This week’s question comes from Melanie‘s son, who wants to know why God would create man knowing we would sin. Here’s what he asked:
Question: “If God knew we’d screw up and have struggles in this world only to fight to get to Heaven and return to Him, why’d He create us at all or why didn’t He just create Heaven and keep us all there? Thirteen-year-old inquiring minds want to know…”
I love your question. It seems illogical, doesn’t it? I mean we love our friends and family, and we even love people we don’t know to some degree. We don’t want them to suffer or be lost, so how could God, who is capable of so much greater love than we are allow even a smidgeon of possibility that someone won’t make it? That they’ll suffer, or be lost?
I really try to answer these #sounddoctrine series through scriptures alone, knowing all the while that the questions will come that simply cannot be answered entirely satisfactorily, because – as Isaiah 58:8 says – “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.
Some things we will only understand fully when we get to heaven.
But I do have a few thoughts in response, based on some scriptures. So let’s start with the first part of your question, why did God bother to create man at all?
Answer: Because he is a Creator. It’s who he is and he can’t deny himself or be something he’s not, or hold back on any of his divine qualities, such as love or creativity –
The Lord loves righteousness and justice;
the earth is full of his unfailing love. Psalm 33:6
Creating is as natural to him as breathing is to us. He created the world to showcase his unfailing love. While the earth was formless and empty, and his Spirit was hovering over the waters, there was no tangible proof of his unfailing love. But once he started creating, there was evidence of his unfailing love in every petal that unfolded, every crimson sunset, every animal that nursed her young, every gust of wind that swept the silver prairie grasses. His unfailing love was everywhere.
So yes, he created the world. But then it was never his intention for the world to remain uninhabited.
he who fashioned and made the earth,
he founded it;
he did not create it to be empty,
but formed it to be inhabited—
he says:
“I am the Lord and there is no other.” Isaiah 45:18
So once the world was in place, and ready for mankind to rule over it, there was nothing left but to introduce man and woman. And there was something special about man and woman that differed from everything else in creation. They were created in God’s image – to be like HIM.
Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day. Genesis 1:26 … 29
Even knowing that man would fall, God still said that his creation was very good. There was a precious quality about mankind that God did not breathe into any other creature. And that’s why he created us.
Okay. So if we’re so great, why not send us straight to heaven and skip the painful intermediary step of earth, right? (The second part of your question). Once we’re in heaven, we’d have no choice but to obey God. We would be perfect, and able to say no to sin or anything else that separates us from God.
But you see the problem with that? God already had that kind of creature in his angels. They were servants who had no choice but to obey (after Satan and his angels were thrown down). In speaking of the angels God says,
“He makes his angels winds,
his servants flames of fire.” Hebrews 1:7
He tells his angels to go there and they go there. He commands his angels to wait and they sit still. They are his servants, not his children. He created us for a very different purpose.
For to which of the angels did God ever say,
“You are my Son;
today I have become your Father”?
He also says,
To which of the angels did God ever say,
“Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies
a footstool for your feet”?
Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation? Hebrews 1:5-13 (excerpts)
God already has servants, but he wanted children. And that’s where you and I come in. Now if you can get through this one last scripture in Hebrews 2, which is a little chunky, but nevertheless important, we can head towards a conclusion:
It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking. But there is a place where someone has testified:
“What is mankind that you are mindful of them,
a son of man that you care for him?
You made them a little lower than the angels;
you crowned them with glory and honor
and put everything under their feet.”
In putting everything under them, God left nothing that is not subject to them. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to them. But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters. Hebrews 2:5-14 (excerpts)
The angels rule and we can’t even see the extent that they rule over. But we can see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels until he had died and was resurrected. He was made perfect through his suffering … and so are we. Do you see where this is heading? 🙂
We need the suffering that earth provides in order to be refined and perfected. Without going through the trials earth provides, we would be incomplete – like the butterfly who was kindly “helped” out of his chrysalis and now his wings are not fully formed. And we need the chance that earth provides to choose for ourselves whether or not to follow God.
God already had servants; he wanted children. And in his great love, he made provision for the messy waywardness of children who have the choice to love him back or not. If you remove that choice of free will, you remove the divine quality – the thing that makes us like God.
I think the final aspect of your question contains a little bit of this: what’s so special about messy, wayward children? Aren’t perfect, obedient children so much better?
Well, any parent will tell you that obedient children are certainly nice. But we would never swap a messy wayward child of our own for a perfectly obedient robot. Because when that messy wayward child stops pouting and stamping his feet, or stops running around because there is a fascinating world to explore, or stops focusing on this amazing thing that has caught his attention … and comes to you with a hug, and says, “I love you Mama” – there is no greater surge of love and joy that exists. At least not for a parent. And God just looks and looks, waiting for his children to turn and look back eyes at him. He created us and put us on earth and gave us free will on the off-chance we might love him back. That’s how generous he is with his love.
Oh Jennie, we are awed by your response. It makes perfect sense that we didn’t realize before. My boy loves this answer. He said it’s good and he understands now (and so do I)! Thank you for the thought and words you put into his complex question. I love that you would research and pray and formulate such a beautiful response. Thank you!
Thank you Melanie. I had an ear-splitting grin when I read your comment. 😀 Hugs to you and Parker.
Love this! I found your amazing site from my friend, Melanie (via FB). I’m a devout Christian and whole-heartedly cherish my faith. In having said that, I have a question that I often wonder and I’d love to hear your response:
If God cannot be in the presence of sin (and if all in heaven are automatically obedient) and if Angels are obedient servants, how did Satan get cast out of heaven? How did his followers (angels) manage to rebel? To me it seems there was free agency even then.? Lastly, the Word states that one day we will judge angels. This leads me to believe that they are not necessarily always obedient, and capable of mistakes.
Anyway, just a few thoughts that I’ve had. Thanks for your post! I do hope to hear back from you! =)
Simply Rachel recently posted…Favorite Things Friday 14!
Hi Rachel, thank you so much for reading and commenting (and leaving a question!) 🙂 I’m not sure I can answer it but I’m going to try, including asking someone I trust. There aren’t enough scriptures to give a definitive answer from what I can see, but there are clues there. If I can find enough, this will be my next Q&A 3 Fridays from now. (We’re on vacation and the Internet is too sketchy for me to try and keep a publishing schedule). But I’ll let you know either way because I don’t want to pretend to wisdom where there is none.
Awesome! I look forward to hearing your reply! =)
Simply Rachel recently posted…Favorite Things Friday 14!
Rachel, your answer is up! 🙂
It’s here: https://aladyinfrance.com/is-there-free-will-in-heaven/
ladyjennie recently posted…Is There Free Will in Heaven
I love your answer, because free will is the key: the ability to choose lesser goods, created goods, over God, our creator. God does pursue us first, loves us first, and your imagery of the wayward child and his mama was very fitting and touching.
But, like Rachel, I too understood that angels were spiritual creatures of free will, and that is why Satan and his angels were capable of rebelling.
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Beautiful, Jennie.
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Jennie, We would love to see your great articles on CollectiveFaith.com. Please join and share with our Christian Social Network.