If we all start out innocent, then why doesn’t everyone make good choices?
Question:
God makes all people the same, right? All people start out the same as a little baby, in innocence. So why is it that some people decide to follow God and some don't? One might draw from that question that maybe it's because God is pushing some people more than others to follow Him. But God doesn't favor any person over another and He loves us all the same and wants us all to follow Him equally, so that's not right. So is it the situations we're in that push us toward Him? But then again, He's the One that allows those situations to happen, so that's in His hands too. So if everything is in His hands, then why doesn't everyone follow after His will? I know you're going to bring up all that stuff about free will again, but what I don't understand is why is one person's free will different from another's? Is it the situations we're in or the nature of who we are? But both of those are up to God, so how do they differ?
Answer:
All start out the same morally, but it doesn't mean we are all the same in all aspects. "Truly, this only I have found: that God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes" (Ecclesiastes 7:29). We each have different circumstances and different talents. "For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function" (Romans 12:12).
It is also true that God judges us impartially. God doesn't fair the people by nationality, wealth, or gender. "For there is no partiality with God" (Romans 2:11). In that unbiased view, God gave mankind a single law to follow and it is by that law we are all judged. "In the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel" (Romans 2:16). So God doesn't give one person a different set of requirements than another.
It is because God gives men the freedom to choose that given similar circumstances, people will make different choices. Accumulate a lifetime of making different decisions and you find a variety of results among people.
What draws people to God is their own desire for the truth. "It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.' Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me" (John 6:45). Take a look at Perceptions of God's Word. God's word and the lives we live reveal what kind of person we are deep inside. For those who love God, it is hard to see why everyone doesn't have that same love, but everyone doesn't make the same choices.
