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    00:00:02 You and I make a lot of decisions every day. 00:00:04 Now, some have a little impact on our lives; 00:00:07 others have a very big impact. 00:00:10 And we can appreciate that we can make choices and decisions for ourselves. 00:00:15 Think of how life would be if you made no decisions for yourself 00:00:19 —someone tells you when to go to bed, 00:00:22 they pick out your clothes, and they tell you what to do for work. 00:00:25 Well, none of us would like that! 00:00:28 Jehovah gave each of us free will, 00:00:31 and that’s the precious gift of making choices for ourselves. 00:00:36 Now, have you ever thought about why Jehovah gave us this gift? 00:00:39 I mean, why trust us with free will 00:00:42 when he knew that we could make bad choices or decisions? 00:00:46 Well, one powerful reason is love. 00:00:49 The only way to give us the gift of love 00:00:52 is also to give us the gift of free will. 00:00:55 The two are tied together. 00:00:57 You really can’t have one without the other. 00:01:01 For example, if I programmed my computer 00:01:04 to give me a message every day at 2:00 p.m.: “John, I love you. 00:01:07 I think you’re a wonderful guy,” 00:01:09 I think there’d be a little something wrong with me 00:01:12 if I thought: ‘Aw, isn’t that nice? 00:01:14 My computer, it loves me.’ 00:01:17 Yeah, love only exists 00:01:19 if it comes truly from a free-will expression. 00:01:23 Now, did Jehovah place any boundaries on free will? 00:01:28 Yes. 00:01:29 They were stated in the Law to the nation of Israel. 00:01:32 And Jesus later repeated them 00:01:34 at Matthew 22:37-40: 00:01:41 “He said to him: ‘“You must love Jehovah your God 00:01:44 “‘“with your whole heart and with your whole soul 00:01:48 “‘and with your whole mind.” 00:01:50 “‘This is the greatest and first commandment. 00:01:53 “‘The second, like it, is this: 00:01:55 “‘“You must love your neighbor as yourself.” 00:01:58 “‘On these two commandments the whole Law hangs, 00:02:02 and the Prophets.’” 00:02:04 So our use of free will 00:02:07 has love of God and love of neighbor as its boundaries. 00:02:12 Notice, for example, what people are doing in this picture, 00:02:16 both inside the circle boundary 00:02:20 and outside. 00:02:22 See, free will allows us to do any of the things 00:02:24 we see in the picture. 00:02:26 But love of God and love of neighbor 00:02:28 move us to reject what’s outside the circle 00:02:31 and choose to do the kinds of things that we see inside the circle. 00:02:36 Now, to stay within those boundaries, 00:02:39 Jehovah gave us a marvelous brain 00:02:41 and a built-in conscience, 00:02:43 but he also knows we need more help. 00:02:45 And that’s why he also gave us Bible principles 00:02:49 —basic truths from the Bible 00:02:52 that can help us to make good decisions. 00:02:55 And it can safely be said that any decision we face 00:02:58 can be guided by Bible principles. 00:03:02 Now, our Creator, Jehovah, knows what’s best for us. 00:03:05 And he also trusts us to make decisions 00:03:08 based on Bible principles 00:03:11 because he knows that when we do that, 00:03:13 then we’re really, truly going to be happy, content, 00:03:17 and at peace with him and with others. 00:03:20 So in review so far: Jehovah gave us free will 00:03:25 —that’s the privilege to make choices for ourselves— 00:03:28 and he also gave us Bible principles 00:03:31 as the boundaries to our choices. 00:03:36 But making difficult decisions requires that we train ourselves 00:03:40 to recognize Bible principles and apply them. 00:03:44 Now let’s read Romans 12:1, 00:03:49 and let’s see how this verse describes 00:03:52 the decision-making process. 00:03:55 “Therefore, I appeal to you 00:03:58 “by the compassions of God, brothers, 00:04:00 “to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, 00:04:04 “holy and acceptable to God, 00:04:06 “a sacred service 00:04:08 with your power of reason.” 00:04:12 So are we using our “power of reason” 00:04:16 to understand Bible principles? 00:04:19 For example, young children ask lots of questions. 00:04:24 But has a child ever asked you: “What happens when I drop a ball? 00:04:28 a pencil? a book?” 00:04:31 No, they don’t ask that. 00:04:33 They know what happens to anything they drop. 00:04:35 It falls down! 00:04:37 See, the child doesn’t need rules for every object 00:04:40 but has quickly grasped the principle. 00:04:43 Anything he drops falls down. 00:04:47 Now, what if an 18-year-old asked you, 00:04:50 “What’s going to happen when I drop this pen?” 00:04:54 Well, it’s obvious he’s not been paying attention 00:04:57 to basic principles of life. 00:05:00 So by us paying attention to Bible principles, 00:05:03 we can very quickly see the pattern 00:05:06 of love of God and love of neighbor 00:05:10 and know the right thing to do 00:05:12 without a long list of rules for every situation. 00:05:18 Well, how can we train our “power of reason”? 00:05:21 We train it by paying attention 00:05:24 as we read and study the Bible. 00:05:28 Now, we don’t need rules for which movies to watch, 00:05:31 which songs to listen to, 00:05:33 or what clothes we can wear. 00:05:35 If we’re paying attention when we’re reading the Bible, 00:05:39 we train our conscience with Bible principles 00:05:43 so we can make such decisions without needing a long list of rules.