If God knows everything that will happen why would he provide any temptation?

Question

If God has always known everything and provides free will, why would he tempt people if he sees the outcome? He told Adam and Eve not to eat the fruit but he knew they would. So if you say they were meant to, why did he just not say anything about it and let it happen? I don't suppose God could be in a hurry for any reason. Or if he's so powerful why even make the tree, he could just have skipped the semantics and not put them in the garden. Or he could have just told them to eat the damn fruit. Apply this to anything else said to be temptation.

Also why does he act so imperfect if he is perfect. He is said to be vengeful which is a very imperfect emotion, the same with "wrath". The fact that he thinks people deserve an eternity of torment for not believing him says something about his personality too. Instead of this infinite love or an ounce of sympathy, you get eternal damnation.

I'm not trying to disprove him, just seeing how a religious person justifies these things.

To clarify, I'm an atheist.

And if I mistated something don't focus on that and avoid the question, just inform me of the misinformation and answer the parts that are right.

Hoojoo, as a semi-practicing buddhist I did know that actually. It's a great thing, I'm just not quite enlightened enough to follow it fully. I do meditate and try not to be too material or ego based though.

Also, where did Jesus get his Y chromosome?

To Ricky, not enough time to tell you and personally I know it would be a waste of my time because you wouldn't really care, but my atheist views are very justified.

Answer 1

FAITH!!!

Answer 2

To tackle the points:
God had to put the tree in the Garden to be fair to Satan. Satan, after all, had lodged a charge against God that His rules (the 10 commandments) were too restrictive and not fair; so, naturally, God had to answer this charge.
Since God gave them free will, eating the fruit had to be their choice. If He told them ahead of time they would eat it, it would no longer be free will.
You could argue that if God knew they would screw up, He shouldn't have created us to begin with; however, the fact that He did anyways is proof that He loves us too much to deny us existence.
Finally, God does not act imperfect. Should a perfect person become angry when a 5 year old dies of AIDS she got from her mother? Should a perfect person become angry when a child is sold into a sweat shop? Should a perfect person become angry when a young college student is raped/murdered? Yes. As such, "wrath" is not necessarily imperfect.
And finally, the doctrine of an eternally burning hell is one of the biggest reasons Christians leave the church. And the truth is, it is a lie. For proof, see Bible references to Sodom and Gomorrah destroyed by "eternal fire," and Jerusalem being burned "forever" when the Babylonians came. In these cases, it meant 'until there was nothing left.' And the same applies to hell. As for "the smoke of their torment ascendeth forever," note that it does not say the sinners burn forever. If the Earth's atmosphere was to infinity, wouldn't smoke rise forever? That is hardly proof that the fire is still going.
If you want more evidence of this, comment on it, and I'll add some sites in a day or two.

Answer 3

As mortals, we can't possible understand or know all the reasons why.

But as you stated, God gave us free-will. There must be a reason for that. And since we have free-will there's always the possibilty that we pick something unknown.

Its quite possible that God designed all that but set it in motion to run under the framework and rules established in that grand design. Sometimes those things don't work out quite the way one would think. There evil in the world, injustice

Remember though, that most of the dogma was written/developed ages ago when understanding of quite a few things was very limited. Of course, your talking about human nature.

A vengeful God is one depicted in the old testament (if you're christian). The new testament is more of a merciful God.

Its not easy (or even possible necessarily) to justify or even explain all the inconsitencies-- People have been trying to understand these things since the dawn of man (or religion at least).

Answer 4

I'm a Christian, but your point is a valid one. From a young age, I was taught 'hellfire and damnation'. I can't even begin to tell you the damage it worked on not only how I viewed myself, but also on how I viewed God.

To answer your question, I believe God gives us free will. In the case of Adam and Eve, I have many questions, but I believe even though God knew what would take place in the Garden of Eden, I feel God's desire to give Adam and Eve free will was more important than the outcome.

I've come to believe that the 'vengeful God full of wrath' was created by a misguided group or organization, although I don't know enough about religious history to understand who or what created that.

Thank you for asking this question without making others who might disagree with your beliefs feel like idiots.

