I have a question about God, please?

Question

Tell me where I've gone wrong, because from what I understand:
-God wants us to be one way (good/perfect/loving/etc.)
-God doesn't want us to be another way (bad/sinful/evil)
-God gave us free will to choose
-God knew we were gonna sin, because God knows all
-God doesn't like us to sin (and might punish us for it?)

Now, here's my confusion: Why would God give us free will knowing we were gonna sin even though He dislikes it? Why would God create something, knowing the outcome would be something He doesn't like? Why would God create something He doesn't like or want?
To test us? ... but God already knows everything. Why test us when He knows everything, and the outcome? Why would God need anything if He's all-powerful and all-knowing? And, why send any one of His creations to hell for something He knew they'd eventually become/do. Why judge people for being a way He knew they'd be?


Can anyone make sense of this for mfe, please, please, PLEASE!

I don't get it... you people aren't making sense. You all are making God in the image of man saying He has dislikes and preferences. Why would God care what we do if His intention was to be able to do what we please? Why would God test us if God knows all?

"Right" and "wrong" are relative. What is right to one is not so to another. How can God say this is right and that is wrong when there are so many different contexts? And, if we were meant to act one way, life wouldn't be a test as you all say. It's all so contradictory!

Answer 1

It was those kinds of questions that led me to my personal beliefs, so the only way I can answer that is to tell you what my beliefs are, hope you don't mind.

First of all, God is free of want and opinion. But, it is "kind"... I believe this because if God were unkind, there would simply be no kindness at all.

We're meant to go down really really hard roads and decisions to reach our own state of kindness; we're not all suppose to be like the Dalai Lama...

And really, think of us like robots in the sense that we can't help but become the way we are...

No human in existence is truly evil, I don't care how you put it. No serial killer, rapist, sadist... anything is truly evil... they just have unkindness within them which they will eventually willingly get rid of (one life or another -hence the fact I believe in reincarnation-).

We won't be punished for doing unkind things, only learn from them reasons that it is better not to be that way; if it's not now, it will be later.

We're all wanted, and we are all made to be the way we are, but we're not done. Like clay we slowly mold into the thing God new us to be the entire time.

Hope this makes sense.

Answer 2

Try looking at it a little differently.

Christianity was at the beginning often called The Way. I'd like to suggest there is a current to the universe - a current of Love. We can choose to be an integral part of the world and the universe and act in accordance with this Way. Or we can choose to act against it (Hate).

When we are acting with it we are tapped into that divine ground that underlies and permeates all things - that which we Christians call God. When we act in opposition to this Way, consistently placing ourselves and our own interests first, we are disconnected from this divine ground.

We are born individuals with the nature to be selfish. But man is a social animal and "socialization" and upbringing is largely the process by which we learn to also respect and care for the needs of others (Love) and those empathic seeds are right there in a newborn baby (see Mary Midgley's Beast and Man). So it isn't true to say that we have a sinful nature yearning to be evil. We have the propensities and instincts for both good and evil. We have the power and responsibility to make our choices.

Whatever we choose, that's what we get. If we choose to act selfishly and against the Way of Love then we get exactly that. If we choose to act out of in and live in Love, we get that as well.

Religions personify God or the gods as if they were human actors, causing this and that and so on. The reality is that this is a metaphor and we don't really know and probably can't know what God or a god would really be like at all or even why we're here. All metaphors break down at some level, especially about things beyond the natural world.

Hope this helps!

Answer 3

because God is Immortal! You have any idea how long that is? Before MEST (Matter, Energy, Space and Time) there was a consciousness (God?) In a void of an indeterminate amount of time. Then something happened. A big bang? A spark? A thought? And then there was a moment before, a moment during and FOREVER stretching out eternally. God now had a frame of reference for the passage of time. So god began to wonder what if.....
"In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God, God existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through God, and nothing was created except through God. The word gave life to everything that was created, and God's life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness can never extinguish it."
We live in a story God created to pass eternity. God is a fantasy writer! As characters in God's story we are part of god in a holographic way where each part contains the whole because the whole contains each part. Why do bad things happen to good people? It advances the plot. Why does science make new discoveries all the time? To fill in the holes in the internal logic of the story. Time? Just a way to keep the "pages" in order.

Answer 4

This is an age-old struggle. And one I had when I was young. My minister explained it to me in this way:

Which would be more meaningful to God? To love and obey Him because we HAD to, or because we CHOOSE to? Of course, the answer is - because we choose to worship Him.

It's the idea that we can choose to disobey Him and turn from Him if we choose to, and that causes Him pain. But what joy it must cause Him that some of us WISH to love and obey Him!

Another thing, I gave up trying to understand God a long, long time ago......when it occurred to me that I really wouldn't have any use for a God or Supreme Being that a simple mortal human could understand.

I hope I've helped.

Answer 5

Absolutely!!! It was once whatever extra formal, but I used to speak to Him something the purpose and in view that I saved ahead to my possess ambition and needs, while He gave me avertisements I stored none and did my manner going into increasingly trubles! Into an finish, inside a deep depresion, He stored my lifestyles (!!!) the very moment I left away of all my deep needs... There, empty middle, I was once stuffed with God's Light and Peace and Love - a whole New LIFE, a brand new frame, a New Vision over the beyond and the long run :) :) :) Yes, He is my Saviour!!!

