Does God punish us for sins He knew we would commit?

Question

When God put the tree of knowledge and the tree of life in the garden of Eden, didn't God KNOW that A&E would do it?

If God knew it would happen, why did he punish A&E and everybody after them?

And if God knows that there is going to be a great falling away, as the Bible says, does that mean that God is responsible for it? Does God control everything? If he knew I would not be able to find reasonable evidence or a significant compelling in my spirit to believe the Bible, even before I was born, How can I be judged for that?

I would like to believe the Bible, but I have absolutely no compelling reason to, aside from emotionalism, or an extremely faulty and cumbersome apologetics!

God foreknew, did He not? Before God created the first being, he knew that some of them would rebel. God put within the creature the seed of rebellion.

Even Lucifer, who was closest to God rebelled. God knew this, yet created Hell and destruction for him to die in.
Where did this evil come from?

Here's some scriptures that relate:

1. “I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.” Isaiah 45:7

2. “Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?” Amos 3:6

3. “Out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth not evil and good?” Lamentations 3:38

Why again, would one become a Christian?

Answer 1

        This world is a stage to God's other Creations. Each one of God's Creations have been in that position, too. All the Universe watches what God does -- once they have passed God's Probation. Yes, God knew what Lucifer was going to do. Yet, God created Lucifer anyway and created him perfect in his being, giving him free will, until sin was found in him (Ezek. 28:13-19).

        Why? Because, God must be true to His own Nature. Our God is a Creator God whom is not interested in creating intelligent beings whom do not have the free will to reject Him out of hand. That is the risk Love takes. So, even knowing that we would fall (as a result of Lucifer's fall), He Created us anyway and gave us the same Probation He gave each one of His other Creations. But we failed it.

        But you know what? Knowing that we would fall, He made a Plan even before He Created this world. That is why Revelation states that Jesus was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world (Rev 13:8). Jesus' Sacrifice wasn't just Promised "in case" we fell. God Knew. Thus Jesus' Sacrifice wasn't just a contingency plan -- it was a forgone conclusion that He would Die.

        Why is there punishment for sin? Because that is the nature of sin. It is not because God wants to punish sinners (Ezek. 33:11). Sin is a separation from God. God is the Source of all Life. By separating ourselves from God, we condemned OURSELVES to death BY OUR OWN HAND. God must be true to His Nature and give us what we have chosen.

        God did not put within us the seed of rebellion -- we chose that seed after it was offered to us by Lucifer. Free Will is not the seed of rebellion. Free Will just gives us the freedom to rebel. How Lucifer developed that seed of rebellion is one of the Mysteries of Iniquity. But it was Lucifer that passed it on to us -- not God.

        How can God judge someone for not believing in Him? Because God has given adequate evidence for such belief (Rom. 1:20). If we still don't believe, it is because of our own hardheartedness. He is not willing that even one should be lost (2Pet. 3:9). However, that will not prevent people from being lost. He will not force us against our will.

God bless.

Answer 2

Well, God decided not to know what A&E would do in the future {sin}, He didn't create us to be robots of love and sinless, He saw that giving us Freewill to choose what He says to do whats right or the opposite {evil} was the right way! But yes, God actually didn't want to know what we would choose, so basically He was testing us to see if we would do what He says or do evil! That's a God of real love and respect to give us freewill to choose Him or evil, and I personally chose Him! :-) Oh and the same thing applied for Lucifer {now Satan}, God gave ALL the angels free will to do Good or evil, so Lucifer and 1/3 of Heaven's angel decided to be stupid and rebell against God, so therefore He threw Lucifer {that first sinned} and the other rebellious angels out of Heaven like lightning onto the not yer formed Earth. I hope that helps!

Answer 3

Every action has its consequences and of course God knew this from the beginning. Even before he created the world and all in it, a plan of redemption was established in heaven to counteract the worst consequence to us: second death. Lucifer and his cohorts had committed the unpardonable sin against the Holy Spirit. So why did God create him? For the same reason He created us. He wanted the companionship of both angel and man and therefore gave all a chance to be part of His eternal community. But unfortunately for both, some bad apples were in the barrel, as they say, and they came with the package. Sin was and still is a mystery. But notice something interesting here: all those who never sinned, are in other worlds while the sinners (both angel and man) are confined to a particular planet - earth (quarantine, perhaps?). It's like the parable of the lost sheep and the ninety and nine: God, in the form of Jesus, left the ninety-nine (the other worlds) to seek and save the lost sheep (earth with all who accept Him) . Now there just has to be a very good reason why God wants our companionship, why He would go through the first death for us, and why He even wants to serve us. (Maybe it's our affinity to laugh. It's hard to imagine God laughing when He has such serious work to do to keep us from destroying ourselves. When all this turmoil is over, He might have time to laugh with us.) God doesn't want robots. He gave us free choice, as the other members said, because it not only proves our love for Him but helps us to cast off anything that prevents us from living with Him forever. Adam and Eve may have sinned but because they accepted the promise of a Saviour, they too will again be with God - this time, for eternity. It's time to get on the (spiritual) ark because a flood of woe and the ultimate tests are just around the corner.

Answer 4

It's basically a constant test of strength and morals. Yes, He probably did know all those things when he first created Adam & Eve but it was a test of their strength of willpower to resist the evils of temptation. Just like everyday we live is a test to see how much we can avoid, how many sins can humankind resist doing everyday.

As for where evil came from, I've always considered it a Yin/Yang sort of thing. God is the ultimate power of good so he needed something to balance that out and so Lucifer came into being to balance the good with the evil.

Answer 5

God uses evil to perfect the good. Just like he uses your biblical knowledge for his glory. Most admit to being a self proclaimed Christian while other Christians work quietly.

Answer 6

Because, we can still not do 99% of the wrong that we do. God has given all of us the freedom of choice.
Therefore, we in a sense choose our own destiny.

Answer 7

this proves the big sky fairy is EVIL.

seriously, the Bible has more plot holes in it than an Uwe Boll movie. I still don't understand why people believe in it.

Answer 8

Merely asking the question is enough to show that the bible story is quite implausible.

Answer 9

He knows that no one would be happy with out freedom.
Freedom to choose what we want to do. So he gave us and the angels free will to choose. YOur right he wouldn't kill anyone for something they couldn't help doing. So we all have choices to make.

Answer 10

we have the freedom 2 choose, and when we choose 2 do the wrong thing, its Satan's temptations.!