A Question for Christians ?

Question

You say your God knows all, so before creating Adam and Eve he knew they would sin, and in turn on Judgement Day Billions of people would be sent to hell and would get tortured for the rest of eternity.(many peaceful people are not Christians eg. 1 Billion Hindus, 600 million + Buddhists etc.)
So is your God such a entity who knows that at some point Of time would create a creation Whose many(billions) of Sons he knows in advance will suffer eternal pain.
Would he create a creation for whom he knows
one day his own son jesus will suffer very much.

No human father would create a robot if he knew in advance that the Robot would torture his son.
Why Not Create A Creation Which Was As Perfect As Him (GOD)

Atleast I know that no kind human being if granted the ability to create would create a creation whom he knows he would have to torture in the future.
Kind Parents punish their children again and again when they make mistakes and do not allow them Free will to commit sin for his entire Life and in the end throw them into a pit of fire.

Note I am stating kind average humans,
And when I say Robot I mean it as an example of creation by Man.

Answer 1

Christians invented the idea of "free will" to escape this thorny problem. But a basic logic class will debunk it. If the definition of the Christian God is all-knowing, all-powerful, there is no such thing as free will. Let me repeat: The Christian God negates free will. There simply is no other way. If I knew everything, I could predict your next action. If I can't do that, I am not omniscient.

It is logically impossible to have it both ways.

Answer 2

Good question. If I understood the subject completely, I would call myself the smartest person in the entire world and probably be right.


Since God's a know-it-all who ruins curves in Physics class *shakes fist*, he can't create a being that has features outside of His control or knowledge. If we program a robot, we can add a rand() command to give it the ability to do something we can't predict because we don't know the complex algorithm behind the function... but God knows the algorithm inside and out, the very hands that typed the code for the function, and I really don't want to know what else he knows about it...

God knows every choice we will ever make, every thought we will ever have, every pain we will experience... I think you get the point. In short, GOD KNOWS THE FUTURE. The future is present to Him, as is the past. He sees the entire timeline of his creation.

Sorry.. had to preface my answer. Sad thing is, you probably know all that already.

Yes, God created the Earth and all the people within it knowing full well that some of them would go to Hell. Why would he do such a thing? Choice. God wanted his creation to have a choice: being with Him forever or being without Him forever. Hell is simply a desolate, vacant, lonely pit in which each soul who does not want to spend eternity in the presence of god resides. Believe it or not, you're in the presence of God right now; we all are. God wanted his people to have the capacity to love. I can't imagine a rapist gets much out of forcing one of his/her victims to say, "I love you." God knew that the love his creation showed him would be superficial if he forced them to love Him. Doesn't it bring joy to parents when their children run up to them and give them a big hug without saying anything or asking for it?

God created and carefully crafted each and every person knowing exactly which ones would go to Hell.

And here's where we get down to the difficult parts I don't understand. How do we have choice if God knows what's going to happen?

The very feeble and unsteady answer I give you is this: we don't know what's going to happen, so we have a choice.



It almost sounds like you think sin keeps us from God. God is a Just God. He executes judgement on those who sin (everyone). Though the judgement occurs at the end of time, some of the consequences are experienced here on earth. For example, I can pretty well guarantee anyone that if you don't become sexually active until you're married, you won't get AIDS. Though we fail to match up with a perfect, all-loving, all-knowing, and all-powerful creator, He, out of His love, made a way for us. When a Christian reaches the judgement seat, Christ will plead his/her case.

This is heavily abridged and far from complete... If you'd like more information, you might try http://www.str.org

Edit: lol... looks like you have plenty of reading to do.

Answer 3

If you look into a mirror, you get the opportunity to see something more of yourself that you might not otherwise see. Your own eyes, something to behold as they work and move. We are flawed and lacking, full of quirks and complications and new stuff to get to know. Using a model like you put before us, a happily married couple gets to learn new things about the other even into old age. They are entertained by the other, and enriched in life by love.

If God were to look into a mirror (excuse the massive downgrade to the persona thereof) he would learn nothing new of Himself, he is all knowing. Another God would omnisciently know and respond and react in the same way. Or maybe the universe would be too small. Why not another God? Maybe there are already three in the Unification of the Holy Trinity. You don't know why he made humanity, it is not a point to destroy the Intelligent Design of Him.

I'm a romantic at heart and I like to think he made us because we can always learn more about Him. We can grow in love which is He, and learn to love Him more. He sought companionship and this was the best, possibly perfect way, to obtain it. Why the mass causalties? I don't know, not to malign any, but perhaps their earthly rejection of God is not only symbolistic but congruent proof that they will reject that love in Heaven. If they were not allowed to choose to not love Him, they would be as angels without the free will. If not for those that didn't love Him, the possibility of choice would be limited, without the possibility of choice, there is lack of trial and strengthing. Without strengthing of love..... it could carry on forever.

So why not something more perfect? Could not God create something bigger and more powerful than Himself if he is all big and powerful? Sure, that's an easy answer: infinity (God) plus 1 = God still ultimate, something still greater. Heck, maybe God minus 1 = Satan and that didn't go over so well so he tried a bigger number. You don't know the mind of God, I would not press you to test it.

