A question from the inbox:
To say He didn't know this was going to be the result opens this question: is God omniscient. Either way, creation was the result of God who foreknew the inhumanity that would result and the loss of souls that would follow or He didn't know. The latter then demands the acceptance that God is not omniscient. This then raises the question of the validity of the Bible.
Your thoughts on this would be appreciated.
As I have stated previously, I believe in what is called Divine Middle Knowledge, where God knows not only what will happen in the future, but also what would happen in every possible situation. Specifically before creating this specific world, God foreknew each potential creature, and what they would do in every potential situation. He then made a decision to create this world based on that knowledge.
So I believe, as they bible clearly teaches, that God is omniscient and knows the future. Before creation he knew that if he created this world, some angels and some humans would rebel against him. The question is then, would it have been better for him not to create the world at all?
I canvassed this previously when discussing William Lane Craig's treatment of theological objections to divine middle knowledge. God may allow the existence of some who will be lost in order to maximise the number of people who will accept him. God's aim is not to minimise the number of people who go to hell, but to maximise the number of people who go to heaven.
Is this better than not creating at all, or creating a world with very few people who are all saved? I don't think it is. C.S. Lewis once wrote that "hell does not have veto power over heaven". If not creating was better than creating a world where some rebel, these rebels effectively have veto power over those who don't rebel. It does not seem right nor fair that some are denied life because others would have chosen to rebel.
Ultimately though, there is still the matter of free choice. God values our free choices so much, that he allows us to choose to rebel. He could have chosen not to create, but instead he respects free choices made by people, even if they choose to reject him.
And then he chose to die for us rebels who didn't deserve anything.
That is the ultimate act of love.
Comments
"Shall not the judge of the whole earth do right?" Gen 18:25.
God is perfect, therefore His plan is a perfect plan - even the best possible plan!
Despite there being many tragedies, we accept by faith that the good results of His plan far outweigh the bad.