Why doesn't God simply destroy us for our evil?
When God made Adam and Eve, He made them perfect. There wasn't anything more perfect than the perfection God placed in them and into the universe.
In fact, because of this perfection, God, Himself, decided to occupy Adam and Eve spiritually. That is what is meant by making them in His own image. That is what is shown by breathing the breath (spirit) of life into Adam.
Now here is the actual reason. God is so extremely great that He can't allow defamation of his character, defamation of His Name, defamation of Himself. The destruction of mankind would mean defamation of God, because God actually lives within mankind.
The impossibility of this whole situation comes when mankind use their "godness" to defame God. So, how does God keep Himself from being defamed when destroying mankind would defame Him, and when not destroying them would defame Him.
God did it by sending His Son, Jesus into the world as a man, to live a perfect life, and to suffer the punishment and death that God would have to mete out to all people. Then, because Jesus was perfect, God raised Him from the dead and set Him in a position of authority over all things.
There is only one more piece of evil in mankind that needs to be corrected. That evil is the choice that God holds open in man, to be against or in favor of God. Man makes the choice that destroys or saves himself... but only because God holds that choice open for man, as part of the method for maintaining His own good Name.
Man's choice is to be in favor of God or against Him. God will not be defamed. Jesus took care of that. All that is left is to let those who don't want salvation - who don't want to maintain godness within themselves - to set themselves up for losing God in the Hell that awaits them. The choice is made by people when they believe and accept the salvation of Jesus.
What do you think?
When God made Adam and Eve, He made them perfect. There wasn't anything more perfect than the perfection God placed in them and into the universe.
In fact, because of this perfection, God, Himself, decided to occupy Adam and Eve spiritually. That is what is meant by making them in His own image. That is what is shown by breathing the breath (spirit) of life into Adam.
Now here is the actual reason. God is so extremely great that He can't allow defamation of his character, defamation of His Name, defamation of Himself. The destruction of mankind would mean defamation of God, because God actually lives within mankind.
The impossibility of this whole situation comes when mankind use their "godness" to defame God. So, how does God keep Himself from being defamed when destroying mankind would defame Him, and when not destroying them would defame Him.
God did it by sending His Son, Jesus into the world as a man, to live a perfect life, and to suffer the punishment and death that God would have to mete out to all people. Then, because Jesus was perfect, God raised Him from the dead and set Him in a position of authority over all things.
There is only one more piece of evil in mankind that needs to be corrected. That evil is the choice that God holds open in man, to be against or in favor of God. Man makes the choice that destroys or saves himself... but only because God holds that choice open for man, as part of the method for maintaining His own good Name.
Man's choice is to be in favor of God or against Him. God will not be defamed. Jesus took care of that. All that is left is to let those who don't want salvation - who don't want to maintain godness within themselves - to set themselves up for losing God in the Hell that awaits them. The choice is made by people when they believe and accept the salvation of Jesus.
What do you think?