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
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
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