Answer 4

God created us to have free will - no loving father would create something that he would just control and watch like a play thing.
Yes, the world has many problems. Atheists often try and blame God for mistakes that people have made and decisions that have affected others. People aren't perfect. And even though God is - doesn't mean he is responsible for everything that goes wrong. He is big enough to love us no matter what and have everlasting love for us - no matter what we do. It would be hard to love a God that made us without a choice in mind, and there would be even more complaints if People were forced to do God's will, and not have the opportunity to learn from mistakes first hand.
The reason God has His Word is so people have the truth, and don't have to be condemned to an eternity in hell for their sins.

Would you hate your father if he controlled you and there were no choices for you to make in life? I think it wouldn't be much of an existence.

Answer 5

Adam was taught the rules and he taught his wife. They both disobeyed . They had free will.
The question of Jehovah's sovereignty came up then. So he has allowed satan to try and temp all of mankind. God knows there are righteous people on earth.
When Adam lost paradise and the eternal life for all of us there had to be a ransom made. Another perfect person had to buy back what Adam lost. So Jesus offered to come to earth and die for us. That is the reason he was here and also to teach us about his father, Jehovah.
Jehovah will not burn people forever. He will put them to sleep with no hope for a resurrection. Satan and his followers will be destroyed and thrown into the lake of fire which means the second death...from this there is no resurrection. Gone forever.

Answer 6

you forgot to use question marks so your "Question" is a little hard to sort out....

There are some things we do not understand about God and His ways, but we do know from the bible that He does know all, that He is a god of incredible love and beauty, that He only desires the best for His creation, and that He is also a god of justice and righteousness, that wickedness and sinfulness will and must be punished. And that He sent his son Jesus into the world to bring eternal life to as many believe on Him.

god bless

p.s. we are not robots.

Answer 7

That's a good question, and not a topic I'm well-versed on, but I'll give it a shot:

God is Love. God wanted a family to love and which could love Him back. Being able to love requires having the ability to choose. Having the ability to choose creates the possibility that we will choose wrongly. Yet without the ability to choose, we cannot love.

Robots don't have the ability to choose. We aren't robots. We deliberate and then we act.

In order for us to have the power to choose, there has to be something, or some things, to choose FROM. God & good await on one hand, and evil on the other. These opposites must exist in clear contradistinction from one another, in order that it is also clear when a choice is required or has been made.

Yes, God knew many people would choose wrongly, either through ignorance or with full knowledge and in defiance. But I believe He is a fair God -- in fact, He is the Source of fairness and any and all other good things. I do not believe He will hold anyone accountable for what they couldn't know.

It's not God who tortures; He created Hell for the devil and his angels, not for Man. But Man must CHOOSE God as his god, or he gets satan by default.

I once heard a pastor say that everyone who goes to Hell will know they deserved it, and everyone who goes to Heaven will know that they didn't.

The good news is that each person is in control of his or her destiny. Anyone can choose to talk to God, and He will answer.

I have been meaning to ask Him about the sad situation of the existence of Hell. You have reminded me to take some more time to learn about this subject. One thing I do know: God is not insecure about any questions we may pose to Him.

I would encourage you to go to Him directly too. You may end up being the one who answers this question in the future when someone else posts it in this forum! But no matter what, once you ask from the heart, He will make something happen to get your answer to you. He's faithful and can't help but love you because He is Love. I can say that with all confidence based on his past dealings with me, answering my questions and needs. Just ask Him and then be on the lookout for the answer when it comes.

Thanks for asking the question; I needed that reminder. And I'll be praying for you too.

Answer 8

I'm afraid you're never going to get a straight answer on that question and you're not going to inspire any doubt in Christians either because the whole idea is based on the Fallacy of Special Pleading: which states "you just don't understand...." So they'll say "you just don't understand the mysterious ways of God" or "we weren't meant to know" or the like. Isn't that what all the answers have been so far, saying that "you just don't understand" or "no one is meant to understand," without giving a real explanation?

You raise an exceptional point, and I praise your insight :)

Answer 9

O dear pal,

To begin with, who is man to question God's wisdom? (Read the story of Job as reference). Our ways are not God's ways, nor His thoughts ours. Have you ever thought that gold is always tested in fire. It has to undergo the process of being refined in the furnace!!

Don't you know why we the people are made differently from animals. Do u know what makes us different from animals? It is our free will. God never forces himself on us. We always have to choose.

If we would not have to choose, we would not be thinking about anything...we would be thoughtless beings!

When you give an exam or a test, you work hard, you put in an effort, you even sacrifice your comfort but in the end when you gain good marks you feel inexpressible joy.

You asked why God sent His Son to suffer? Let me tell you, Jesus had to choose too. He could refuse the Cross but he did not. He was in agony in the Garden of Gethsemane....he sweated drops of blood. He said, "Father please let this cup pass away from me yet not my will but thine be done."

Answer 10

Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto
Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto
Mata ahoo Hima de Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto
Himitsu wo Shiri tai.
You're wondering who I am - secret
secret - I've got a secret

Machine or mannequin - secret
secret - I've got a secret
With parts made in Japan - secret
secret - I've got a secret
I am the Modern Man.
I've got a secret
I've been hiding under my skin
My heart is human
my blood is boiling
my brain I.B.M.
So if you see me acting strangely
don't be surprised
I'm just a man who needed someone
and come where to hide
To keep me alive - just keep me alive
Somewhere to hide to keep me alive.

Styx - Mr. Roboto