Tough Questions About God

Question:

I’ve wondered if God knows some people will condemn themselves to hell, why would God create those people? Why not only create creatures God knows would live in righteousness (a true righteousness from the heart) or at least the ones He knows would eventually repent if they were to stray from righteousness? Why create Satan or Hitler for example? The question is best summed in the quote, "Any god who creates a sentient being out of dirt, knowing the being will be damned to hell, should have left the dirt alone."

An Answer:

I can think of at least three ways that one might answer this question. First of all, perhaps in the end, everyone does enter into an everlasting relationship with God and none are lost. Hell, though a place I still find reasons to believe in (very much against my desires), is not necessarily essential to the existence of God. Many believers think that everyone eventually ends up in heaven. So in the absence of hell (or annihilation), it simply wouldn’t be true that God creates people He knows will not go to heaven.

Another possibility is that it’s logically impossible to know what free creatures will do with absolute certainty so that not even omniscience couldn’t predict who would reject Righteousness. A number of theologians have adopted this approach in understanding God. Accordingly, God could still fulfill prophecies by direct intervention, but not even God could have predicted who would live a self-condemning life on earth.

Now I admit neither of these approaches are very satisfying to me mainly because I do believe in hell and in God’s exhaustible foreknowledge. My approach to this question is to recognize that there is good that may have been impossible to bring about without the existence of people who live in unrighteousness.

First of all, it’s reasonable to think that any free and changeable creature will eventually succumb to some evil desires. So omnipotent God has a tough challenge if He is going to accomplish His goal of having many creatures enjoy everlasting freedom without sinning since not even omnipotence can do the logically impossible. A solution for God is to provide everlasting power and forgiveness to His creatures who in sin would truly repent and call out, as one calling for true righteousness. Sure it would be better if people never sin to begin with, but if all free creatures invariably sin, then what’s required is God’s mercy, which directs us on a path leading to everlasting freedom from sin. This "directing" wouldn’t violate our freewill, since the directing and upholding by God would be an expression of our own choice in repentance. Also the evil resulting along the way in this process may be worth the love that people gain by being rescued from their sins. For who would love more, the one forgiven much or the one forgiven little or none?

But we still have the question about those who apparently never truly repent, at least not for the right reasons. I want to point out before I go on that many people who live seemingly good lives, but who have doubts about God might in a near death experience be given a sufficient opportunity to know grace. The real issue is not the wrong people going to hell but that anyone should be created who will deserve that painful separation from God’s glory.

An answer that makes sense to me is that the many who freely reject grace provide circumstances and opportunities resulting in far more people receiving grace and also greater goods for those people than would otherwise happen. For much evil might be necessary in the world to get people to admit their need for mercy and also to provide opportunities for people to demonstrate courage and deep love. Let me try an example to illustrate this. Consider a true story of KKK member, Johnny Lee Clary, who was raised from childhood to hate black people. After becoming a high wizard leader his zeal to unite all the "hate" groups led to a disgust of all the evil when the various the groups started fighting each other. To make a long story short, he nearly despaired to suicide before reading the story of the prodigal son and then turned to receive God’s forgiveness and love. It may be that if Johnny were instead raised by "good" Christians, a sense of self-righteousness would have kept him from ever truly falling in love with God or from knowing His redemptive power. Part of the process required to bring Johnny to Life was the sense of so much evil around him, evil that required the existence of those who would freely reject Righteousness. Similarly, consider the opportunities to go deep in love or be strong in courage or be merciful in forgiveness that exist everyday in this world. These opportunities would pale in a world where God didn’t give life to anyone who rejects Righteousness. So allowing the existence of evil doers can increase the number of evildoers who will repent while also increasing the depth of love among many, which would have everlasting consequences.

A responding summary quote might be, "Any god who creates a sentient being out of dirt, knowing the being will be damned to hell, is justified if that being allows God to create other beings He knows will enjoy eternal Life who wouldn't otherwise turn towards Life"