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I've read a highly favored answer here on C.SE that when people get to heaven they are no longer capable of sinning yet they still have free will.

So my question is simple, why did he ever create us with capability to sin and then punish us if we do sin? Free will is out of the question now since it was clear that we can have free will without the capability of sinning.

FFCoder
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  • Good question. I have been thinking that myself. :P – Double U Oct 23 '13 at 04:04
  • Then you can vote it up to get the question noticed. =) – FFCoder Oct 23 '13 at 04:05
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    It is an improper assumption that God created mankind with an evil nature. He endowed mankind with the ability to love. Inherent in that is the capacity to choose. Mankind chose rebellion. – Narnian Oct 23 '13 at 14:04
  • @Narnian so are you saying that people in heaven can still choose rebelion? Because they have free will? So heaven is still not a safe place.. you could still go to hell because of free will? – FFCoder Oct 24 '13 at 03:52
  • Specifics depends on the denomination. God endowed man with the power to choose. As Narnian said, mankind chose rebellion. Ability to choose rebellion doesn't mean it will be chosen (cf. the life of Jesus Christ). People in heaven may be able to choose evil, but they won't want to. We say Jesus didn't have in Him the capacity to sin because He would never choose to, even though He had the ability to. But that is another topic. – Matt Oct 24 '13 at 05:56
  • @Matt that's why it doesn't answer the question. If God Is capable of giving people FREE WILL without being sinful. Why didn't he created us that way in the first place. – FFCoder Oct 24 '13 at 06:04
  • Indeed, a related question might be: if it is possible for God to create people with free will who would never choose evil and have them be with Him in Heaven...why would he ever place them somewhere other than Heaven? – Chelonian Oct 25 '13 at 03:24
  • II've read this discussion string in its entirety but it doesn't exactly address my question, which deals with the issue of "free will." My question is, why does Christianity make such a big deal about "free will"? I mean, it's as if God is saying, "Sure, Man, I created you with free will. You can do what you want. You can choose, in the exercise of your free will, not to obey my rules, you can choose to sin, you can choose to reject Me. But if you do those things, in the exercise of your 'free will,' you will be consigned to Hell for eternity! So go ahead, by all means, enjoy that exercise of –  Jul 18 '14 at 03:34
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    I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because asking about God's motives is off-topic. – Flimzy Sep 02 '15 at 20:30
  • @Flimzy By current site guidelines it should ask what some particular denomination or denominations or major theologians say about this, or at least ask for an overview (ugh!) of positions on this issue. But given the answers already posted, it's a little too late to fix the question. Too bad, because it's a classic question. – Lee Woofenden Sep 02 '15 at 22:52
  • @LeeWoofenden: You say "ugh" about an overview... I say "ugh" about major theologians! I hate those questions. But you're right, the question could be phrased to fit within site guidelines. But with existing answers, the best thing is probably to ask a new question, and let this one remain (closed) for reference. – Flimzy Sep 02 '15 at 23:01

9 Answers9

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When you say: “when people get to heaven they are no longer capable of sinning” not all Christians would agree with this response. There is no evidence that any “free will” creature who has been reborn and experienced the wholeness of God’s love, would then rebel against that love. Can’t and won’t are two different things.

Romans 4:16 Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed…

So a faith relationship enables a loving relationship. God created man for a loving relationship, thus man was created with choice. Faith is a choice, whom will I trust, will I trust the serpent or will I trust the Word of God?

So your question: “why did he ever created us with capability of sin and then punish us if we do sin”? God desires a loving relationship with mankind and the wholeness of love with some is evidently of more value to God than the rejection and damnation of others.

2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance

God does not want any to perish!

Rick
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  • are you trying to say that we don't have true free will in heaven? so we are liked semi robots? – FFCoder Oct 24 '13 at 03:53
  • @FFCoder where do you get that in this text? Do you understand the difference between can't and won't? – Rick Oct 24 '13 at 12:07
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God did not create man with an evil nature, He created us as children, innocent and not knowing the good from evil, this knowledge was gained when Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge. By partaking of the fruit, it allowed Adam and Eve to know what is good and bad, what is virtue and vise, and what is pleasure and pain, which is why, in Genesis 3 of the King James version of the Bible it says,

6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eeat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

8 And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.

9 And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?

10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.

