“Free Pass?”

Friday, May 03, 2019

     I've been a christian my entire life, but I'm having some trouble finding some answers to questions I have.  One of my biggest questions is: if God created everything and knows everything, why would He create sin, knowing that's a choice that mankind will choose?  And why can't He just make sin go away?  I know that not everyone can go to heaven because it's a perfect place, and sin cannot be there, but why wouldn't God just completely get rid of sin, so all these people He's created and loves can be with Him in heaven?

Sincerely,
Hope For All

Dear Hope For All,

God didn’t create sin; the devil did.  The Bible says that Satan is the father of lies (Jhn 8:44).  Sin only exists when we turn our back on God.  Sin is a lot like darkness.  Darkness isn’t really a thing – it is the absence of light.  God is the father of lights and every good thing (Jas 1:17).  When we stop following the Lord, we no longer walk in the light.  Sin is the absence of godly living.

God can do whatever He wants, but God has chosen to give us the freedom to choose sin or choose life (Deut 30:19).  God doesn’t desire any of the wicked to perish (Ezek 18:23).  His desire is for all mankind to choose Him, but God also honors our freewill by giving each of us an entire lifetime to choose for ourselves whether we want to spend eternity with Him or away from Him.  If God simply removed sin, He would also be removing our freewill.  God respects the freedom He gave us.

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