scombrid

Ah yes, in the old days god intervened directly. Now god goes the round-about way and enables others to do his work, only they don't know whether they're doing his work or not. Should a mind control machine be invented, somebody not under its influence but who is an enemy of its controllers would have ample reason to disable it. Should they be successful nobody would have a means of knowing whether it was purely through their efforts or through godly tinkering so your point is lost on me.

Once on finishing a float trip down the Shenandoah I encountered a rather distraught looking pair. I learned that they had left the keys to their shuttle vehical at the put-in. Having nearly done the same thing myself I knew that I would want a ride should I ever find myself in the same situation so I gave the guy a lift to his truck. He attributed my help to god putting me at the right place at the right time. That really insulted me. He had the nerve to insinuate that I was merely a puppet for god. How did he know that being stranded wasn't a result of god's punishing him for fishing on the sabbath and I was satan's interuption of god's will. By taking the guy to retrieve his truck I might have been subverting god's will by interupting his punishmest of his followers who chose to fish instead of worship.

Back to the original topic. Should god be an enabler that allows somebody to foil the diabolical mind-control machine he is still interrupting choice. If free will exists but isn't absolute then nobody ever really knows whether they are calling the shots or not.