Answer 6

Look at it in the eyes of parent and child. You know full and well how hard the world can be. So you prepare your child for the cruelty of the world. Why would you never teach your child to not partake with strangers when you know full well a stranger at some point and time will test your baby. When that child is out in the world it will then be his choice to decide "do I go with this stranger my parents warned me about, or will I be simple and put myself in danger" God gave us the power of choice. Humans are a higher being, it is a gift from God, not a curse. Yes he knows what mistakes you will make in life, the test is for you to recognize and make the right choice. Life would be so boring without choice. He (God) wants to know you "choose" him. How boring it would be if everyone were like robots.

Answer 7

Lets start on the top:

First you put that God wants you to be perfect that is no where to be found in scripture but your interperation and he does not except you to be just to allow him to have reign in your life.

We deserve punishment but his son died on the cross you are free from all punishment if you are his.

Think about it this way. You give your child freedom rather it is to play in the backyard or to go to a mall with friends. You hope and you want your child to be good and not to do anything "Out of line" but they will and we know that. And it makes you mad doesn't it? Why? Because you know the consquences and you already told them this but they didn't want to believe you because they "think" they know it all. Even though we know they don't and we have by far more expereince and knowledge than they do. But yet they do it.

And then we get mad and punish them. Ground them. Smack their little behinds. Yell or whatever the case is.

It's much like that yet God doesn't punish us but he withhold blessings not because he doens't want you to have them but when you are acting in your sinful nature you can not hear or see God because no evil thing can stand before him. God is good, just and loving. He is generouse and kind and very forgiving.

As for hell it is your choice not his and he alloweed you to have that choice because he doesn't want anyone to be forced. God does not send us we choose. So what is your choice?

Answer 8

Because humanity as a whole is better off existing than not existing. We don't know who goes to hell and who doesn't, but I would imagine it's a small percentage of people. Futhermore, heaven and hell are actually the same place. The difference is the soul in it. Those souls capable of love and sharing it will experience heaven, those who are not, will experience hell, because God is love. Maybe even then it's a choice.

Answer 9

First of all, God wants us to be ourselves. Second of all, the answers to the test are not for God, they are for us. We need to know what we will do so we can choose to make the appropriate choice. In a sense, God doesn't care what we do because he already knows, but He cares that we make the right choice. That's why we have free will. The person who doesn't know is us--the "test" is really so we can ask ourselves--what will WE do? Once we go through that situation we know what we did--in essence, how well we did on the test. Thirdly, god NEVER places us in a situation (tests us) that we cannot handle (beyond our capabilities) or already know the answer to. We might not be CLEAR on the answer, but a BIG clue is to always ask myself, is this the best loving, most virtuous thing to do?

An example, and this happened enough times in my life until I got it right, and then SUDDENLY the situations stopped happening. In my line of work, I often meet beautiful women in my life. I write children's novels, and there are LOTS of women, sexy, beautiful women. I used to get invitations, and get into these emotional trysts, and make close friends with these women--the opportunity to kiss and be kissed became an. I used to kiss, but in my heart and gut I knew it was wrong--I WAS MARRIED. My life was in turmoil, not only financially, but emotionally, relationally, my marriage was rocky, and more. Once I started to ask God what he wanted, the answer was clear--DON'T KISS! I began to not kiss anymore. And to make a very long story short--I started to live life on life's terms (being married terms) I was no longer in a struggle. the situations started to disappear and my relationship with my best friend and wife got extremely better, and things clear up. The test? To kiss or not to kiss. The answer--God already knew what I was going to do, I was going to kiss, but I NEEDED TO KNOW WHAT I WAS GOING TO DO. The lesson? NOT TO KISS. Why? because there is a sweetness and intimacy that I would not have obtained unless I was willing to put aside what I wanted (kissing) for something else that was better (marriage and intimacy and a closeness I thought didn't exist.) God knew best. I had only to "pass the test." As far as going to hell. If I continued to kiss, I would have been divorced and living in a personal hell, and probably a hell after life as well because God wanted the closeness and community of a close knit family, and that is what he wanted me to learn--love is not just in the kiss, but in doing what is right. Diana Ross was right. She asks in one of her songs. How can I know if he loves me so? It's in his kiss. The kiss belonged to my wife.

Answer 10

"Have that clever, talking snake been wisphering in your left ear, again, without your permission? Learn to read those age-less books in the Old&New Teastaments before you ask childish questions with no true substance to quinch your painful thirst,first. Ex. JOB,JUDGES,DANIEL,GEN,REV, MARK, and so on and so on. But there are so many more books that are hidden from your minds' eye that would totally overwhelm you and will make you hold your thoughts, then pay close attention to the world as it revolves around you, but you have to evolve into a more heroic person who understands the diffrence between the Soul of a man & the Spirit of a HeavenlyFather who loves his dear Mother. In other words, GOD has a wonderful and extraordinary plan for "everyone" in this world.