Children do not understand that nudity is a bad thing - just as Adam and Eve did not understand - many young children may take off their clothes anywhere and in front of anyone. But as the child grows older they come to a "knowledge" that nudity is wrong.

After God found that Adam and Eve were no longer childlike he created enmity (animosity, hatred) between Satan and the children of Adam and Eve so that we would understand and strive to choose the right. God also sent Jesus Christ to be our Savior and our example of perfection so that through our faith in Him we may return to the presence of our Father. (See John 3:16)

16 ¶For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

God's intention was never to punish us, no parent enjoys disciplining their child, but for a child to learn, there needs to be consequences. This same relationship is true between ourselves and our Heavenly Father. The punishment for Adam and Eve was that they were banned from the Garden of Eden, otherwise they would have eaten from the Tree of Life and lived forever in their wickedness.

As for your question about becoming sinless, in Genesis 3 it says:

22 ¶And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

It is not that our freewill is taken away from us, it is that we have a perfect understanding of good and evil. We are able to choose because we will know the consequences of such actions and we will choose not to sin, because "no unclean thing can dwell in the presence of God."

Stormy
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  • Welcome to Christianity SE. Nice first answer! You might want to check out our [about] page. – Reinstate Monica - Goodbye SE Oct 23 '13 at 20:42
  • This is a good answer, and I'm probably nit-picking, but when you say that nudity is a "bad thing" and "wrong," I think this is the philosophy that confuses youth about their bodies and sexuality as they grow up. (Ask any artist who does figure drawing.) Maybe we could soften that language to something about how clothing is respectful to our bodies and others. – Matt Oct 24 '13 at 06:02
  • I did not mean that nudity is a bad thing in it's entirety, I meant it in a public place, as I clarified later in the same paragraph that I said that Adam and Eve did not understand. – Stormy Oct 24 '13 at 06:09
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God did not create us with a sinful nature. God created Adam and Eve with freedom of choice, and put the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the garden to test their obedience and loyalty to Him. There had to be a choice in order to show true free will. His character had been put into question by Lucifer in the rebellion in heaven. So God gave them a choice to love Him by their own choice, not because He was the ONLY choice. Tricked by Lucifer himself, our first parents fell into sin.

They had a nature inclined towards good, as opposed to us, after the fall, who have a natural inclination towards evil. So Adam and Eve had to go against their nature to sin against God.

After the Second Coming of Christ, when people go to heaven, they will have a nature like Adam and Eve, inclined towards good, because they will be transformed. They will still have the possibility to sin, but no one will, knowing how much suffering stemmed from the sin of Lucifer, and knowing at what high cost God and His Son redeemed us.

Someone shared a great link to a short video explaining from the Bible the rebellion in heaven and the link to Adam and Eve. I highly suggest you watch it as it will help you understand the topic much better, and more importantly, will show you God's love for you and what He did for you.

It is called Cosmic Conflict - The Origin of Evil.

JesusIsComingSoon
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  • So you mean if we get to heaven.. we could still sin and then cast down to hell for it? – FFCoder Oct 24 '13 at 04:02
  • @FFCoder Our nature will be to do good, so it will be hard for us to sin, unlike now. We would have to go against our very nature in order to sin, on top of that we would already know the consequences of sin. Why would anyone do it? Besides, there will be no hell at that time. Hell does not exist right now. Hell happens on Earth, when it is purified by fire. Once it's recreated there will be no more hell. The purpose of hell is to purge the universe of sin. Once there is no more sin, there is no need for hell. – JesusIsComingSoon Oct 24 '13 at 12:18
  • @jlaverde, is this Seventh Day Adventist teaching? – Rick Oct 24 '13 at 17:44
  • @Rick Correct. This is SDA teaching because it is in the Bible. – JesusIsComingSoon Oct 25 '13 at 00:01
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Read Luke 15:11-31. The younger son did not seek to leave because he was evil. He sought to leave because he had not yet learned to appreciate what he had on the farm. The father might have been able to physically prevent the younger son from leaving, but he could not have made the younger son happy on the farm. It was only after the younger son had experienced the world and came to realize that life on the farm was better than he deserved, that he could be happy.

