Afterlife question

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bibleman

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i have a question, i’ve always believed and God and hopefully always will, as he truly exists. but God has access to all time, he knows if you will go to heaven or hell after you die, right? but why would God create a person if he knows that person will suffer in eternal fire anyways? i have asked several people this (even a protestant) and we all seem to think that while God has access to all time, he doesnt know where we’ll go until we die. but i’m still confused, how could an almighty God not know such a thing until it happens? please someone answer cause i am confused.
 
Of course He knows!!

That doesn’t help, just me saying that, I know. There’s different takes on the trouble that such an answer “why would He create certain people knowing they will just wind up in Hell?” supposedly causes. But for any legitimate Christian belief system to make sense, you have to believe that yes, He knows.

How could He not know, He’s God!

Isaiah 46:10
Declaring the end from the beginning,
and from ancient times things which have not been done.
Saying, “My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all my good pleasure.”

Yeah, maybe that’s just prooftexting. And sure, God appears to react to human actions. Like Moses praying and things like that. But He likely knew Moses was going to react that way anyways.

And God is not the author of sin. Man in his free will chooses to sin. And we are justly punished for it. Not too much, and not too little.

Others will have more to say. And some may even disagree. But I’m used to that.
 
I can’t really give too much insight. God created us out of love and we were created in His image. He also gave us free will because he loved us a desired a relationship with us. You can only have love if you have free will. With free will comes the possibility of a person rejecting God and going to hell. This is where I can no longer progress this idea. God however does not make everything known to us and it is only after we die and hopefully go to heaven that we might come to know of these mysteries we experience.

matthew
 
I can’t give too much insight, either, but I’m going to try to add something to the discussion. For me, it helps to think of Hell not as punishment for our sins but as the necessary consequence of choosing to separate ourselves from a God who honors our choices: separation from God. I don’t see God as heaping tortures on the souls in Hell; their separation from Him is torture enough.
  1. We know that everyone who is in Hell chose to be there.
  2. We know that God knows everything.
  3. We know that God can and does bring good out of evil.
  4. We know that God does not desire evil, but he allows it.
    Because God does not desire evil (4), we know that he does not create anyone with the intention of that person going to Hell (1). He creates each of us for union with Him. The question then becomes why he would create someone knowing that person will not ever have union with Him (2) (I know I haven’t said anything new here, but I’m trying to sort it out for myself). The answer must be that there is some good served by this (3).
    I’ve heard that one good served by this is that the souls in Heaven demonstrate God’s mercy, and the souls in Hell demonstrate God’s justice. I know that when we’re in Heaven, we’ll be fine with this, but it doesn’t really help most people to hear this argument because in our limited perspective it often makes God look like a vengeful Creator who creates creatures just to show off his justice at their expense.
    To me, the good of this is that it preserves free choice. If God’s creation of us was conditional on our going to Heaven, it would mean that His love for us was also conditional, because He would refuse to love us into existence unless we were guaranteed to choose Him.
 
My suspicion is that God gives one what one opts for in life.

If you elect sin, you get to enjoy a Bedlam of sinners.

If you elect friendship with God, that is what you get.
 
this clearly is a difficult question to answer, but i guess God does really create people even though he knows they’ll end up down below, well its not gonna put any doubt in me, i’ll accept this fact the way it is, after all good can come out of it. and that is God’s way
 
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bibleman:
this clearly is a difficult question to answer, but i guess God does really create people even though he knows they’ll end up down below, well its not gonna put any doubt in me, i’ll accept this fact the way it is, after all good can come out of it. and that is God’s way
Click to expand...
St. Augustine dealt with this issue in Book 2 on the Gift of Perseverance.

You can read it if you’d like, but he does say it’s a mystery that should not cause us to doubt His mercy and grace, and should not make us slack in obeying Him or doubting that any particular person will not be saved.

In chapter 37 he says,
“Must that which is manifest be denied, because that which is hidden cannot be comprehended? Shall we, I say, declare that which we se to be so is not so, because we cannot find out why it is not so?”
 
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bibleman:
this clearly is a difficult question to answer, but i guess God does really create people even though he knows they’ll end up down below, well its not gonna put any doubt in me, i’ll accept this fact the way it is, after all good can come out of it. and that is God’s way
Click to expand...
St. Augustine dealt with this issue in Book 2 on Predestination, On the Gift of Perseverance.

You can read it if you’d like, but he does say it’s a mystery that should not cause us to doubt His mercy and grace, and should not make us slack in obeying Him or doubting that any particular person will not be saved. Also, it’s a mysterious truth that should be handled carefully. He even goes as far as to give the proper way one should preach about, and how not to preach about it.

In chapter 37 he says,
“Must that which is manifest be denied, because that which is hidden cannot be comprehended? Shall we, I say, declare that which we se to be so is not so, because we cannot find out why it is not so?”
 
After our birth God gave us freedom. freedom to choose to do good or to do evil. If we do good we are sure that we will be with Him on our eternal life. If we choose bad He is sure that we will be living our eternal life in the hell.

God is so great that He created us with a free will.
 
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