I have this theory I want to share. I've been working on sorting it out for quite a while, but this is where it stands right now.
God created everything. He knows everything. He exists outside of the confines of time and space, so he knows everything that will be as well as everything that is. He knew how everything would turn out from the very beginning. He knew every choice I would make, everything I would say... everything.
God designed us with the ability to choose. And, though this might be controversial, and I could DEFINITELY be wrong about this, God designed us with sinful natures. (But, I mean, if he didn't, where did our sinful natures come from? 'Cause God created everything, right?) I've discussed before that I think the reason we're sinful and not "perfect" from the beginning is that life is a growing process - a molding process - and that apart from the ability to sin, there can be no obedience, and apart from the ability to do wrong, there can be no right, etc. Essentially, without choices we can't have an actual relationship with God. (Example, you can have a relationship with your mom, your brother, your friend, your spouse... you can even have some level of a relationship with a dog or a cat, or pretty much any animal I guess, because it can make choices. It defines its own boundaries. BUT... You can't have a relationship with a robot. It just does what you program it to do. That's not relating. That's just... I don't know what that is, but it's not relating.)
But, going a little beyond that... This is so awesome. Okay. So, God knew everything from the beginning, and designed everything to happen a certain way. And yet we have the ability to choose. So how does that work? Well... it's really beautiful and amazing. This is how I think it works.
God designed each of us. Our personalities, our tendencies, our physical attributes. Habits, struggles, strengths... But our personalities don't just POOF into existence. We are molded by life. By those around us. And the choices we make reflect our personalities, past experiences, etc. A LOT of stuff goes into the choices we make. But God designed all of that stuff too. We're affected by the choices of others, and we take the things that happen to us and they become a part of us and influence the choices WE make, which influence other people down the road and the choices THEY make, and so on and so on... I don't know how much sense this is making - it's really hard to put into words, but I'm gonna keep going.
Everything we do is influenced by other things, and all those other things are influenced by other things, and God designed it ALL. When he created Adam and Eve, he designed their lives so they would experience certain things, and those experiences affected their choices and actions, which affected their children, and their children, and their children... Every little choice you make can influence someone else, in a big way or a small way. Life is so intricate and complex. If I'm pregnant and I choose to think about something that makes me feel happy, my body releases chemicals and those chemicals affect the way my baby develops. If I eat a banana instead of a box of French fries, that affects the way my baby develops. Then when the baby is born, how I interact with her affects her development. Everything I say and do influences her. Everything she sees and takes in from her surroundings becomes a part of her. What she hears - affirmation vs. discouragement - EVERYTHING! And what she says to her friends influences them. What she eats when she's pregnant affects her baby. We're all interconnected in this incredible way, and God put all of this together in such a way that all of us - even though we're technically making our own choices - would influence everyone around us and be influenced by everyone around us in such a way that EVERYTHING WOULD TURN OUT FOR THE GREATEST GOOD POSSIBLE! So that the greatest number of people would be saved and find life. So that God would be glorified and revealed to the world.
So what about all the evil in the world? Well, of course if people have the ability to choose, there's going to be evil. There are going to be people making "bad" choices. But even though those bad choices cause pain for others, that pain causes growth and is ultimately beneficial.
It really is beautiful and amazing.
Still, I struggle with accepting the fact that many people choose sin and death rather than life. I struggle to accept the fact that God created these people knowing that they would die and be separated from him. Knowing that they would suffer for their choices. Maybe it's all turned out for the greater good... but what about that guy? It didn't turn out good for him! But that's really another post. Or another several posts. I won't go off on that tangent right now. :)
God is GOOD! And God is so incredibly, vastly, incomprehensibly WISE! Look at the complexity of the world, every life touching and connecting and relating and influencing so many other lives... It's really just awesome. And the fact that he loves us. It's just so good. So very, very good.
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