Grappling with Free Will 2

Did God knowingly create a man he knew would bring suffering and death upon himself? Well, in a sense it seems the answer is yes. God knew exactly that man would sin and die while at the same moment knowing exactly how mankind would be redeemed and restored. When Genesis states that “In the beginning God created…” the book shows that time itself was created by God; God stands outside of time while simultaneously transcending through all of existence from within and without. The point is that suffering as it is now is a temporary state existing as part of God’s healing plan.

Free will was given to man as part of being “in God’s image,” and man freely chose to turn away from God. The first sin led to man turning his focus away from God and others, and onto himself. Because of this self-centeredness, the free choices to sin only could multiply. The end result is that the true free will, which is man’s rising toward God, became a distorted free will in which one must deliberate before possibly choosing the good. As this has brought suffering into the world, it is also important to note that God Himself suffered with man, in the state that man was in, and as man rehabilitated his free will.

Given an a priori knowledge of man’s fall, God created us nonetheless. While free choice has brought suffering upon us, it has also brought something greater, goodness. We know that which is good because we are not machines, we have the option of choosing evil and do not. We can not be good merely passively, instead, true virtue is active. If we actively submit our own will to the Divine will, we can become good-even Holy.

-Steve K.