Paradise 1.0 (Eden) was as good as God could make it, yet it was obviously not good enough for Adam and Eve. Why should Paradise 2.0 (Heaven) be expected to be any better? Luke 15:11-31 gives the answer. Eden was the farm before the departure; Heaven will be the farm after the return.

supercat
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The Father of Sin is Satan. Satan was also perfect when he was created but later, evil was found in him and he became the Father of Evil.

You were blameless in all you did from the day you were created until the day evil was found in you. (Ezekiel 28:15, NLT)

God is perfect and His creations are also perfect. When God created Adam and Eve, they were perfect, no evil was found in them. Evil or Sin was originally not a part of human nature, until Satan brought it in by convincing Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit. After putting their faith in Satan the serpent, they became children of Satan. They lost their original identity and are now imperfect beings with inherent sinful nature.

For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies. (John 8:44, NLT)

Jesus came to this world to give us back our original identity, that is, children of God. Since, we are now children of Satan, we need to be born again in Christ to be called children of God.

Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.” (John 3:3, NLT)

Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. (John 1:12, NIV)

Conclusion:

God did not create man with evil nature in the beginning, but freewill was given to man. It was freewill that led man to fall into the trap of Satan and became a sinner. Man's nature was changed after the fall. Though there still is freewill in heaven, there is negligible possibility of misusing it because we have already learned from our past mistake. We will always remember the sufferings of Jesus and how much our disobedience have cost us and God. In heaven, we will be encompassed by the love of Jesus Christ eternally. The incomparable love and the experience of our past mistake will avert us away from all thoughts of evil.

