Invictus is the title of a poem by William Earnest Henley in which we have the famous line, "I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul."
While having the ability to employ the mechanics of eloquent poetry are certainly admirable traits, I absolutely despise those lines. I simply loathe them. It is however, an exquisite work of poetic artistry.
I should also mention, it is not a Christian poem. It is not a Biblical poem. In fact, one might even suggest it is the precise opposite. So those who accuse me of being all irrational and feeling based, aka, insane, I assure you my loathing of those words is not just based on the random misfirings of my gut microbes and erratic hormones causing my brain to spontaneously release emotional chemicals which I then allow to form my opinions.
Which brings me to the irony of freewill. Should my very being actually be governed by nothing more than gut microbes and random misfiring of brain chemicals, it would hardly be my fault. In fact, if you were a moral creature yourself, you would have to be exceedingly kind to me on account of the fact that I clearly can't help myself.
Naturally that logic never seems to apply. Allegedly I am just willfully obtuse, an emotionally driven neurotic, a defective unit, a state of affairs that is apparently entirely my fault. Obviously I should promptly mend my ways and get in line with the more sensible and logic driven people.
Speaking of neurosis, I have never been very good at standing in line. That part is true enough.
So why is the idolatry of freewill, the rugged individualism, the outright worship of "I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul," such a problem within faith? Because 99% of our job revolves around surrender and submission, not to man, but to God. We are not the ones in control of all things. Half the time we are not even intelligent enough to observe the reality of natural consequences, the impact of cause and effect on our own reality.
Jesus died for our sins, past present, and future, 2000 years before we were even born. It is not, or was not, an event we have any control over. In fact, the Bible says, "while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. " Not that anybody wants my opinion, but I shall offer it anyway, the modern West, especially the protestant West has made a mess of the whole concept, attempting to snatch faith away from the idea of surrender and place it in the hands of self determination. We are supposed to say a sinner's prayer, make a choice, respond to an altar call, go to a class, sign a declaration, avoid tattoos, quit smoking, and stop wearing yoga pants.
Regardless of your denomination, there is often an extensive Christian "to do list," of self determination, one that never really ends, where we thoroughly demonstrate by our self evident good choices that, "I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul."
Ai yi yi yi.
I don't wish to completely disparage the notion that faith is actually a two way relationship, one you are required to participate in, nor do I wish to imply that there is anything inherently wrong with altar calls. I am just saying that faith in the modern West is heavily infused with this aroma of self determination, rugged individualism, and idolatry of freewill, to the point where I sometimes wonder if God can even get a word in edgewise!
A bit like small children trying to cook pancakes in the kitchen, I suspect we would say the same thing if Jesus Himself showed up at church, Leave us alone, we got this. We don't need you, we know what we're doing.
Invictus itself means, "unconquerable or undefeated." Allow me to make an exceedingly popular argument that just sells like hotcakes, but allow yourself to be conquered and defeated, not by men, but by the One who hung the stars in the universe. We simply are not, nor should we even try to be, the master of our fate and the captain of our soul.
Also when it comes to other people it's really good to try to remember that truth, too. We all have some freewill, but not everything is in our own hands. We are sometimes governed by things we don't even understand, circumstances, personality, principalities and powers, and hopefully, if we listen properly, governed by God ordering our steps and lighting the path before us.
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