Why did God create us if he knew we would be imperfect and cause him such pain?
Question:
I’ve been thinking a lot about why God created us in the first place because it doesn’t really make sense to me. I have been researching and trying to find scriptures that explain it but haven’t really found what I’m looking for. I know the Bible says we were created to glorify him and that part make sense. But it’s hard for me to understand the fact that he knew we would be imperfect and he created Satan to give us a choice. So why would he create something that causes him pain? Earth was perfect until he created us and he knew that he was giving us a choice. Obviously, choosing between him and ourselves. He gave us the bible to show us how to live the right way and in a way that would glorify him but he also tells us how hard it will be.
13 “Enter through the narrow gate.For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
So knowing how hard it would be for us to enter the narrow gate, how much pain it would cause him if we chose the wide gate, why would he do it? He could have created anything. So many things he created beautiful and perfect that don’t hurt him. It hurts us too. Either path will be painful. Even though the narrow gate will bless us in the end it’s still hard and goes against what everyone else around us is doing. Then he sends his son, he loved him, and sent his son to die for the possibility of us choosing him. So basically, God suffered with Jesus because of how much sin we have, for the chance that we would either glorify him or cause him more pain?
Answer:
Perhaps the best place to find a “reason” that God created us is in the first chapters of Genesis. Genesis 1:26 tells us that we were made in God’s image. We have the ability to create. We have a physical nature, but also a spiritual one. We have sovereignty within our own sphere. Why did God create people in his image? So that he could “walk” with them in the garden (Genesis 3:8). In other words we were created so that we could know God. We were also created so that we could know one another (Genesis 2:18).
God’s foreknowledge is really difficult for us to relate to. We do not have such foreknowledge and cannot even imagine the meaning of foreknowledge because we exist in a universe in which time is linear. I believe you are correct that God foreknew that Adam and Eve as well as all the rest of us would sin and bring evil into the world. We in our human limitation, cannot understand why God would create us, knowing that most of us would rebel and reject the relationship he wants with us. But we do not have such foreknowledge and our lack of understanding does not make it illogical. This can, at first glance, be confusing. Why would God create us if he knew beforehand that we would reject his will? Why did he not stop us or, barring that, simply not make us at all? To answer this, I go back to the first paragraph. God wants to love us and wants us to love him. Love, by definition, gives choice. Love cannot be forced. God gave us a choice, and the choice was real. It was not a sham. That is why the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was in the Garden–because God wanted us to choose to love him. He will not force us. This is what love does and all humans understand this principle of love.
Why would He create something that causes him pain? I say ask your parents. Why do parents bring children into the world, knowing that they will cause us pain? Because we are made in God’s image and, like God, we wanto to give and to receive love. Parents will endure all kinds of pain because of this love. It is very risky to be a parent. The risk is that the children we pour our lives into will rejuct us and will destroy their lives, bringing untold pain to the parents. This is an excellent analogy to explain why God created us. Again, Genesis brings this out. Everything God created is good–very good (Genesis 1:31). Yet, we sinned, we rejected his love, and we lost our opportunity to walk with God. Like you pointed out, this brought tremendous emotional pain to God (Genesis 6:6). The pain was so great that God almost repented of creating mankind, but no. The faith of Noah and the anticipation of Jesus dying to bring us back into a relationship with him was sufficient and God’s love won out over his justice and anger at our sins. So he judged the world, but saved Noah. This is a perfect picture of God’s love, and why he created us.
God could have forced us to do right. He could have forced the angels as well, but some rebelled and Satan and his minions are the result of just such a rebellion. Remember, all of this PROVES, not disproves his love for us and reminds us of why he created us. By the way, God did not create Satan to give us a choice. He created us with a choice, independent of what Satan may or may not do. Satan also had a choice, but rebelled against God.
Sure, it is hard to stay on the narrow road. But it is the road that our loving Father in heaven wants us to walk on. Love is hard, but it is worth it. Like a good earthly child, let us honor our heavenly Father’s love for us and follow and obey him. It is worth it. It is what we were created to do and to be. But, God will not force us. To do so would be to violate love, which God will not do.
I hope this helps at least a bit.
John Oakes
