Why didn't He stop it from happening?
Within God's own Omni-perfect freedom of thought and action, He has a perfect will and a permissive will. It was His perfect will, when He created people in His own "image and likeness" (Gen.1:26), to give them a free will to think and act as they might choose and not be forced to do only good or to obey God's perfect will for them. Every person must make that choice. If God's intent for us was that our obedience to His will and our love for Him, as our Father, must be voluntary to mean anything, and not just be born into us and therefore compulsory, our free will must then be allowed, permitted to function and let us make our own choices, good or bad. That is God's permissive will. We would, therefore, become fully responsible and accountable for our own individual, free will choices, good or bad because we did the choosing.
Many people have asked, "Why did God not stop this or that tragedy, injustice, perversion, or holocaust?" The answer is simple. God created us with a small "image and likeness" to His own perfect Omniscience, Omnipotence, Omnipresence and Omni-Will. Our Creator inaugurated, in us, these miniature likenesses of Himself, as our Father. He gave us a free will to act, and He will not invalidate what His perfect will instituted, and which He chose by giving us "likeness" to Himself. To accomplish God's original purpose, of a "freedom to choose, believe or disbelieve, accept or reject His will and His word" ... He permits every one's free will to independently run its course, upon the earth, without His restraint, except where He draws the line as in Genesis 1:26 before He even made man. "And God said, Let us (trinity) make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion ... upon the earth." The word, "dominion" here is the Hebrew "radah", which means "to rule or tred down". It carries the inference of unfettered action, good or bad. But it is limited to earth. The builders of the Tower of Babel willed to build a stairway into heaven... but God's will intervened against their self willed works as a means of salvation.
Human history is a record of human "dominion" on earth by use of our God given, free will, and the "power", "knowledge" and "presence" to attempt the accomplishment of our will. As with the Babylonians, our will is unlimited but the successful accomplishment of it is limited. Much of which is good and much of which is bad. Men's free will caused the wars, hate, greed, theft, rape, perversion, child abuse, drug abuse and murder, not God. He could have prevented all that, but He didn't. Why? It had to be either His perfect will or His permissive will. It was not His perfect will, but human free will to act, was. So, since He did not prevent those things, He permitted them or they would not have happened. They therefore fall into the realm of God's permissive will to allow humans to exercise their free will to choose, which IS God's perfect will.
Human history is a record of human "dominion" on earth by use of our God given, free will, and the "power", "knowledge" and "presence" to attempt the accomplishment of our will. As with the Babylonians, our will is unlimited but the successful accomplishment of it is limited. Much of which is good and much of which is bad. Men's free will caused the wars, hate, greed, theft, rape, perversion, child abuse, drug abuse and murder, not God. He could have prevented all that, but He didn't. Why? It had to be either His perfect will or His permissive will. It was not His perfect will, but human free will to act, was. So, since He did not prevent those things, He permitted them or they would not have happened. They therefore fall into the realm of God's permissive will to allow humans to exercise their free will to choose, which IS God's perfect will.
There is a final consideration for those who freely... will to disobey, reject and otherwise abuse this gift of God to freely choose our way. That is the automatic consequences of our free will choices .... Our responsibility for our thoughts and actions brought into Judgment.
"Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil." Ecc.8:11.
Final "Sentence" is not "executed speedily" for several reasons. God's grace toward sinners is the first. Also, a reversal of the sinner's evil choices will occur in some people... and turn them to God, with repentance, acceptance Christ as Savior, their sins put upon Christ and judged upon His cross. "For he (God) hath made him (Jesus) to be sin for us, (him) who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." 2 Cor.5:21.
While we remain on this Earth, alive, the evidence and facts are not all in and the great Judge and His great white throne judgment aren't yet in session to render the verdict, though He already knows (Rom.8:29) what it is and it is destined to be fulfilled. Yet, still, the choice is ours. God already knows what our choices will be. Do you know what they will be? Use the "will" God gave you to make wise choices. Your eternity depends on it.
No comments:
Post a Comment