Originally posted by Equinox99
Limited ability? Can you define that? If you ask the right questions and research things you will understand how everything falls into
play.
When people ask questions like "why is there suffering" and "why do evil people prosper" and "why is God punishing me", you often get answers
such as "it is all apart of God's plan and will be explained to you in time." God is portrayed as all-knowing, all-loving and all-powerful. We are
not. How are we to understand his ways if we do not possess the same qualities? I have many times asked for Gods help, but after not receiving it have
decided to stop asking as much in the past.
Because he wanted you to choose your own path. It wouldn't be that fun if you knew what everyone was going to do...would it? It is a given
that people will stray away from their beliefs, all he wants is you to do is go back to him. No matter what kind of sin you committed, as long as you
repent and try to better yourself by realizing your mistakes, he will forgive you.
This still does not explain why we are given the option to sin. Whether we have free will or no free will, we will never be on par or equivalent with
God, so it does not matter what He gives us. He will know before we are even presented with a choice which path we will take. If there is no Hell then
I would not have a problem with those views. People who say Hell does exist are the ones who I feel have been mislead.
I like when people ask this question, because majority of Christians don't know how to answer it. The best gift God gave for us is free will.
People think it is marriage, but truly it is free will. He wants you to be happy but at the same time you should know evil will try to corrupt you. He
wants you to follow your own path, at the same time he wants you to be good. He is like a father. He wants you to do things on your own, learn on your
own, and grow on your own. He gives you enough tools to reject evil, the rest is all on your own.
A loving Father would never allow the creation of a place where one of his children could potentially suffer for eternity. It does not make sense.
Again, I understand where you are coming from with the Father aspect, it just does not fit in with the idea of Hell.
Because like God, satan wants to take credit for leading as many of his followers away as possible. At one time, God and Satan used to be in
harmony. Satan was jealous of God because all the angel worshiped him. So Satan lured 1/3 of God's angels away, and so he was cast out. God did not
want to destroy something that was so beautiful.
How was Satan able to experience a sensation like jealousy? This is the problem that I have. If God is truly the Creator, then he must have seen the
betrayal coming before he regarded Satan as his highest Angel.
The only explanation I can think of is that God got so bored and depressed with nothing to do that he pretended he was powerless so that he could find
something to do and feel like he had a purpose. This might be true.
[edit on 6/11/2009 by Dark Ghost]