July 18, 2007
1. Why did God create the universe if He knew what the final outcome would be, and that it would involve so much human suffering?
2. Why does God choose to elect that one person be saved and another be damned, if election is in fact how it all works?
Those are two of the larger questions on my mind at the moment. I've discussed several of them over at PRCalDude's site, but of course, nothing conclusive.
Part of it comes from the idea of eternal suffering without the possibility of redemption. I find that horrifying beyond description - to the point where I start hoping for the sake of my atheist and agnostic friends that they might just be right. If Calvinists have the right of it, there's nothing I can do for them. If the Arminians are correct, I really should be doing more ... but I'm not sure I can.
To the Calvinists, I ask: Why does God choose the people he chooses? If the people He chooses don't necessarily deserve to be chosen, then why choose them? If it's nothing about them in particular, then what? Why would a just, ordered, merciful, omniscient God perform the divine equivalent of pulling names out of his hat?
To the Arminians, I ask: If my God can forgive sins like rape and murder, why can't he do something about people who were lied to and persuaded to follow false Gods? Should random chance determine who makes it to heaven and who doesn't? Certainly people are accountable for their actions, but not everyone has access to the same resources. Should I simply trust that God gives everyone a fair shot?
Posted by: Joseph at
02:45 PM
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Reprinting some of my comments from PRCaldude's discussion:
1.
God doesn’t make a mistake when He creates us, and He doesn’t make a mistake when He judges us under the Law, and He doesn’t make a mistake when He sacrifices Jesus Christ on our behalf to save us from our judgement. In the end, through no merit on our part, God’s original purpose for the creation of mankind is progressing according to plan. No matter how hard we strive against God to to screw it up for ourselves, God has a bigger plan.
We must be confident that the opportunity for repentance is open to everyone. God creates every human soul for the purpose of going to heaven. And even though we are born sinful, God still gives us the blood sacrifce of Christ as our payment for our judgements under our sin.
If God didn’t create anyone, even under original sin, He could guarantee that no more people will go to Hell. But it would also guarantee that no more people will go to Heaven. And this goes against God’s original plan for creating mankind in the first place.
2.
God's plan is not for us to suffer and He doesn't choose for anyone to be damned. In the beginning, God never intended and does not intend now for damnation upon any of us. However, should we not repent and continue with our rebellion against God and Christ, we doom ourselves.
This is about the original sin concept wherein Adam and Eve wanted to be like God. In our modern context, we strongly desire the power to make our own decisions about our own personal salvation. But we simply do not have that kind of omnipotent power.
But why did God allowed Adam and Eve to eat of the tree of the curse in the first place? The Bible doesn’t relate why God allows choice, just that He does. The most important clue is that God created us in His image, thereby reflecting that an element of choice is designed into our nature.
Looking back, we see that it wasn't Adam and Eve's idea to eat of the tree in the first place. They were tempted and lied to; deceived into thinking it was the right thing to do.
Satan does the same thing to us now, deceiving us into thinking that we have the power to affect our own salvation. So it’s not really a mystery at all why we reject Christ. Satan tempts us into doing so and because of original sin we weakly succumb to Satan’s deceit. We can apply this perspective to Atheists who reject God, or anyone who rejects Christ’s true message.
The answer to the Christian mystery of salvation is simply admitting that salvation is not about us, it is about Christ, and then repenting. In the greater scheme we are merely the beneficiaries of Christ’s sacrifice.
Posted by: Lawrence at July 20, 2007 01:39 PM (cFi+z)
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