I've a hard time wrapping my head around this concept. If we have free will to disobey then why eternal punishment. Why does god not accept that some are flawed and leave them to their own devices without the eternal punishment in hell part. A creator disappointed in its creation who punishes its creation for being a disappointment makes no sense to me.
That would go against God's law of reaping what you sow now, would it not? Also His allowance of man having free will?
Sounds a lot like a cat playing with a mouse.
Yep which one of the reasons I keep posting the Epicurus meme in religious threads.
There are but 2 choices in life...good and bad...disobedience to our Creator or obeying...there is no in between, no sitting on the fence, no neutral...that is the extent of free will for humans...we either choose life or we choose death...that has been the choice since the creation of Adam and Eve...
Is it? God was honest with man from the beginning..."But as for the tree of the knowledge of good and bad, you must not eat from it, for in the day you eat from it you will certainly die"...no eternal burning in hell...just death...non existence...life or death...
But those who choose bad don't get death, they get eternal life in the lake of fire. I think a true death with no afterlife in either heaven or hell would be the worst punishment.
The problem is that if god is only good then he could only provide one choice.
When you throw anything into fire, what happens? It turns to ashes...it is no more...
Then we would be robots, programed/forced to do as He says...
So. Then he would not have to watch us suffer like a cat with a mouse. You should consider how an absolute good god can allow evil unless he created it and that means he is not good.
I was never taught that. It is tenet of catholicism and the christian sects to which I was exposed growing up that bad souls go to hell and stay there:
The choice is still ours...shall we be obedient to our Creator or not? Shall we choose to benefit ourselves or not? When you buy a product, do you listen to the manufacturer or do you choose for yourself how to treat that product?
Well, it is...forever out of existence...fire destroys, does it not? Fire in the Bible does not represent everlasting torment but everlasting destruction...
There again, you are presuming God is not allowing free will for His creation...to allow free will, an all powerful, all knowing God has to allow evil...if not, there is no free will...
So god created evil an suffering.
No, of course not...Satan, man, and their choices created evil...don't pass the blame...
God created both.
And in what condition were they created? Perfect...
Apparently not since they were vulnerable to temptation and disobedience. I appreciate your fervent belief and that you take the time to respond even though we are worlds apart in belief.
A vehicle is created perfect, without any flaws, and yet the owner abuses it, what happens?
So god didn't create every thing?
Everything with free will...a choice whether to listen to Him or not...
Not possible. There are flaws, some benign some not, in everything humans create.