Monday, June 23, 2014

Why Does God Let Us Come to Earth, if He Knows What We Are Going to Do?

I have a friend whose 13-year-old daughter asked him the following question long ago:

"Why does God let us come to earth when he already knows what we are going to do (beyond getting a physical body)?"

He asked me how I would answer that question, and I have thought about it off and on ever since then.  The following is my answer as of today:
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To a non-13-year-old (or a very intelligent 13-year-old), I probably would answer:

I'm not so sure he does know every single thing we will do - and I'm not so sure it matters in the long run, since I think we have much, much longer to reach our ultimate destination than we realize, no matter what we do in every single instance.

Then, obviously, I might have to explain in greater detail - but I might not.

To an "average" teenager, I probably would answer:

Because it's not about God; it's about you and me and everyone else.


Then, obviously, I might have to explain in greater detail - but I might not.

Having said all that, I hope my very first response would be:

I don't know for sure. What do you think? 

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I know what will happen when I plant a seed, but nothing will happen until I do.

Anonymous said...

Or to paraphrase cs lewis, we are all like eggs. It may be hard for an egg to become a bird, but its harder still for an egg to learn how to fly.

Perhaps God sent us here because He knew we could not go on being just an egg indefinitely. We must either hatch or go bad.

Papa D said...

I really like those examples, Anonymous. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Loved your final answer-turns out there's a lot we don't know, doesn't it?