{"id":25927,"date":"2011-02-08T21:51:00","date_gmt":"2011-02-09T03:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=25927"},"modified":"2020-09-10T21:55:01","modified_gmt":"2020-09-11T02:55:01","slug":"how-can-god-judge-me-when-i-didnt-ask-to-be-born","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-god-judge-me-when-i-didnt-ask-to-be-born\/","title":{"rendered":"How can God judge me when I didn’t ask to be born?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t

Question:<\/h2>\n

Let’s say I place you in a room and gave you a written exam where if you answered correctly you would have eternal life, if you answer wrong you would suffer eternal punishment if you didn’t answer by not taking the exam you still get a 0% and that is still a failing grade.<\/p>\n

Life is an exam like that where we have to get the right answer or else we fail and suffer eternally. Where is free will in that if we have no choice but to take that only exam? I didn’t choose and volunteer to take that exam, but I have no choice but to take it.<\/p>\n\t

Answer:<\/h2>\n

You give an example, but you failed to prove that your example is how life is lived and how eternal life is rewarded. Because you can’t make your example come to an understandable conclusion, it doesn’t follow that reality is equally difficult.<\/p>\n

“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad<\/em>” (II Corinthians 5:10).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There is no difficulty in understanding free will. You choose what you want to do. God told you in advance the answers, that certain actions are good and others are bad. As Moses told the children of Israel, “And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the LORD and His statutes which I command you today for your good?<\/em>” (Deuteronomy 10:12-13). Your exam example fails because in most exams a student feels uncertain as to what the right answer is. In life, that is not the case; we are told what choices lead to a better life.<\/p>\n

What God has left for us is the decision whether to live righteously or not. We aren’t being forced to make good (or bad) decisions.<\/p>\n

Nor can you claim that life is unfair because you now decide that you don’t what to live by your choices. It is the same as the child who refuses to help in a family while yelling, “I didn’t ask to be born!” (See “I Didn\u2019t Ask to Be Born!<\/a>“) You exist because God gave you life. What you do with it is up to you. To complain that you don’t like your existence is a lack of appreciation and an attitude that life should revolve completely around you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Question: Let’s say I place you in a room and gave you a written exam where if you answered correctly you would have eternal life, if you answer wrong you would suffer eternal punishment if you didn’t answer by not taking the exam you still get a 0% and that is still a failing grade.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[904,426,90,410,354],"class_list":["post-25927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-fair","tag-free-will","tag-god","tag-judgment","tag-responsibility"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":49349,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-wouldnt-have-chosen-to-be-born-if-i-knew-the-struggles-and-temptations-i-would-be-facing\/","url_meta":{"origin":25927,"position":0},"title":"I wouldn’t have chosen to be born, if I knew the struggles and temptations I would be facing","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 24, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I'm writing in response to\u00a0the question sent in in regards to choices. I was a little confused by the response: \"Nor can you claim that life is unfair because you now decide that you don't what to live by your choices. It is the same as the child\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17688,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-has-god-withdrawn-his-favor-and-let-me-fail-my-last-exam\/","url_meta":{"origin":25927,"position":1},"title":"Why has God withdrawn His favor and let me fail my last exam?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 7, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I'm a poor fellow with tons of frustration. Sir, I did well in most of my exams and my teachers remarked highly of me. I know all expect extraordinary performance from me. Though I'm not brilliant, I'm not bad and did well. But sir, from the last month, I'm\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":88099,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-think-i-should-dedicate-every-use-of-my-car-to-my-grandmother\/","url_meta":{"origin":25927,"position":2},"title":"I think I should dedicate every use of my car to my grandmother","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 24, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good evening, I've been diagnosed with OCD. I've been struggling with promises to God for a long time, but now I've a problem with one, I suppose I did five years ago. While I was trying to get my driving license, the month before the driving exam, I probably\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28828,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-god-be-eternal-if-eternity-is-like-a-circle\/","url_meta":{"origin":25927,"position":3},"title":"How can God be eternal if eternity is like a circle?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 4, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Eternity is like a circle (no beginning or end). This is an issue that I have pointed out time and again and still have not received an answer to me that is logical or even answers the question I'm about to ask: God gave us brains to use, so\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17521,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/will-we-be-judged-regarding-how-much-we-know-about-the-bible\/","url_meta":{"origin":25927,"position":4},"title":"Will we be judged regarding how much we know about the Bible?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 31, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Will we be judged regarding how much we know about the Bible? Answer: Judgment Day is not like taking a final exam in school. \"Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":47034,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/an-eye-exam\/","url_meta":{"origin":25927,"position":5},"title":"An Eye Exam","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 31, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Luke 11:34-36 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There is an old saying that bad things come in threes and to a lot of people this appears to be a true statement \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Life is filled with good and bad events \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0But what happens is that when something bad happens, we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25927\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}