Why is God holding us responsible when it is He who made us?

Answer:

In recent years, mankind has been trying to reduce their workload by creating machines to handle the drudgery tasks. Some machines were not that difficult to create because the tasks did not involve large amounts of variables. Some tasks, though, are daunting and we've moved into the realm of robotics where the machine is able to make adjustments and choices to accomplish tasks, even when everything doesn't go absolutely perfectly. But even that isn't good enough because there are tasks out there that require complex decisions to be made. But as sophisticated as our machines are getting, they are still nothing more than machines. Given the same input, they will make the same predictable responses. There are people who dream of machines that can truly function independently, but that alludes us for now.

We don't know the motivations of God, beyond what He has told us. But He made a perfect world (Genesis 1:31). In that world, He placed creatures that can perform complex tasks, beyond our imaginations, with adaptability that leaves scientists scratching their heads. But of all those creatures, none of them are like us. A dog or cat makes a good pet, but they are a bit too predictable. They follow their instincts and can't make truly independent choices. God aimed at something greater, beings who could make independent choices, ones that did not have to follow Him unless they wanted to.

Angels have that ability, but they are not a part of the physical world. They are spiritual beings. "Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?" (Hebrews 1:14). While they serve God, God did not make them such that they had to do as God said. "And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day" (Jude 6). In Revelation 12:7-9, we are told in figurative language about the rebellion of some of the angels, with Satan being the ringleader. None of the angels or even Satan were created rebellious or evil. They were all created perfect but with the ability to choose to become imperfect.

Whose fault is it then that some of the angels chose to rebel? Is it God's because He gave them the gift of independent choice? An honest answer is that it was their own fault. With the gift of choice came also the responsibility to use it wisely. We know they did not have to rebel because countless numbers stayed with God. The ability to choose did not force Satan and his angels to make bad decisions. Because they alone are responsible for their choice, God is just in punishing their bad choices.

Can we say that since the angels didn't ask to be created, they shouldn't be held responsible? The question is illogical because something which does not exist, cannot be consulted about its willingness to exist. God is not holding them responsible for existing or doing what was in their nature to do. He is holding them responsible for the independent decisions that they were granted the ability to make.

So then we turn to mankind. Like angels, and unlike animals, we are created with spirits that have an independent choice. We have instinctive programming, but we don't have to follow our instincts. But unlike angels, we were placed in the physical realm. It is a temporary residency since the physical part of us eventually ceases to function, but the spiritual part of us is eternal, just like the angels. Every person is made righteous. "Truly, this only I have found: that God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes" (Ecclesiastes 7:29). Every one of us has a true choice and with that responsibility for the choices we make.

No, God doesn't ask anyone if they want to be born. As we noted before you can't ask what does not exist whether it wants to exist. But then, God doesn't hold anyone responsible for merely existing. Nor are we made where we must sin. Name any sin and it is possible to list thousands of people who did not yield to that particular sin. What seems to destroy us is our constant creation of new ways to rebel. There are so many ways to sin that eventually each of us succumbs in some way at some time. But once again is that God's fault for giving us the ability to choose or the fault of those who make the choice? God even went so far as to give us laws to steer us away from sin, so we are not making blind choices. It is interesting that instead of being appreciative of God's efforts to keep you from sin, you complain that those laws exist -- as if it was the law causing you to make bad choices instead of warning you what are bad choices.

One of the interesting puzzles people who study human behavior have is how children raised in the same or similar households can make drastically different choices as adults. Of course, they are trying to find reasons why people have to make the choices they do, forgetting that people are made with free choice. A child raised in a bad environment will generally tend to make bad choices -- but not always. A child raised in a good environment will generally tend to make good choices -- but not always. All this proves is that we cannot say that any of us are forced in our choices. God goes further on our behalf to make sure that our freedom to choose is always there. "No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it" (I Corinthians 10:13).

Something that is different with men than with angels is that God makes it possible to return, even after a series of bad choices. He actually doesn't hold us responsible for our past, but instead judges us by our present decisions. ""But if a wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. None of the transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered against him; because of the righteousness which he has done, he shall live. "Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?" says the Lord GOD, "and not that he should turn from his ways and live? But when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, shall he live? All the righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; because of the unfaithfulness of which he is guilty and the sin which he has committed, because of them he shall die"" (Ezekiel 18:21-24). God did not have to do this, but He chooses to do so. The rule is implemented justly. It isn't biased in favor of the wicked or the righteous. And the penalty that justice requires was even paid by God.

The New Testament makes it even clearer. While God wants us to be righteous, He doesn't expect absolute perfection but rather a continual effort to do the right thing. "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous" (I John 1:8-2:1).

You look at your life and want to say you aren't responsible. Well, then, who is? Who made the choices? The ones God holds you accountable to are only the choices that you made. You can't blame God for your life because you aren't being judged for living. You can't blame God for the laws you are violating because it is those laws that are trying to help you make better choices. You can't claim that God is being unrelenting because He gave you the ability to change your behavior and will even not hold your past against you. You can't claim God is too strict because He gives you a way to remove occasional sin from your account. However you slice life, whether you end up in heaven or hell it comes down to your free choice. With that freedom to choose -- a gift from God -- came the responsibility for the choices you make.