This is one question that baffles the saved and the lost alike. I must admit that during the "valley chapters" of my life, this one question would anger me because at that time I thought we jumped in and out of salvation based on works instead of grace through the good times AND the bad times..
This definitely a valid question for the lost and I dare to say that MOST Christians cannot answer it at all and the rest give cheese ball answers like, "well God didn't want a bunch of robots so He gave us FREE WILL and we all have a choice and end up where we deserve"...
Those cheese ball answers have never sat right with me because Hell is real and it is FOREVER!!! The sad thing is the human mind cannot fathom FOREVER because since we are finite beings here on Earth, we always think there is a beginning and an end but forever means NO beginning and NEVER an ending so to put it in perspective simply turn on your stove top to high and stick your hand on it for 1 minute.... Now we both know that is impossible and you will pull your hand off almost instantly but now imagine your hand being forced to stay on that burner for one minute... Not only would that minute seem like an hour, you would possibly pass out from such pain and it is only your hand... Now image that same intense pain all over your body for an hour, a day, a month, a year, a decade and simply finish of with an ENTIRE LIFETIME and times that by FOREVER... Get my drift?
Now in my opinion Lucifer deserves that and so do 1/3 of the losers that he took with him but what then look at the millions of people since Adam and Eve took the scene? Does that seem fair? I mean yes we all can agree that Hitler and those like him should be gang raped with a pineapple in Hell for all of eternity but for the average human it does seem a wee bit harsh. So harsh in fact that it seems cruel and as a Christian I can totally understand why a non-believer would get pissed at that especially since they have walked through life being told that they will go to hell if they drink a beer, smoke cigarettes, chew tobacco, listen to Rock n Roll, gamble and about another 20 things that CANNOT BE FOUND in God's Word but yet ignorant humans spout off like it is factual simply because they were indoctrinated from a young age with embellished half truths based on the OPINION of a Pastor or parent that was trying to err on the side of caution thus creating rules that don't exist like the Pharisees did...
So why WOULD a loving God create us knowing that all of this would happen? Why not skip it and save all of the torture?
I believe I have the answer!!!!
God had this AMAZING vision of a paradise Heaven and a paradise Earth... The kind of idea that gives you butterflies and you can see the AWESOMENESS of it all and once you start your "pros and Cons" list, you begin to see everything unfold. You put your entire life on hold because you cannot contain the excitement as the adrenaline and dopamine flow like wine!
The thing is, the original Heaven and Original Earth is NOT His plan.... It is only the catalyst, the powder keg, the fuse, the dynamite and the END result is actually the intended beginning! Confused? Let me break it down...
God created the current Heavens and Earth... He created all of the Angels and All of the people but FREE WILL is the bitch of it all... Free will brings the worst out in people... Free will breaks hearts from a cheating spouse to a child that will not give you the same love back that you give them... Free will is also the beauty that makes us all who we are and indeed it is a double edged sword and God knew it all along but it is a MUST to get to the final outcome which is actually His initial plan..
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You see, Lucifer CHOSE to betray... A third of the Angels CHOSE to follow Lucifer and now all that remains in Heaven are those that love their Creator with all of their heart, body soul and minds...
Lucifer chose and lost... His followers chose and lost and THEN Hell was established...
Now since Lucifer cannot see the future, he is PISSED!!! He knows he lost and he knows that he cannot defeat God at ANYTHING but figures out a way to hurt God and that is by causing us to fall....
So the prideful ego maniac military genius says "Hmmmmmm, if i cannot hurt you I will hurt what you love thus I can actually hurt you indirectly!!!! Muahahahahahahah!!!!"
He comes down to this perfect Earth and causes Adam and Eve to abuse their free will thus ushering in sin, death, disease and destruction and DAMN does Lucifer/Satan know his job well.... Whether or not he truly thinks he can win in the end is left to be discovered but he is definitely trying to take as many as he can until the trumpets sound...
What satan doesn't realize is just like the third of the Angels, he is actually weeding out the human factor of those who would betray Him just like Lucifer and the Angels did and once those two groups are all gone, KABLAM God's original goal will unfold: A perfect Heaven and a Perfect Earth!!!
The Bible says that there will be a new Heaven and New Earth... The city of Heaven will come out of the sky and plant itself on BRAND NEW EARTH... The Bible even gives the measurements and description of the City of Heaven... It is around 1,600 miles square! Earth will be set ablaze to a ball of fire purifying and removing all the junk and a new Earth in its original form will come back and man and God will dwell together forever the way it was supposed to be from the beginning!
Just like Steve Miller says in his song Jet Airliner, "You know you got to go through hell before you get to heaven"....
There will also be far more people in Heaven than you are realizing. Think of all the children that die before the age of accountability? Whether they come from families of false religions, abortion, starvation or whatever the case may be they all get a hall pass STRAIGHT TO HEAVEN!
Think of the Native Americans... Many of them believed in just one God called the "Great Spirit". The Great Spirit is the concept of a life force, a Supreme Being or divine God known more specifically as Wakan Tanka. Most Native Americans never heard of Christ so the Indians that worshipped Wakan Tanka most likely will be credited as righteous just like Abraham was who also never heard of Christ because Abraham was here long before Jesus... See where I am going with this?
In the end people that wind up in Hell wants NOTHING to do with God so they are getting their wish... God pursues lost people till the very end and my Grandfather was living proof of that! He died at 88 years of age and even tho he believed, he was never saved due to Christians that give Jesus a bad name... He was out of it and/or unconscious for days and out of the blue he happens to wake up with CRYSTAL CLEAR CLARITY and gives his heart to Jesus with me on the spot! He fell back to sleep and woke up in Heaven! He missed Hell by 10 minutes but God never gave up until the very end and he walks Jesus in Heaven!
And finally...
Some of you may be thinking, yeah but the years those children or people had to suffer was HORRIFIC!!! Well you may be right but here are to things to think about... For starters God left His throne and became one of us and experienced one of the most painful tortures and deaths imaginable if to get us there was worth it for Him I would say that getting there will make ANYTHING we had to go through down here worth it as well AND remember the many times as a younger child we would cry when we scraped our knee or cut ourselves and all we had was the stuff that stang like hell to dress the wound? Yes to you younger generations, the struggle was real!!! It hurt sooooooo bad and we would cry and then it was over and forgotten to the point we never think about those moments anymore as adults.
Well I believe that Heaven is so awesome and so unlike anything that we could ever imagine and the fact that there will be no more depression, fear, anxiety, abuse, death, temptation or ANYTHING of the kind for that matter, that even the most horrific memories of this place will never be thought of again and we would all come back and experience a million lifetimes just to get back to paradise with Him...
I hope this helped you and I would love to hear your feedback...
~Brian Smith~