel
Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this said, "This is a difficult statement; who can listen to it?" But Jesus, conscious that His disciples grumbled at this, said to them, "Does this cause you to stumble? "What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before? "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. "But there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was that would betray Him. And He was saying, "For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father." As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore. So Jesus said to the twelve, "You do not want to go away also, do you?" (John 6:60-67)
In Reading 1, Joshua presented the people with the choice of either to serve the Lord, or, if they find it "disagreeable", to "choose" for themselves whom they would serve. In the Gospel today, which continues from last week's Gospel in which Jesus said that "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life", many of Jesus's disciples found what He said difficult to take in and started grumbling, and in the end they left Him. After that, Jesus asked his twelve disciples whether they wanted to go away also. Like Joshua in Reading 1, Jesus was presenting his disciples with a choice.
While God so wants us to serve Him, just as Jesus so wants us to eat His Flesh and drink His blood so that we can have eternal life and we can abide in Him and He in us, God would like us to see doing so as agreeable, and so make the choice of doing it. To use the terms of choice theory, God would like us to keep Him in our quality world, and maintain a close relationship with Him.
Both the people of Israel in Reading 1 and the twelve disciples in the Gospel made a good choice:
The people answered and said, "Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD to serve other gods; for the LORD our God is He who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and who did these great signs in our sight and preserved us through all the way in which we went and among all the peoples through whose midst we passed. The LORD drove out from before us all the peoples, even the Amorites who lived in the land. We also will serve the LORD, for He is our God." (Joshua 24: 16-18)
Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. "We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God." (John 6: 68-69)
In answering God's invitation to us, do we make a good choice too?
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