It does seem cruel, sadistic, and just plain redundant for
God to create man, allow him to fall in to sin by giving us free will and the
means to turn from Him, to just bring us back to the place we began. I get
that. I get that it seems pointless, heartless, meaningless, etc.
But after some contemplation, I think I've neglected one
aspect of the Christian “story” that may lead to a different conclusion about
God’s character. Again, in order for this to make sense, you would have to
assume some basic biblical truths; therefore, I’m not presenting this objectively.
So, if we believe in the basic Christine doctrine of the
Trinity, then we believe that Jesus is fully God, manifested on Earth. That’s
saying that the infinite, supreme creator and ruler of the universe subjected Himself to humanity. He BECAME the creation for our sake. Why would He do this?
Life is vain. We can agree on that. It is hard, it is painful, and it is
limiting. Thus, He loved us (or “cared for us,” if love is too fluffy of a word)
so much that the sacrifice He made as the atonement for OUR sins wasn’t just
that He caused His Son to die. It’s that he became the Son, who was fully human
and existed within the confines of mortal limitations. Borrowing an analogy
from C. S. Lewis here, but that’s worse than us making the decision to continue
existence as an earthworm or maggot for the sake of one of our family members
or something.
So, to summarize: God created us for His own enjoyment. (Why? I don’t know, but He did.) He created us with the ability to reject Him, knowing that we indeed would reject Him, so that our love for Him is authentic and unforced. Knowing we would reject Him, and being a perfect and just Creator who cannot allow injustice to continue, He sacrificed Himself so that we again could have the means to live in community with Him in spite of our sinful nature and decisions. If all He wanted was to watch His creation suffer and walk about blindly, trying to discover life’s meaning and a purpose in the vast universe, and just wanted to restore balance and justice in His perfect creation, He could have done it a different way, don’t you think? He could have punished us directly, He could have created a different perfect sacrifice as retribution, but He didn’t. He made it personal, and I think that’s what demonstrates a caring Creator and not an indifferent puppet-master.
So, to summarize: God created us for His own enjoyment. (Why? I don’t know, but He did.) He created us with the ability to reject Him, knowing that we indeed would reject Him, so that our love for Him is authentic and unforced. Knowing we would reject Him, and being a perfect and just Creator who cannot allow injustice to continue, He sacrificed Himself so that we again could have the means to live in community with Him in spite of our sinful nature and decisions. If all He wanted was to watch His creation suffer and walk about blindly, trying to discover life’s meaning and a purpose in the vast universe, and just wanted to restore balance and justice in His perfect creation, He could have done it a different way, don’t you think? He could have punished us directly, He could have created a different perfect sacrifice as retribution, but He didn’t. He made it personal, and I think that’s what demonstrates a caring Creator and not an indifferent puppet-master.
What do you think?
SDG
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