Mawia
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  • I'm confused. If we don't have a sinful nature then we will not do sinful acts right? So that means eating the forbidden fruit wasn't sinful act because adam and eve ate it and they we're perfect as what you are saying. So people should have no blame at all because adam and eve ate the fruit. Why then they were punished if what they did wasn't sinful.. Now if you consider that even a perfect being like adam and even can commit act of sin like eating the forbidden fruit. then there is no sense that God created a perfect being with no sinful nature (they could still sin). – FFCoder Oct 24 '13 at 05:37
  • I'm just gonna clarify my question. If it was possible for heaven to have freewill without sinning. Why didn't God created us that way in the first place.. Was it gods mistake? because apparently we just acted as how we are created. We should hardly get the blame for that and then get punished for eternity. And God could easily removed the sinful nature from Adam and Eve before it could get out of hand, but he didn't.. What's up with that? – FFCoder Oct 24 '13 at 05:41
  • @FFCoder Merely eating the fruit was not sin in itself. It was no different than eating other fruits. It was the effect of that fruit and the effect of listening to Satan. After listening to Satan, the evil in Satan was imparted to them and their nature changed from perfect to sinful. – Mawia Oct 24 '13 at 05:43
  • @FFCoder Still confused? Any question? – Mawia Oct 24 '13 at 05:49
  • So why then God punished them for just merely eating a fruit? And worst, why didn't He just removed the SINFUL nature right there and then? Why did God have to let things get out of hand. What I mean is.. He is God after all.. he don't need anything to do what he wants.. he can do it anytime anywhere. – FFCoder Oct 24 '13 at 05:50
  • @FFCoder Death was not a punishment, it was the effect of the fruit. Their action was very devastating. God had to pay the BIG price for their action. God had to sacrifice His one and only Son Jesus Christ to redeem them from Sin and Satan. – Mawia Oct 24 '13 at 05:54
  • When you say "had to", that means God has no choice. But I'm pretty sure that was not the case because He is God. He can just simply remove evil if he wants to. You know, while there are only 2 people in the world. No one has to pay the BIG price. Adam and Eves action was not devastating at all, it can easily be fixed by GOD. – FFCoder Oct 24 '13 at 06:00
  • @FFCoder Well, you might want to say "God also has a limit". OR, You might want to say "it was God's plan". It's up to you. – Mawia Oct 24 '13 at 06:05
  • That would mean there is a greater God than him that is makes the rules about limits. If it was his plan then i could say he is quite brutal. Knowing what would happen to humanity, all the genocide, child rape and molestation all the bad things that would happen yet he still chose to do a dramatic thing like sacrificing His son which does not guarantee yet salvation unless you believe that he did that. I mean he could actually have done it less bloody or murder free. – FFCoder Oct 24 '13 at 06:12
  • @FFCoder If this truth about Christianity doesn't satisfy your carnal mind, you might want to read philosophies from other religions. Believe me, I have read many religious books but Bible is the only book that satisfies my soul. May God help you find the truth. – Mawia Oct 24 '13 at 06:19
  • I almost forgot that religions purpose was for human comfort and less about truth. I'm just trying to strip away all the improbability so that I could accept it as truth and not just simply believe. But I just found out that's impossible. – FFCoder Oct 24 '13 at 06:25
  • @FFCoder There is indeed comfort in being a Christian. You have a peaceful mind, you have hope, and sometimes God works miracles in your life, healing your sickness, delivering you from problems etc. You just have to be a apart of it to experience it yourself. Christianity can be explained better by experience, not by theology. – Mawia Oct 24 '13 at 06:35
  • How about the truth? Because I think it's important to have a good grasp of reality. Sometimes truth hurts but I prefer truth than a comforting lie. So I'm trying to find the truth and it doesn't matter where it leads me as long as its true. – FFCoder Oct 24 '13 at 06:42
  • @FFCoder You cannot find the Truth here in Christianity.SE. If you want to know the reality of Christianity, join some spiritual and active churches, not traditional ones. There, you will find how real Christianity is. – Mawia Oct 24 '13 at 06:48
  • @FFCoder To reference your first comment, God commanded Adam and Eve not to eat. IF they had not eaten the fruit, they would still be in the Garden, innocent and unknowing, like a child. But God also commanded them that they should multiply and replenish the earth. They had to choose. Even children today have a choice of what to do. Children are not marionettes until they are adults, they make choices. "Adam fell that man might be" Even though it was Adam's choice doesn't mean that there is no consequences. – Stormy Oct 28 '13 at 17:45
  • @Byuiwriter Here is an interesting question.. Why would he put a forbidden tree there? Why not put it somewhere unreachable or rather NOT PUT ANY at all. – FFCoder Oct 29 '13 at 03:17
  • @FFCoder Adam had to be tempted he had to have a choice. If Adam and Eve had not eaten of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil then we could not be. They had not at that point experienced pleasure or pain, virtue or vice. The fall of Adam had to occur, but the lord gave us a way back by having Christ - a perfect being - be sacrificed for our sakes. – Stormy Oct 29 '13 at 05:26
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    @Byuiwriter The fall of Adam had to occur, so that only a few will be saved and many will be condemned to go to Hell? – Mawia Oct 29 '13 at 05:30
  • @Byuiwriter Care to explain why they "HAD" to be tempted? Or why didn't God created them that they were immune to temptation? He could created them without no flaws(meaning they could be immune to falling prey to sin or whatever bad things that would get them in trouble but still have freewill)..but he didn't and the creations are the one getting punished because of the imperfections instead of the creator. – FFCoder Oct 29 '13 at 05:42
  • @Byuiwriter and FFCoder. This is getting interesting. Let's continue in chat – Mawia Oct 29 '13 at 05:45
  • @FFCoder I can give you more information on this subject if you would like, but it would go against the rules of the site. You can contact me via my email address which is part of my info page and I'd be happy to tell you more of what I know. – Stormy Oct 30 '13 at 05:32
  • @Byuiwriter Chat room is the best place for that. Please come and talk as much as you like in Chat room. No rules out there :) – Mawia Oct 30 '13 at 05:34
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Reason why God created us with capability to sin.

God created humans with capability to sin and that is an outcome of free will without which we would have been just robots doing what God wanted us to do.God is a personal being and the greatest passion of personal beings is the desire for personal relationships with other personal beings. Therefore, God, created us in such a way that He could have a meaningful, personal, and loving relationship with us. Nevertheless, this had a severe price.