Answer 5

God does not know everything that will happen. He is not a fortune teller or a psychic. He does have a plan for everyone, but He does know that in the long run it will come true, but He does not know what I am going to have for breakfast tomorrow morning, and if He does have the power to know that I don't really think He cares.

God does not set temptations upon us. The devil does. In the case of Adam and Eve, God told them not to eat the apple, but they disobeyed him. He was testing them to see how deep their faith was.

I'm not saying God was, in his days as a human, or is, as a spirit, 100% perfect, but He sure does come much closer than you, I, or anyone else reading this. And that is one of the many reasons why He is my Lord, God, Heavenly King.

I have never heard that God is vengeful, or "wrath". As the the "infinity of torment"... all His rules say is that if you don't follow His rules then you will not be sent to heaven. And that other place just happens to be Hell, a place that Satan created.

Answer 6

Why do you parents tell you not to touch the stove? Why not just take the stove away or never tell you about the stove?

Why do your parents punish you when you do something wrong? If your parents really love you they wouldn't have timeouts or groundings - a place where you are in torment? If they do make boundaries and guidelines they are just mean wretches?

Every parent who loves there children will give them boundaries and punish them accordingly. In the end, you will turn out pretty good and your character would have been built up. Look around, see all the kids with no boundaries and no discipline in the home, and see where they are and where they end up. Most times they are thugging, drugging, and mugging in the streets and the jails. Maybe, not that extreme, but there are often serious holes in their character.

This is the same with God. If we could do what ever we want then where would the christian character be built. If there was no eternal punishment then every one would go to heaven and then what would the point be. As my dad used to say when I didn't like the rules in the house "If you are going to be a part of this family and live in this house, you will live by my rules".

We all make our own choices. If we want to live in His house and be in His family, then we need to live by His rules, not our own.

Answer 7

God' favorite thing to do is test people to see what they will do in any given situation. It's not good enough for him to create a perfect world with two perfect human beings in it. it follows this question if God could put an angel at the entrance of the garden of eden to keep adam and eve from going back in there after being kicked out then he could have put an angel there to began with to keep the devil out. so you see god wanted the serpent to slither his way into the garden to test adam and eve. it's a game get it. It was a unfair test. there is no way that eve could have passed that test because she was innocent and do you think she could have had the wisdom to match wits with some fallen arch angel. NO Way.

Answer 8

Life is choices, which God gives us and calls it "freewill". What you are describing is called predestination and has been a source of theological argument since the beginning of time. In the Bible there is a passage that reads "God hated Esau even before he was born." which has been the basis of this argument. Please bear in mind that the Bible is full of two types of teaching, parables, which are stories told to make a moral point, and historical writings meant to preserve the history of the Jewish race. The Adam and Eve story has also been a source of theological debate as to whether it was history or a parable. Through quieting your mind in meditation and prayer, the answers will be revealed to you if you listen. Peace is the verification of the truth of the answer you receive.

Answer 9

God doesn't "provide" temptation - the Bible talks about that. He allows Satan to go so far in tempting us in order to test our faith and stuff. Just because He knows what will happen doesn't take away our free will.
It may seem to some that He "acts" imperfect, but He is a perfect Holy God and cannot. I may not be able to understand everything completely, but that's okay because I know He's in control and is perfect.
Peace

Answer 10

Dude, you either believe or you don't It is really that simple. I have no need to justify my beliefs to you, or anyone else for that matter. How do you justify the way you live your life? How do you justify the way you believe? I consider myself christian, but I have found myself arguing free will and pre-destination with other Christians before. It is either or, you don't get both. I choose to believe free will, because I do not believe God would have made all these screwed up people. I also believe that God will not send everyone who does not believe to Hell. How could he send people to hell that have no idea he exists? I believe it is a matter of how you live your life, not how you believe.

Answer 11

i know what you mean i am agnostic. some arrgue that if he didnt put the tree there free will would not truely exist. i say B.S.

if, when you where younger your dad took you to an ice cream shop and said order what ever you want. you could order choclate or vanilla or any other flavor imaginable or you you could decide you were full.

no where in that story is there a forbiden food yet you still had free will