{"id":49349,"date":"2016-10-24T09:14:00","date_gmt":"2016-10-24T14:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=49349"},"modified":"2022-07-08T09:19:51","modified_gmt":"2022-07-08T14:19:51","slug":"i-wouldnt-have-chosen-to-be-born-if-i-knew-the-struggles-and-temptations-i-would-be-facing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-wouldnt-have-chosen-to-be-born-if-i-knew-the-struggles-and-temptations-i-would-be-facing\/","title":{"rendered":"I wouldn’t have chosen to be born, if I knew the struggles and temptations I would be facing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t

Question:<\/h2>\n

Hello,<\/p>\n

I’m writing in response to\u00a0the question sent in in regards to choices<\/a>. I was a little confused by the response:<\/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’t 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><\/blockquote>\n

I agree. I feel as if I wouldn’t have chosen to be born knowing the struggle and temptations that exist. I would have opted out, so having said that please help me to understand when I had a choice and why I’m being judged so harshly for being human.<\/p>\n

Very respectfully. I just want answers. Thanks.<\/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’t 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\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 who refuses to help in…<\/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,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[397,182],"class_list":["post-49349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-depression","tag-suffering"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":25927,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-god-judge-me-when-i-didnt-ask-to-be-born\/","url_meta":{"origin":49349,"position":0},"title":"How can God judge me when I didn’t ask to be born?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 8, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"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\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":60372,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-gods-purpose-in-creating-us\/","url_meta":{"origin":49349,"position":1},"title":"What is God’s purpose in creating us?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 18, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good evening, I, lately, have been struggling with the whole idea of creation. I feel terrible for saying this, as I'm a Christian, but wouldn't God be selfish for creating us? I just don't see the purpose. I was never asked to be born or be created. Honestly, if\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":41786,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/my-life-has-no-meaning-so-why-shouldnt-i-take-it\/","url_meta":{"origin":49349,"position":2},"title":"My life has no meaning, so why shouldn’t I take it?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 3, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello Mr. Hamilton I am an 18-year-old male. I write to you because I am feeling extremely depressed and confused, almost suicidal, and have done for about a year or so. First of all, I would like to mention that I'm an atheist. I used to be a Christian,\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":42771,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-condoms-wrong-to-use-because-they-didnt-exist-in-jesus-era\/","url_meta":{"origin":49349,"position":3},"title":"Are condoms wrong to use because they didn’t exist in Jesus’ era?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 28, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is it lust when I get married and I use a condom or some other birth control for a while with my wife? I'm confused because my brother says yes and my friend says no. Also, condoms did not exist in the era Jesus was born in. I also\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":28310,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-is-god-holding-us-responsible-when-it-is-he-who-made-us\/","url_meta":{"origin":49349,"position":4},"title":"Why is God holding us responsible when it is He who made us?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 4, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Why does a perfect God, who knows all and sees all, create imperfect beings in the first place, then curse those people and all the people thereafter? Then we who were born into this world without a choice must obey all these things, meet every week, and if we\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":2591,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/predetermined-destiny\/","url_meta":{"origin":49349,"position":5},"title":"Predetermined Destiny","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 24, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Many people in this world believe in fate or destiny. They feel there is a specific role chosen for them which they must play, whatever their personal choice. 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