I cannot experience love from you unless you have the capacity to do otherwise. If you have the capacity to, not to love me, and you choose instead to love me, then that choice has validity and meaning. You cannot have a love relationship with a computer. It is pre-programmed to serve you. Without that choice, man would have been like puppets, able to do only what God wanted.

God therefore wanted to demonstrate his glory through humans, by giving them their own free will. When he receives the glory and obedience from humans in spite of having with them the free will, it is an immense satisfaction for Him. God expects that His most important creature would give greater glory to Him by remaining obedient, in spite of having free will with them to disobey Him.

We cannot have free will without the capability of sinning.

Free will without the capability to sin could not be termed as free will. With free will there is always choice to choose evil as well as good.

But you must be careful not to conflate independent will with a natural inclination to sin - for example, God has perfectly independent will, but it's not within his perfect nature to sin (indeed, since sin is fundamentally asserting your will over God's it's not possible by very definition for Him to sin)

So, it's our nature that decides what we choose to do and not the free will that we have. You may not inclined to do some of the things which are against your nature even though you have a free will to do everything and anything. If I say that you adopt a type of primitive belief system where they kill humans and drink their blood, you probably would not do so.

Seek forgiveness
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    none of this answers my question,,, that if it is possible to have freewill without the evil nature.. why did god create people with evil nature.. – FFCoder Oct 24 '13 at 05:32
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In Bible or any other scripture tells that God Created the man With Evil Nature

Genesis 1:27 says

So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; 
male and female he created them.

And he pour his spirit to man. If we go back to the stage of Adam, His life life was holy ans no sin, We can see that in scripture. Spirit of Evil can come to our body, so we are becoming Evil nature. Whenever you will have a sinful nature evil can come there.

God created Human like him only. Like Holy.

          See again Genesis 1:26
    Then God said, "Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, 
    so that they may rule over the fish in the sea
 and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that 
    move along the ground."
Deekey
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The short answer is, He didn't. The question makes sense only if we think of God as an utterly and absolutely transcendent being who is directly responsible for us being the way we are.

God is infinite, "and in him is no darkness at all." (1 John 1:5) There is "One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all." (Ephesians 4:6) It seems it would be better to ask why we don't hear God's "voice." The answer to that is quite simple: we are too occupied with temporal decisions having to do with the material problems of our animal side of existence to hear it. A finite and incomplete existent in the presence of the Infinite constitutes a relativity of reality, creates necessity for intellectual choosing, and establishes gradations of spirit recognition and response.

If we take the verse from Ephesians (among others) seriously, then we have reason to believe that God is different than man in degree but not in kind; that we are literally made in the image of God. It is even fair to say that we are gods in embryonic form.

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The simple answer to the question, “Why did God create man with an evil nature?”, is that the god of the Bible, that mad created in man’s image in the Bible, is evil and since God created man in his image, and since God is evil (so He says), man is evil. Enough said!

As a lawyer I have approached the question on the basis that the only source of evidence that I rely on are the various Bibles.

Now in that regard I mention that the Bible authors pulled no punches in ascribing to God all the evils of the world. They actually have the Word of God saying that he is in charge of all evil on earth, and He appears to have an immense capacity for evil. He must have, in order to live up to the reputation of being the cause of all evil, as is evident from the following:

And what follows is what God, ever so proudly and gleefully proclaims about his evil disposition.

“I make peace and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.” (Isaiah. 45:7-King James Version)

“The will of the Lord alone is always carried out. Good and evil alike take place at his command.” (Lamentations 3:38)

“… shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it?” (Amos 3:6 King James Version

“… an evil spirit sent by the Lord tormented him” (1 Samuel 16:14)

“… an evil spirit from God suddenly took control of Saul…” (1 Samuel 18:10);

“… one day an evil spirit from the Lord took control of Saul.” (1Samuel 19:9)

“Then God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem; and the men of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech.” (Judges 9:23 King James Version)

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  • It's one thing to create evil and good to write the big narrative. It's another to approve of the evil. Like an author writing up evil villains, yet we don't call them evil, especially if they disapprove of them. – AngelusVastator Mar 10 '20 at 10:41