If God created us, if he is sovereign and if he knows all, why does hehold us responsible?

ॐ सांई राम

Question:

If God is ruler of the universe and controller of all, then why is He not responsible for anything? And why are we held responsible foreverything when we are not born knowing all that God is about. Why didn't God create us knowing His word so we would have a real choice?

Answer:

What a great question! From a human perspective it seems reasonable to think that if God made us, and if he is sovereign, he is responsiblefor anything we do. Therefore, logically, it seems unreasonable for himto hold us responsible for things he knew before hand that we would do.Like Paul puts it in Romans chapter 9, "why does he still blame us?"The answer is that God, in his sovereign will, has chosen to give ushuman beings a limited sovereignty over our own lives. In other words,God has chosen to give us what is commonly called "free will." Now,either human beings have free will or they do not.

I love the way Thomas Aquinas put it. He said "God, therefore, is thefirst cause, who moves causes both natural and voluntary. And just asby moving natural causes He does not prevent their actions from being natural, so by moving voluntary causes He does not deprive theiractions of being voluntary; but rather is He the cause of this verything in them, for He operates ineach thing according to his ownnature." In other words, God did not lose his sovereignty when he gaveus voluntary will. This is hard to grasp. I can tell that you strugglewith this. Well, so do I! However, one of the clearest teachings of theBible is that God gives us a choice and that he holds us accountablefor that choice. Surely that is the message of Genesis chapter threeand an almost unlimited number of other passages. Biblically, God is"responsible" for his actions and we are "responsible" for our actions.God gives us real choice. He does not force us to do right. He does notforce us to read the Bible. He does not force knowledge of his will onrebellious people who choose to reject the love he offers. He does giveus a conscience and an innate desire to know him, but he does not forceus to act on that desire. The God of the Bible is just. On Judgment DayI do not plan on blaming him for my own sinful behavior.

 

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