thedoc wrote:Greta wrote:There is an in between option you have not considered - people would still have a choice, but they need clarity about what they were choosing, and that is by no means the case with literally hundreds or more of competing claims.
Are you suggesting that if people had more clarity, they would make better choices? Then why is it that so many make choices in spite of not haveing any clarity?
Well, and I would argue that people DO indeed have a great deal of clarity. After all, what would one wish God to do that He has not done? What if He, for example, gave every person an
innate knowledge of His existence...as, for example what is said in Romans 1: 18-22 about how there are...
...men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse...
That is, they DO know God exists, they just don't WANT to know. As it continues,
For even though they knew God, they did not honour Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools...
Mankind would rather be "wise" on their own terms than face the truth. So what if the whole Creation displays His design every minute of every day? Moreover, what if He gave to mankind various miracles? What if He gave them His moral laws? What if He gave them prophets and revelations? What if He gave ever human being a conscience that would continually remind them of the good -- and that they were not doing it? And what if He also provided many people who DID know Him and were willing to say so to anyone who would listen? What if, after all that was done, God manifested Himself in human form, and indicated His intention to save mankind in the most unequivocal fashion by dying for humanity?
In fact, the most quoted verse in the entire Bible, John 3:16 reads,
For God so loved the world, that He gave His unique Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
Now, that goes to the very topic of the strand, doesn't it?
It would seem that mankind has clarity, and God has been unequivocal on his intentions regarding salvation. But has all that been enough to convince people of either the kindness of His intentions or the necessity of salvation?
Apparently not; because people can prefer to exercise their autonomy by rejecting
what they really know to be true. So short of a cosmic display of perpetual fireworks, God has done all that could possibly be done while allowing people any kind of choice at all. And to do more would be to destroy the possibility of choice altogether.
In fact, there are already people on this board who are conscious of God, but who would rather curse Him and die than consider for a second that He intends them well. I know, because I have talked with them. They are uninterested in His existence (except to refuse to believe it and to convince others likewise), unconcerned that He must judge the world in righteousness, and that they must give account to Him for every word they said against Him. They hate the very idea of God. And I warrant you, some will even take this opportunity to make their own plight worse.
The truth is that some men and women hate God more than they love life, truth, light or even their own souls. How then can we doubt that God could do practically anything, and some people would use their freedom to deny Him
anyway? For clearly, we have illustrations of that truth on hand. There isn't enough "clarity" to convince the willful person of anything. Quite simply, mankind is incredibly devious at fashioning some excuse for denial.
