Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:00 This podcast is brought to you by Dr. Alfonzo Brown and as a product of guiding life ministries.org. Have you ever asked the question? Why did God give us free? Well, you know, like why didn't he just make us robots that we do everything that he says don't have to go through all the problems of life. It's one of the most difficult to answer, but possibly one of the most satisfying when answered questions that you can think about in today's podcast attempt to tackle an answer to that question. And I think you'll see that when we analyze why God has given us free will, it's probably one of the most beautiful gifts that a loving creator give to his creation. Join me today. As we explore, why does God give us freedom?
Speaker 0 00:01:01 Hello, beloved, and welcome to another episode of letters of encouragement. I'd like to comment today on the story in Genesis and ask the specific question. Why did God give us the opportunity to choose and to have a free wall? Now, if you're like me, one of the most complex and frankly difficult questions to answer about the character is why does he not just make us do everything he wants? Why did he give man free ball? One way to argue that it's the will of man. That's created a lot of the problems that we have in the world today. A lot of the problems that have to do with violence and disenfranchisement of other people, of poverty of illness. We read all the time about leaders who do things, which are horrible Wars that are started famine that develops all these things, where people die and they suffer on the flip side.
Speaker 0 00:02:12 However, there's a lot of good that occurs. There are missionaries who take care of people. There are charitable organizations, banks, hospitals, and individuals who dedicate their lives to helping others and to ensuring at least that not only other humans, but animals and other aspects of the curation, our forest and trees and things like that. There are other people who care about these things enough to work their best, to ensure that they survive and flourish. So one might ask if all of the evil that seems to happen in our world is somehow connected to man's existence. That's not to say that everything bad that happens like, you know, we can't necessarily control tornado or an earthquake or something like that. But a lot of the things that we can control that result in problems for our fellow humans, why does God allow them? Why doesn't God just step in and take away those choices so that we would all live along the straight and narrow and there wouldn't be any problems?
Speaker 0 00:03:25 Well, beloved, I think the answer can be found in the creations. You see one of the most profound things I notice in reading through the story and studying the Bible. The story in Genesis tells us how God created man in his own image and that creation of vandalism image. A lot of times when we think about it, we think of just the physical characteristics. And, you know, you can look at a human and say, yep, Kevin's don't really look like anybody else. They're unique men and women. But I think if we dig a little bit deeper, the other part of man that was created in God's image, there's a part that never dies. The soul, that eternal part that represents the sum total of man. And that part came from God. And it will go back to God when we die. You see, we all have eternal life. It's the question is sort of where we spend the eternal life. That's the key thing. And the beautiful thing about God and his blessings is that he provides them for each and every one of us and give us each and every one of us, a choice on how to live our lives. And we eventually become the sum total of those choices for good.
Speaker 0 00:04:57 So why again, would you last a God give us this choice. I mean, our choices have gotten us in trouble from the beginning, right? We all are familiar with the Genesis creation story and how our, for father Adam and for mother Eve made bad choices, which resulted in the fall of mankind. Well, I think the answer to this question lies in the answer to who God is. And one of God's greatest characteristics is that God is love. And when God created everything, everything in the initial creation story, he said it is good. And man, which God held is his greatest creation. He created to enjoy the creation that God said was good. So he placed man, the special creation in his garden and gave man the responsibility of taking care of the garden and also gave him dominion over all he'd created. Think about that.
Speaker 0 00:06:06 God created this amazing masterpiece and then gave it to someone else. If you ever say, God's not giving look at what he gave, but one of the things I've learned through life is that with given whenever you're given something great, there also comes a tremendous responsibility. And the responsibility that was given to man was to obey God's command, not to eat from the forbidden tree. When man went against that command of God, we suffered the consequences of it coming from Adam scene. However, God in his love knew that this was going to happen. And I guess God thought that love that's forced is not love at all. So he made his creation and he then provided the creation with the ability to choose. And we've been given that ability throughout our lives. And at the end of every story with God is love. Even in the garden we saw God's love because he would not allow Adam and Eve to eat from the tree of life and their fallen state, because then they would live their lives.
