"How can God punish ME for the way HE created me?"

A friend asked me this week why God punishes us for our sins when he created us imperfect, meaning we will always sin even if we choose to follow Him and repent of our sins. The answer to this question can't be summarised too briefly and I will explain further, but to try and summarise: the reason is that in order to make us perfect and able to stop sinning against Him, God would had to have created us without free will. Since we have free will, we aren't perfect and will always sin, but we still have the choice (because of free will) to acknowledge that sin is wrong, turn from it and repent.

If that short version is a sufficient enough explanation, hopefully once I've explained it further it will make more sense. So stay with me!

God's desire for a genuine relationship with us is paramount to His creating of the world. He desires a deep, meaningful relationship with us. Think of it like a relationship you yourself have. You would not want a person (whether it be a parent/child/sibling) to love you and have a relationship with you for the sake of it - because you're there or because you're being forced to by someone. It is exactly the same for God. He doesn't want robots that are forced to love Him or follow Him, he wants a real relationship with children who love Him and follow Him because they choose to. That is why God gave us free will.

The reason He can punish us therefore, is because with this free will we all have the choice to try not to sin, to turn away as much as we can and to say we're sorry when we fail. If we do this, it is perfectly acceptable in God's eyes, we are doing what He has asked of us in the best way we can considering how He made us. To know this and to continue sinning with no remorse and no attempt at changing our ways, is to deny the plan God has created to avoid sin and punishment. That does warrant punishment.

He is not punishing us for the way we have been created, for our imperfection or for the fact we have once sinned, as he knows this to be the case before we are even born. God punishes us for turning away and refusing to adopt His plan of salvation - to wipe us of our sin and imperfection and to in future make us perfect. This way we can enjoy a true relationship with our Father and He with His children.

I leave you with this verse:
"He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them" - 2 Corinthians 5:15

Thought of the Day: Everyday Miracles

Someone asked me recently if God performs miracles today. I believe he does, but not in the same way as he used to. We don't have Jesus on Earth today, so we see less of people being healed on the spot and with medical advances we don't have as many people in need of healing in everyday life, e.g. leprosy. We don't need God to part the Red Sea. However, God is still perfectly capable of healing and he still does, but that is just one type of miracle He performs. I have heard many stories of miracles performed today, including healings.

But consider this: before we complain about God not doing what we want, not saving people, not healing people, not protecting people, think about just how many times in a day God does do these things. For example, a driver loses control of his car momentarily and mounts the curb. Maybe God intervened by stopping pedestrians who would have been walking on that path at that time from going outside. That would be God protecting people, but who would ever know this was the case?

I think situations like this are examples of small miracles from God that could be happening all the time, but unless someone realises it, they go unnoticed, leaving people to assume that God is no longer looking out for us and performing miracles. And that's before we even start to think about bigger miracles God performs ;)

"If God is forgiving, why is there a Hell? Surely I'm forgiven?"

This post is a response to a question I've been asked a couple times recently. I've been asked why some people go to Hell and why does Hell even exist if God forgives? Surely God will forgive everyone and we'll all go to Heaven?


Here is the answer in a nutshell: God forgives those who SEEK his forgiveness, apologise for the sins (wrongdoings) they've committed and try not to do that same bad thing again.

If you're not sorry, God will not forgive you. Imagine your friend has repeatedly lied to you and it's spiraling out of control. Nothing they seem to say to you is the truth anymore. You're getting pretty frustrated. Your friend turns to you and says "so? You're a pretty forgiving person. You forgive me right?" Do you? Your friend then turns to you and says "I'm not sorry. I don't think I've done wrong. Lying isn't a big deal to me". Will you forgive them? What if your friend says sorry and carries on exactly the same? Do you forgive them then? But suppose your friend says "I'm so sorry, I didn't realise how much I hurt you and I'll try not to lie in future". They still do lie from time to time, but much less and they are sincerely trying not to. Now you're much more likely to forgive that person than you were before.


In the same way, if you try to turn from your sin and apologise for when you do wrong, God will forgive you. No man is perfect except Jesus, so you will sin for your whole life. But the point is, you try your hardest not to and if someone were to look at your life on a timescale, they would see improvement. You can't just sin thinking it's fine because you'll be forgiven, since this is the same situation with the friend that I just discussed. It is admitting your sin, apologising and turning from it, that will bring you forgiveness. If you don't put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ and turn from sin, you will be destined for Hell.


Why?

Imagine a court of justice. A man has come before the court accused of theft. This is clearly a violation of the law. He has been found guilty and the judge is about to sentence him. The man says "judge I'm sorry, please don't send me to jail". What will the judge do? The man saying sorry doesn't change the fact he has broken the law. If the judge fails to sentence him, he is corrupt. The judge must seek justice and sentence the man. In the same way, if you have sinned and broken God's law, to achieve justice you must serve your sentence - in Hell.

However, if a second man were to step in and say, "I'll pay the fine so this criminal may walk free" then justice has been served. The man will walk free. Thankfully, Jesus stepped in to pay the fine for our sins, when he gave his life on the cross. That is the reason why God IS forgiving, but only to those who seek his forgiveness. There is a way to avoid spending eternity in Hell, but if you ignore this, your punishment is fixed in order for justice to be served.