The proplem with God (Hell and free will)

[Dondi]

Originally Posted by pfw

One thing.... Oh lovley the almighty god gives us freedom we have free will, that is really great I am going to spend my time doing some really cool things. Time for some entertainment!! Alright...

god: "Nah, wait... you have to do everything I say and live by my rules and worship me non freakin stop.."

Oh so the free will was a real worthwhile thing... Good thinking.

It's like I make an awesome "thing" and it's meant to sit on my fireplace.. but I purposly made it wonky so it keeps freaking falling off... and never sits on the fireplace for more than a blink of an eye. Any one see where the logic is?!

You've still got the choice of following those rules or not... Just because you don't like the concequences of not doing so (or don't like the rules) doesn't negate the choice... Just a thought.

Speaking from a Christian standpoint, mind you, we need to establish how and why God created Man in the beginning. That is, when He created Man, it was very good. There was harmony and peace in a relationship with God. But it is apparent that God wanted a being that had the capability to love Huim back. So God made man with the ability to choose. Oh, He could have made man to do his bidding, much like the pre-appointed girl chosen by the parents to marry Eddie Murphy in "Coming to America", who would stand of one leg and bark like a dog at command (great movie, you need to see it if you haven't already). But He didn't want that. He wanted someone who would love him back on their own accord. That is what the test was all about.

The commandment concerned a particular tree in the Garden, the Tree of the Knowledge of good and Evil. But there was another tree: the Tree of Life.

Which would Man choose? To eat of the Tree of knowledge meant separation from God, banishment from Paradise, and death. To eat of the Tree of Life, meant everlasting life.

Unfortunately, Man sinned and the whole human race, no, the whole of creation fell. What we have now is not the reality that God wanted us to have.

It is the Christian's belief that Christ came to restore all things back to God. That His resurrection validates this as a hope that we, too, will rise from the dead. But just as Adam had a choice to eat of the Tree of Life, we now have that same choice to believe in Christ for salvation in the promise of being part of that restoration, along with the rest of creation.

So when you talk about going to do some entertainment, what are you referring to? You seem to have the impression that believers in God doesn't want us to enjoy life. That somehow, God is cramping our style. Is that it?

On the contrary, if God created us, then He knows how best we can enjoy life. Yes, He has established boundaries for us, so that we can live peacibly with our fellow man. All the "rules" were meant to allow us to love our neighbor as ourselves. The Kingdom of God is all about relationships, for if we cannot live with each other, how can that be Paradise?

I love sex. And I suppose if I wanted to, I could go out and bang anything I can find (within reason, I do have some sense of morality and taste). But at what consequence? Certainly, I'd be committing adultery against my wife. How will it affect her? My selfish desires would devastate her. Our relationship would be shattered. And it would devastate my children, as well. And if we separate or divorce, how much more pain would that involve with all the financial and property dealings.

But more than that, I've learned to love my wife. And though I had casual sex before I married, I found that sex in a loving relationship is much more satisfactory than I'd ever thought. There is another dimension that the purely physical aspect. It has allowed me to become intimate spiritually and emotionally to her.

Now I'm not saying that I'm immune now to temptations, but I know that staying within the boundaries of marriage is going to have long-term benefits for my enjoyment and happiness in this life. My marriage is something I treasure. My family is something I dare not risk for a moment of rapturous pleasure with someone else.

And that is precisely the attitude I have in my relationship with God. For I have learned to love God and have known the benefits of such a relationship. And I can say, that I am the happiest I ever been, far more when I was running around in the world in my own accord, making choices that were not to my benefit in the long run, and sometimes making some that were pretty stupid.

But I credit God from bringing me out of a downward spiral that was ruining my life.