Speaker 0 00:07:31 And the phones had already planned for the redemption of man who is, but he always wanted man to choose. He always gave man the opportunity to select him or to select someone else. LAN always has had the ability to choose. And I asked you which love is greater. The love that is forced or the love that is freely given. Perhaps this is why God gives us the gift of salvation. The greatest gift I cannot fathom or understand why someone would take their son, their child, whom they love with all their heart and sacrifice it for those where they're adding this for someone or something who hates them, who despises the things that they've done and treats their children and their representatives yet. So great as the love that a creation that God would sacrifice his son so that he could again spend eternity with his creation in a new state, the love of God to do these things is beyond me.
Speaker 0 00:08:46 And you might say, Oh well, you know, that's just you, but I would challenge you. If you have a child or someone you love in your life, would you sacrifice them for your enemy, with someone who's done wrong and hurt you, would you allow your child to die in their place? If you can say yes to that, then maybe you can begin to understand the love that God has for us because of this intensity of love require God to do what he did though. We can't fully understand it. It shows great sacrifice, great commitment, great understanding, and great forgiveness.
Speaker 0 00:09:37 So the answer as to why God didn't make us all robots is because the greatest love comes from the love that is feeling you can't buy some, even if he can do that, love is one of those gifts you have to give back. And the individual who gives back love freely, uh, the recipient of that love knows that the love is genuine and it can grow from there. Perhaps a way to look at this as you think of a pet that you might have, not that humans are pets, but we love our pets. Our pets have no obligation to love us back and they can make choices and choose that they don't want to love us back, but we love them. And we try to provide for them and teach them in hopes that they will give us their love and their loyalty back. And I can tell you as a pet owner myself, when the pet reciprocates the loyalty, the dedication, the commitment, you know that the love is Jenny.
Speaker 0 00:10:48 And so I think that God feels blessed and happy. When we in turn show love to him, he desires an intimacy in that connection with us. And oftentimes because we're so busy and hearing the noise or surroundings and all these things in our world that drawing our attention, we lack or are unable to take time to spend with our creator. Who's always present. So my challenge to you, brothers and sisters, after he listened the sound of my voice here is to realize that God gave us free will because he loves us. And he wants us to love him freely, not forced, not coerced, but freely. He wants us to develop an understanding of who he is so that we'll see his measure of love and his definitive examples of love throughout the way he interacts with us, where he interacts with others. And that's written all throughout his creation.
Speaker 0 00:11:52 Nothing message. If you ever wanted to see what God was like, take a look at the walk of Jesus Christ. That was the manifestation of God in human form. And you can see how much love he had, how his desire was to always help the less fortunate how he gave of himself again and again and again, and eventually gave the ultimate sacrifice. You see how much God loves his creation in that the creator knelt down and washed the feet of his creation. You'll see, and learn from all of these things that God mighty, God loves us. And his desire is for us to love him, but not through forced as with any relationship he desires as his children, for us to love him back through love. That is freely given. And that is why he gave us free choice. And I know he suffers, it says in his word, he cries.
Speaker 0 00:13:01 He cried when he was here. When he sees this creation, they'll never let it be said that it was because he didn't love us as with the wayward child or the individual who doesn't give thanks. It's probably because we didn't look for him. Didn't seek to know him or didn't take the time. Let us pray, father. I want to thank you for this message. And I pray that it blesses those who hear it. I pray, Oh God, that the words that I've spoken can bring blessings to the heart of those who are seeking, that they can learn to love you and continue to grow with you. Lord for you have shown us love first, and you've shown us how to love and the sacrifice of your son and then the foreshadowing of his sacrifice throughout your word, help us to see, Oh Lord, that the purpose that you've established for us is greater than anything we can imagine. And we thank you all Lord, for the fact that you created us in your image and placed the seed, the representation of yourself within our souls, giving us a total life and eternal destiny with that part of you is, Oh, may we never forsake our calling and father, your blessed son by the power of your spirit. They all the things that we do glorify your Holy and precious. Thank you for
Speaker 1 00:14:52 This concludes this episode of letters of encouragement. If you like what you heard today, please visit our website at www dot guiding light ministry that that's www dot, guiding life ministries. While you're there, please subscribe to our podcasts and listen to our party until next time, brothers and sisters have a level of peace.
